Hayek, Orwell, and ‘The End of Truth’

Even in free societies, “the most intelligent and independent people cannot entirely escape [the] influence” of state propaganda.
Hayek, Orwell, and ‘The End of Truth’
The novel “1984” by George Orwell. U. J. Alexander/Shutterstock
|Updated:
0:00
Commentary

In 1942, after fighting in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1937), a disillusioned writer returned to London to write about his experience. It wasn’t just that the fascists in Spain had won and his side—a small, anti-Stalinist Marxist group—had lost. What frightened him was the ease with which truth itself had been erased and replaced by propaganda.

Jonathan Miltimore
Jonathan Miltimore
Author
Jon Miltimore is senior editor at the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) and former managing editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, Washington Examiner, and the Star Tribune.