George Orwell (An Honorable Retelling)

George Orwell
Prime Minister Blair in 1985
Prime Minister of England
In office 5 November 1985 – 12 October 1991
Deputy	John Major
Preceded by	Henry Leach
Succeeded by	John Major
Member of Parliament from Derby North
In office 3 February 1984 – 9 February 1994
Preceded by	Greg Knight
Succeeded by	Bob Laxton
Personal details
Born	Eric Arthur Blair 25 June 1903 Sutton Courtenay, England
Died	9 February 1994 (age 90) London, England
Citizenship	England (1903 - 1935, 1983 - 1994) Novanglia (1950 - 1986)
Political party	Socialist Party of England
Other political affiliations	Union for Democracy
Alma mater	Mount Saint Vincent University

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 9 February 1994) was an English-Novanglian politician, novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. Blair's lifelong advocacy was characterized by opposition to totalitarianism, fascism, and the promotion of democratic socialism. His best-selling works Animal Farm and 1984 were both direct criticisms of Mosley's England. Following Mosley's ascension to power, Blair would spend time exiled in Ireland before being granted Novanglian citizenship in 1940. Blair would continue to write in exile and eventually arose as the most prominent member of the English opposition to Mosley abroad. Following the collapse of fascist England in 1983, Blair would return to his native England to serve as Prime Minister from 1985 until his resignation in 1991.

Blair's premiership was marked by civil and political strife as England continued its process of democratization. Blair was able to secure investment into the English economy through global trade and from state investors such as Ireland, Russia, Novanglia, Mali and the United States. Blair's premiership would also result in the political resurgence of labor unions and the English left-wing, the abolition of many Mosley-era institutions, a policy of neutrality towards the crisis in Wales, and greater involvement of England on the international stage. Despite his old age, Blair's contemporaries remarked that he was always "sharp and politically conscious" throughout his time in office. Health complications caused him to resign in 1991 and he continued to serve in parliament until his death in 1994.

Early life and education

Eric Arthur Blair was born into an "upper middle-class family" in the parish of Sutton Courtenay on the River Thames. His family lineage included members of the aristocracy who continued to remain prevalent in English society even after the English Revolution. Blair's mother was French and grew up in French Dai Nam where she would eventually meet Blair's father while he was on a speculative venture. In 1904, the family relocated to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. Orwell would not see his father again until 1912 and attended Catholic school while growing up in the town.

Before the outbreak of the Third Great War, Blair's family relocated to Shiplake, Oxfordshire. During this time, Blair had begun to meet other famous English authors, including Aldous Huxley who briefly taught him French. Blair had taken a liking to Huxley's linguistic flare and later attributed to him as an influence in his early literary career. Following the outbreak of the Third Great War, Blair had enrolled at Mount Saint Vincent University in the United States, where he as a non-citizen would avoid conscription. In Halifax, he would write his first novels.

Literary career

For most of his career, Blair was best known for his journalism, in essays, reviews, columns in newspapers and magazines and in his books of reportage. His first published essay was "Halifax Abridged" which discussed the culture of corruption that had arisen within the Republican-dominated Halifax municipal government its hostility towards organized labour. After a while, Blair would return to England in 1925 to continue his writing career in London where he would write for numerous local papers. In 1933, Blair would publish his first full-length work, Down and Out in Halifax and London which compared poverty in both cities. However, Blair would be forced to flee England following Mosley's ascension to power in 1935, causing him to hastily flee to Ireland and abandon his writing job in London.

George Orwell in 1943

While exiled in Ireland, Blair would publish Homage to England in 1938, recounting the struggles and continued anti-fascist resistance to Mosley's rule in England three years in. The Road to Wigan Pier would also be published around this time, detailing the rampant poverty in Northern England pre-Mosley. However, Blair's most successful works would be published in the 1940s, establishing his pen name as a household name.

Animal Farm would be published in 1945 and serve as an allegory for how Mosley and the English Union of Fascists took power in England. The farmer represented Stanley Baldwin and the corrupt oligarchical government that existed in England prior to Mosley's takeover. The pigs represented Mosley and the fascists, taking advantage of the other animals to sustain their rule. The main criticism of Animal Farm was that while Mosley was a member of the Labour Party and preached worker's rights, his rule began to resemble the right-wing oligarchy that had existed in England prior to his takeover, except even worse. The novel quickly became a bestseller in the United States and Novanglia, eventually becoming a bestseller in Ireland as well once the novel was translated into Irish Gaelic. The book was immediately banned in England and resulted in Blair's English citizenship being revoked later that year.

A few years later, Blair would release his most influential and impactful book, 1984, in 1948. Set in a post-nuclear dystopian world, the novel focuses around protagonist Winston Smith. Smith lives on Airstrip One, a renamed British Isles which has fallen under the control of the "Ingfash" political party led by a charismatic "Big Brother." 1984 also critiques absolute monarchies and Marxism-Luxemburgism alongside fascism as shown through the through the three superpowers which dominate the novel: Africa, Eurasia, and Oceania. The novel ultimately ends with Smith being tortured into submission into the state and Ingfash. The novel was universally acclaimed upon release due to its storytelling, use of language, and worldbuilding. It remains a landmark of English literature and was ranked by the Fort Dearborn Tribune as the "most influential novel of the 20th century."

After the critical success of 1984, Blair took a brief hiatus from writing and instead lived in seclusion at a ranch in rural Yorksborough. The 1949 assassination of Aldous Huxley by fascist English agents in Henryland had caused Blair to grow increasingly paranoid and worried that he would be targeted by Mosley's agents operating abroad. During this time, Blair was also battling a vicious case of tuberculosis which almost claimed his life in 1950. However, due to advanced medical treatment in Novanglia, Blair was ultimately able to survive. In 1954, Blair would return to writing with the publication of his nonfiction novel Byron which served as a biography of the famous English poet and revolutionary Lord Byron.

In 1970, Blair would publish his third landmark dystopian novel titled Anglia's Rising which was a critique of the jingoism present within the Novanglian military during the Great Muqaddian War. The novel focused on a tribe of cannibals on the fictitious island of Anglia who would rather cannibalize themselves and the world around them rather than rebuild their fallen society. The book was a very clear allegory criticizing of Prime Minister George McGovern. Anglia's Rising would stir controversy in Novanglia and lead to a public media feud between Blair and McGovern which lasted well into the 1980s. These continued high-profile publications would lead to the Hawkinsville Times labelling Blair as the most "prominent English opposition figure abroad." When Mosley died and fascism ended in England in 1983, Blair would return to the country for the first time in 50 years and officially retire as a writer.

Political career

Member of Parliament

The banquet hall in London where Blair announced his candidacy for parliament

On 18 November 1983, interim leader of England Henry Leach reinstated Blair's English citizenship and invited him to return to the country. Blair accepted and would officially land in England on 18 December 1983 with a crowd of thousands of people lined up outside Henry Hunt Airport to welcome him back to the country. Popular among the English people and concerned over the future of England, the elderly Blair announced his intentions to run for parliament under the big-tent Union for Democracy party in the upcoming February 1984 parliamentary elections. Orwell would be elected to parliament, but Henry Leach continued to serve as Prime Minister after parliament affirmed their support for his continued governance. As a member of parliament, Blair agreed with Leach’s overall goals of democratization but still expressed skepticism over his leadership due to his past ties to the fascist English military. However, Leach was true to his word and announced his resignation in 1985, prompting another parliamentary election.

Remaining a popular leader among the English people, Blair was nominated by the Union for Democracy as their party leader despite Blair’s old age and his initial reluctance to accept such a high position within the state. The conservative wing of the Union of Democracy nominated MP John Major as their deputy Prime Minister candidate, evening out the balance of powers within the coalition. The Union for Democracy retained their supermajority within the English parliament with the only other party, the Communists, refusing a coalition with the union. Blair was confirmed as Prime Minister on 5 November 1985 with over 97% of parliament voting in favor. He was sworn in by Henry Leach, who continued to hold ceremonial power as President of England.

Prime Minister of England

As Prime Minister, Blair was primarily concerned with re-establishing England's foreign relationships and preventing the English citizenry from slipping further into poverty. During his first year as Prime Minister, Blair had visited Scotland, Ireland, the United States, Russia, and Bharat to advocate for English membership in the Global Treaty Organization. Roughly a year later, England would become a GTO member on 22 October 1986. The post-Mosley English government was recognized immediately by the League to Enforce Peace in 1983, but Blair became the first English Prime Minister to ever address the floor of the General Assembly in Philadelphia on 14 June 1985. In his inaugural speech to the LTEP, Blair emphasized to the world that the "people of England are your friends, and we [England] committed to a future of democracy and sustainable development." Blair was praised by the international media for travelling extensively despite his advanced age and previous health complications. However, Blair is largely credited for salvaging England's reputation abroad and opening up England diplomatically to allow for the period of rapid economic growth which followed his premiership.