The Road to Wigan Pier

"It is only when you meet someone of a different culture from yourself that you begin to realise what your own beliefs really are." "We are living in a world in which nobody is free, in which hardly anybody is secure, in which it is almost impossible to be honest and to remain alive." "Here you come upon the important fact that every revolutionary opinion draws part of its strength from a secret conviction that nothing can be changed." ? George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier The Road to Wigan Pier is a book by the English writer George Orwell, first published in 1937. The first half of this work documents his sociological investigations of the bleak living conditions among the working class in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the industrial north of England before World War II. The second half is a long essay on his middle-class upbringing, and the development of his political conscience, questioning British attitudes towards socialism. Orwell states plainly that he himself is in favour of socialism, but feels it necessary to point out reasons why many people who would benefit from socialism, and should logically support it, are in practice likely to be strong opponents.