why did George Orwell speak out againest totalitarianism?

Answer 1

Because he lived at a time when there were two totalitarian regimes in Europe: Nazi Germany, and the USSR. He believed that it was important to speak out against them.

Answer 2

Why, very simply because he was a lover of human freedom and liberty, and he hoped that by his writing, he could forestall the encroachment of a totalitarian takeover, a takeover that can be initiated from either the far left OR the far right.

"The world of Nineteen Eighty-Four also reflects various aspects of the social and political life of both the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Orwell is reported to have said that the book described what he viewed as the situation in the United Kingdom in 1948, when the British economy was poor, the British Empire was dissolving at the same time as newspapers were reporting its triumphs, and wartime allies such as the USSR were rapidly becoming peacetime foes ('Eurasia is the enemy. Eurasia has always been the enemy').
In many ways, Oceania is indeed a future metamorphosis of the British Empire (although Orwell is careful to state that, geographically, it also includes the United States, and that the currency is the dollar). It is, as its name suggests, an essentially naval power. Much of its militarism is focused on veneration for sailors and seafarers, serving on board "floating fortresses" which Orwell evidently conceived of as the next stage in the growth of ever-bigger warships, after the Dreadnoughts of WWI and the aircraft carriers of WWII; and much of the fighting conducted by Oceania's troops takes place in defence of India (the "Jewel in the Crown" of the British Empire)."

Answer 3

Quite simply because totalitarianism was rampant in the world at that moment. Orwell saw that given the technologies of media and the modern military, combined with applied psychology and mind control, the threat of universal totalitarianism was right there in front of everyone.

These days people are so used to mind control, so used to be lied to in the name of advertising and politics, so used to the absolute authority imposed by relentless media, that we cannot see the totalitarianism; just as fish cannot be aware of the water around them.

He was a visionary, and I'm afraid much of what he warned about has come to pass, even in what we think of as the free world.

Answer 4

He wanted society to be aware of what a corrupt goverment can do. He wanted to warn future generations of the terror that was to come if such dictatorships (like in Nazi Germany and the USSR) continued to reign and spread their beliefs to other countries.

Orwell was a socialist, though. I suppose that he felt that there was a point where socialism could go too far. Personally, I think that it depends on the individual that is in control; but, you were asking about Orwell's beliefs, not mine.

Answer 5

Orwell's 1984: the future is here: George Orwell believed the stark totalitarian society he described in 1984 actually would arrive by the year 2000, thanks to the slow, sinister influence of socialism