Source:
Associated PressLONDON - George Orwell's left-wing views and bohemian clothes led British police to label him a communist — but the MI5 spy agency stepped in to correct that view, the writer's newly released security file reveals.
The secret file that MI5 kept on the author from 1929 until his death in 1950 is being declassified Tuesday by the National Archives.
It reveals that in contrast to the fictional "Big Brother," the cruel and all-seeing secret police of Orwell's classic "1984," MI5 took a surprisingly benign view of the writer.
Orwell savaged the totalitarianism of Stalin's Russia in "Animal Farm" and "1984." But he was also a socialist who railed against inequality in earlier works such as "Down and Out in Paris and London" and "The Road to Wigan Pier."
The documents show Orwell — whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair — attracted the attention of police in 1936 for alleged "communist activities in Wigan." Then 33, he had gone to the mining town to research a book about working-class life in northern England.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070903/ap_on_re_eu/britain_orwell_files;_ylt=Ape5ITB3U0Ew3VToYkO_52Cs0NUE
I wonder how many other great artist, authors and others are currently under the watch of "Big Brother" right because they view dissent being equal to that of disloyalty to their country.