James Burnham and the Managerial Revolution
Socialist Book Centre, 1946.
First separate edition. Original printed wrappers printed in orange and white polka dot on the upper cover with black lettering. A very good copy indeed, with a little fading to the spine and upper cover.
Orwell's important essay, appearing originally as "Second Thoughts on James Burnham" in the philosophical magazine, Polemic 3, which discusses a number of key elements which would later form the basis of the political backdrop in 1984. Orwell considers Burnham's 1941 book The Managerial Revolution and its central thesis that throughout time political behaviour is drawn from an inherent human desire for power and that in due course, the current capitalist classes would be replaced by a new class of technocrats. Interestingly, Orwell mostly considers Burnham's assessment of human nature too pessimistic, that attempts to gain complete power have been destined for failure, yet in writing 1984, Orwell creates a fantasy which predicts a future along similar lines, but far worse than anything Burnham imagined.
Stock ID: 45588
