Fariha’s Reviews > Essays > Status Update
Fariha
is on page 442 of 1369
The threatening tone of so much of the German and Italian propaganda is a psychological mistake. It only gets home on intellectuals.With the general public the proper approach would be “Let’s call it a draw”. It is when a peace-offer along those lines is made that the pro-Fascists will raise their voices.
In this motley list one can see the daring of German propaganda,its willingness to offer everything to everybody.
— Jan 27, 2026 11:06AM
In this motley list one can see the daring of German propaganda,its willingness to offer everything to everybody.
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Fariha’s Previous Updates
Fariha
is on page 466 of 1369
There are several vital differences between totalitarianism and all the orthodoxies of the past, either in Europe or in the East. The most important is that the orthodoxies of the past did not change, or at least did not change rapidly. In medieval Europe the Church dictated what you should believe, but at least it allowed you to retain the same beliefs from birth to death.
— 16 hours, 7 min ago
Fariha
is on page 465 of 1369
Totalitarianism has abolished freedom of thought to an extent unheard of in any previous age. And it is important to realise that its control of thought is not only negative, but positive. It not only forbids you to express—even to think— certain thoughts, but it dictates what you shall think, it creates an ideology for you, it tries to govern your emotional life as well as setting up a code of conduct.
— 16 hours, 11 min ago
Fariha
is on page 450 of 1369
We cannot be utterlydefeated if we have made our revolution beforehand. We may see German troops marching down Whitehall, but another process, ultimately deadly to the German power-dream, will have been started. The Spanish people were defeated, but the things they learned during those two and a half memorable years will one day come back upon the Spanish Fascists like a boomerang.
— Jan 30, 2026 07:33AM
Fariha
is on page 443 of 1369
An army of unemployed led by millionaires quoting the Sermon on the Mount—that is our danger. But it cannot arise when we have once introduced a reasonable degree of social justice.
Progress and reaction are ceasing to have anything to do with party labels. If one wishes to name a particular moment, one can say that the old distinction between Right and Left broke down when Picture Post was first published.
— Jan 27, 2026 11:12AM
Progress and reaction are ceasing to have anything to do with party labels. If one wishes to name a particular moment, one can say that the old distinction between Right and Left broke down when Picture Post was first published.
Fariha
is on page 440 of 1369
Revolution does not mean red flags and street fighting, it means a fundamental shift of power. Whether it happens with or without bloodshed is largely an accident of time and place. Nor does it mean the dictatorship of a single class. What is wanted is a conscious open revolt by ordinary people against inefficiency, class privilege and the rule of the old.
— Jan 25, 2026 07:05AM
Fariha
is on page 432 of 1369
It is not that anyone imagines the law to be just. Everyone knows that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor...Everyone believes in his heart that the law can be, ought to be, and, on the whole, will be impartially administered. The totalitarian idea that there is no such thing as law, there is only power, has never taken root.
— Jan 18, 2026 10:08AM
Fariha
is on page 431 of 1369
A military parade is really a kind of ritual dance, something like a ballet, expressing a certain philosophy of life. The goose-step, for instance, is one of the most horrible sights in the world, far more terrifying than a dive-bomber. It is simply an affirmation of naked power; contained in it, quite consciously and intentionally, is the vision of a boot crashing down on a face.
— Jan 18, 2026 09:57AM
Fariha
is on page 430 of 1369
The initial, personal cause of his grievance against the universe can only be guessed at; but at any rate the grievance is there. He is the martyr, the victim, Prometheus chained to the rock, the self-sacrificing hero who fights single-handed against impossible odds. If he were killing a mouse he would know how to make it seem like a dragon.
— Jan 18, 2026 06:40AM
Fariha
is on page 422 of 1369
One cannot see the modern world as it is unless one recognises the overwhelming strength of patriotism, national loyalty. In certain circumstances it can break down, at certain levels of civilisation it does not exist, but as a positive force there is nothing to set beside it. Christianity and international Socialism are as weak as straw in comparison with it.
— Jan 17, 2026 05:09AM
Fariha
is on page 420 of 1369
Reading Mr Malcolm Muggeridge’s brilliant and depressing book, The Thirties, I thought of a rather cruel trick I once played on a wasp. He was sucking jam on my plate, and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed oesophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him.
— Jan 17, 2026 05:04AM
succeed in England, indeed is far less likely even to be tried.