For those who haven't seen the page, the idea is that Blair chose the date 1984 as the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Fabian Society (British centre-left policy organisation dedicated to state socialism, that once included HG Wells, Edith Nesbit, and George Bernard Shaw). I think that anyone who can get worked up about the Fabian Society is on the verge of reds-under-the-beds paranoia. As Evil Conspiracies go it is just a little bit public and a little bit wet. The Iron Heel is set in 1984, but that, in turn, might derive from Chesterton's The Napoleon of Notting Hill, also set in 1984. It seems to have been the traditional year of the future... OTOH Orwell said 1984 was just 1948 reversed & why not? (Do we believe Clarke about HAL=IBM-1?) Ken Brown Michael Motyka wrote:
An interesting read in which the author delves into some details of Orwell's life and possible origins and targets of his satire. Includes some neat stuff regarding the dates 1984 and 2000. Time to go read Iron Heel by Jack London.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/158445.html