England Your England

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"England Your England" is an essay written by the English author George Orwell during The Blitz of 1941 as bombers of Nazi Germany flew overhead. It was his attempt to define English culture and the English people for the rest of the world as he feared that it might soon be wiped out by the Nazis. In the essay he also wrote that England would not change into a fascist state and could not unless she was thoroughly broken.

The essay was the first part of The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius, published 19 January 1941, as the first volume of a series edited by T. R. Fyvel and Orwell, in the Searchlight Books published by Secker & Warburg.^[1]

Orwell described England as one of the most democratic nations of the time, but also stated that it lacked a true worldview and had replaced it with a level of fervent patriotism. He supported this argument with reference to the fact that English gentry and businessmen thought Fascism was a system that was compatible with the English economy. The gentry believed that simply because Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler were staunchly opposed to communism that their views were "England-friendly" and thus they cheered whenever Mussolini's bombers would sink a ship ferrying supplies to support Spanish republicans. It was not until the election came around that they realised that Franco's victory would be a severe blow to England. Thus they realised that Fascism is bad for England due to its revolutionary origins or heavily military-dependent system of policing and control. Orwell himself, however, admits that Fascism is a better system for the wealthy, unless you were a Jew, than Communism or democratic socialism.^{[citation needed]}

Orwell argues that although Britain had many nationalities such as Scots, Welshmen, English, etc..., everyone considered themselves British as soon as a need to defend their land arose. He also theorized that it might be more appropriate to divide Britons by financial classes which would result in two, or maybe even three or four, Britains.^{[citation needed]}