“ A nation trained to think hedonistically cannot survive amid peoples who work like slaves and breed like rabbits, and whose chief national industry is war. ”
George Orwell, The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius (1941). copy citation
| Author | George Orwell |
|---|---|
| Source | The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius |
| Topic | war industry |
| Date | 1941 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and... |
Context
“It would have been harmful even if we had been living in the squashy League of Nations universe that these people imagined. In an age of Führers and bombing planes it was a disaster. However little we may like it, toughness is the price of survival. A nation trained to think hedonistically cannot survive amid peoples who work like slaves and breed like rabbits, and whose chief national industry is war. English Socialists of nearly all colours have wanted to make a stand against Fascism, but at the same time they have aimed at making their own countrymen unwarlike. They have failed, because in England traditional loyalties are stronger than new ones.”
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