“Why doesn’t the left have the support of the working class?”
George Orwell, the writer whose writing and life coincided
Through a hellish coal mine experience
A sharp critique of 'immature leftist intellectuals'!

A vivid account of the experiences of George Orwell, a thirty-three-year-old young man who was commissioned to report on the coal mining areas of northern England in 1936 and spent time with them.
Called “a great classic semi-documentary about unemployment,” it has been loved and recalled as a must-read for readers interested in political and social issues such as labor, class, and capitalism for 15 years since its first edition by Hankyoreh Publishing in 2010.
This time, it is presented in a revised edition with a new cover, along with another of Orwell's essays, "Why I Write."


From the hellish conditions inside the mines to the miserable living conditions, miners' wages and living expenses, and even notes on housing construction and reconstruction issues, the book goes beyond simple records and meticulously portrays the realities of the working class with sparkling insight and characteristic wit.
Thanks to its meticulous reporting and sharp descriptions of the situation, it has become a sought-after resource for historians.
Although it is a story of a specific time and place, the message it delivers to the "immature leftist intellectuals" who do not receive support from the working class is still relevant today, and is also painful.
It is also a book that marks a significant turning point in Orwell's works prior to his representative works, Animal Farm and 1984.
Regarding the period when he wrote this work, Orwell reflected in “Why I Write” as follows:
“Every line of serious work I have written since 1936 has been, directly or indirectly, ‘against’ totalitarianism and ‘supporting’ democratic socialism as I understand it.” He had actually become a more polemical and combative writer around the time he wrote this work.
As soon as he handed over the manuscript to the publisher, he went to fight “against fascism” in the Spanish Civil War and began to formulate his artistic and political stance.


“If you go like this for about a kilometer, the pain becomes unbearable.
You start to wonder if you can really go all the way, and even more so, how on earth you'll ever get back.
The more you do that, the slower the speed becomes.
Hundreds of meters of walking in a crouching position in such a low place.
(…) Now I have to crawl on all fours, but this is also a relief when I get tired of crouching.” _Page 39

The day I saw a full chamber pot under the table at breakfast, I decided to leave.
I felt like I would become more depressed if I stayed like this.
It wasn't just because it was dirty, smelly, and the food was terrible.
The feeling of being stagnant and rotting away pointlessly, of people trapped underground, crawling around in circles like cockroaches, constantly complaining and groaning, was even more unbearable.

--- p.26

What they do is so enormous that it is almost superhuman by normal human standards.
This is because they not only carry enormous amounts of coal, but also work in positions that are two to three times more difficult.
They have to maintain a crawling posture all the time (if they try to straighten their knees, they can't avoid hitting their heads on the ceiling), and you can easily see how difficult that is just by pretending to do it.
Digging is easier when you stand up.
Because you can use your knees and thighs when moving the shovel.
When you kneel, you have to bear all the burden with your arms and abdominal muscles.

--- p.33~34

It is a natural part of the working class's life to be subjected to such low-level inconveniences and cold treatment, to be constantly made to wait, and to do everything according to the other person's convenience.
Countless influences constantly exert pressure on workers, reducing them to a 'passive' role.
He does not act, but behaves according to something.
He is aware that he is a slave to a mysterious authority, and is convinced that no matter what he wants, 'they' will never allow him to do so.
--- p.66

Writing is so weak.
What good are short phrases like "a rooftop spring" or "four beds for a family of eight"? They're just fleeting phrases that leave no impression.
And yet, how tragic the reality can be contained in these few words! Take, for example, the problem of overcrowding.
It is quite common for a family to have eight or ten people in a three-room house.
(…) In one house I visited, three grown daughters shared a bed and went to work at different times, so when they got up or came in to rest, they had to wake up the one who was sleeping soundly.

--- p.78~79

So why do they so rarely demonstrate their talents? Why can't they, with more time than anyone else, sit down and write? It's because writing requires not only comfort and solitude (solitude is difficult in working-class homes), but also peace of mind.
In a world where unemployment looms large, it's nearly impossible to dedicate yourself to something or to develop the "expectation" necessary to create something.

--- p.109

You have to look far to find a working-class person with naturally good teeth in Lancashire.
In reality, it is very rare for someone to have healthy teeth unless they are a child.
And even in children, their teeth are soft and bluish, so I think it might be due to calcium deficiency.
Several dentists told me that in industrial areas, it is becoming increasingly rare for people over thirty to have healthy teeth.
In Wigan, many people told me that it was best to “lose” teeth as early as possible.
“This is a misfortune,” said one woman.

--- p.128~129

Working-class families (those that are relatively well-off and not unemployed) have a warm, wholesome, and humane atmosphere that is hard to find elsewhere.
I would venture to say that if the work is steady and the pay is decent (which is becoming increasingly difficult), a manual worker is more likely to be happy than an 'educated' person.
_155

No like or dislike can be as fundamental as what we feel with our 'body'.
Racial hatred, religious animosity, differences in education, temperament, intelligence, and even moral codes can be overcome.
But the physical aversion is insurmountable.
(…) It might not be a big deal if the average middle-class person were raised and educated to believe that the working class is ignorant, lazy, drunkards, vulgar, and liars.
But it is very harmful if they are taught to believe that they are dirty beings.

--- p.170~171

What I truly wanted at that time was to find a way to completely escape from the tidy world.
I've been thinking about the method for a long time and even planned out the details.
In other words, he had carefully considered how he would sell everything, throw away everything he owned, change his name, and start anew with nothing but the clothes he was wearing.
(…) Once I blend in with them and am accepted by them, I will have reached the bottom, and then I will be able to shake off some of my guilt.

--- p.200

The fact that we must face is that abolishing class distinctions means giving up part of ourselves.
Here I am, a typical member of the middle class.
It's easy to say I want to eliminate class discrimination.
But almost everything I think and do is a product of class discrimination.
All my notions (of good and evil, of pleasure and displeasure, of frivolity and piety, of beauty and ugliness) are inevitably 'middle-class' notions.

--- p.215

I vividly remember the chilling shock I felt when I first attended a branch meeting of the Independent Labour Party in London.
At that time, I thought, 'Are these kind of' petty people fighters for the working class?
This is because the people gathered there were the most savagely stigmatized among the arrogant middle class, regardless of gender.
If a real worker, say a dark-skinned miner just off work from the coal mine, had suddenly walked into their midst, they would have been terribly embarrassed, angry, or disgusted.

--- p.233

A more pressing problem is the danger that fascist forces will take over Europe.
So, unless we can spread socialism widely and quickly in an effective form, there is no hope of overthrowing fascism.
Because socialism is the only enemy fascism has to face.

--- p.285