Editing George Orwell (section)

===''The Road to Wigan Pier''===
{{main|The Road to Wigan Pier}}
At this time, Victor Gollancz suggested Orwell spend a short time investigating social conditions in economically depressed [[Northern England]].{{refn|The conventional view, based on Geoffrey Gorer's recollections, is of a specific commission with a £500 advance. Taylor argues that Orwell's subsequent life does not suggest he received such a large advance, Gollancz was not known to pay large sums to relatively unknown authors, and Gollancz took little proprietorial interest in progress.<ref>D. J. Taylor ''Orwell: The Life'' Chatto & Windus 2003</ref>|group= n}} The [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|Depression]] had introduced a number of working-class writers from the North of England to the reading public. It was one of these working-class authors, [[Jack Hilton (author)|Jack Hilton]], whom Orwell sought for advice. Orwell had written to Hilton seeking lodging and asking for recommendations on his route. Hilton was unable to provide him lodging, but suggested that he travel to [[Wigan]] rather than Rochdale, "for there are the colliers and they're good stuff."<ref>Clarke, Ben. "George Orwell, Jack Hilton, and the Working Class." ''Review of English Studies'' 67.281 (2016) 764–785.</ref>

On 31 January 1936, Orwell set out by public transport and on foot. Arriving in Manchester after the banks had closed, he had to stay in a common lodging-house. The next day he picked up a list of contacts sent by Richard Rees. One of these, the trade union official Frank Meade, suggested [[Wigan]], where Orwell spent February staying in dirty lodgings over a [[tripe]] shop. In Wigan, he visited many homes to see how people lived, went down [[Bryn Hall Colliery|Bryn Hall coal mine]], and used the [[Museum of Wigan Life|local public library]] to consult public health records and reports on working conditions in mines.<ref>{{citation|url = http://orwellstracks.webklik.nl/page/wigan|title = Orwells tracks|access-date = 16 November 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131203020355/http://orwellstracks.webklik.nl/page/wigan|archive-date = 3 December 2013|url-status = dead}}</ref>

During this time, he was distracted by concerns about style and possible libel in ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying''. He made a quick visit to [[Liverpool]] and during March, stayed in south Yorkshire, spending time in [[Sheffield]] and [[Barnsley]]. As well as visiting mines, including [[Grimethorpe]], and observing social conditions, he attended meetings of the Communist Party and of [[Oswald Mosley]] ("his speech the usual claptrap—The blame for everything was put upon mysterious international gangs of Jews") where he saw the tactics of the [[British Union of Fascists|Blackshirts]].<ref>A Kind of Compulsion, p. 457</ref> He also made visits to his sister at [[Headingley]], during which he visited the [[Brontë Parsonage Museum|Brontë Parsonage]] at [[Haworth]].<ref>A Kind of Compulsion, p. 450. The Road to Wigan Pier Diary</ref>
[[File:Wigan Pier - geograph.org.uk - 4175.jpg|alt=|thumb|A former warehouse at [[Wigan Pier]] is named after Orwell.]]
[[File:No 2 Kits Lane, Wallington 2020-07-18.jpg|alt=|thumb|No 2 Kits Lane, [[Wallington, Hertfordshire]], Orwell's residence {{circa}} 1936–1940]]
Orwell needed somewhere he could concentrate on writing his book, and once again help was provided by Aunt Nellie, who was living at [[Wallington, Hertfordshire]] in a very small 16th-century cottage called the "Stores". Orwell took over the tenancy and moved in on 2 April 1936.<ref>A Kind of Compulsion, p. 468</ref> He started work on ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' by the end of April, but also spent hours working on the garden, planting a rose garden which is still extant, and revealing four years later that "outside my work the thing I care most about is gardening, especially vegetable gardening".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Orwell's Roses (by Rebecca Solnit review – deadheading with the writer and thinker) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/oct/19/orwells-roses-by-rebecca-solnit-review-george-orwell-in-the-garden |work=The Guardian |author=Gaby Hinsliff |date=19 October 2021 |access-date=20 August 2022 }}</ref> He also tested the possibility of reopening the Stores as a village shop. ''Keep the Aspidistra Flying'' was published by Gollancz on 20 April 1936. On 4 August, Orwell gave a talk at the Adelphi Summer School held at [[Langham, Essex|Langham]], entitled ''An Outsider Sees the Distressed Areas''; others who spoke at the school included [[John Strachey (politician)|John Strachey]], [[Max Plowman]], [[Karl Polanyi]] and [[Reinhold Niebuhr]].<ref>Davison, Peter (ed.). ''George Orwell: A Kind of Compulsion 1903–1936'' (1998), p. 493.</ref>

The result of his journeys through the north was ''[[The Road to Wigan Pier]]'', published by Gollancz for the [[Left Book Club]] in 1937.<ref>Orwell, ''Facing Unpleasant Facts'', [[Secker & Warburg]] (new edition 2000), p. 12</ref> The first half of the book documents his social investigations of [[Lancashire]] and [[Yorkshire]], including an evocative description of working life in the coal mines. The second half is a long essay on his upbringing and the development of his political conscience, which includes an argument for socialism. Gollancz feared the second half would offend readers and added a disculpatory preface to the book while Orwell was in Spain.<ref>[[Ruth Dudley Edwards]], ''Victor Gollancz, a Biography'', pp. 246–247; quoted in ''A Kind of Compulsion: 1903–1936 (The Complete Works of George Orwell)'', p. 532.</ref> Orwell's research for ''The Road to Wigan Pier'' led to him being placed under surveillance by the [[Special Branch (Metropolitan Police)|Special Branch]] from 1936.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/PageNotFound/PageNotFound.aspx?url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2005/highlights_july/july19/default.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208064406/http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/releases/2005/highlights_july/july19/default.htm |url-status=dead |title=George Orwell under the watchful eye of Big Brother – The National Archives|archive-date=8 December 2011|website=www.nationalarchives.gov.uk}}</ref>

Orwell married O'Shaughnessy on 9 June 1936. Shortly afterwards, the political crisis began in Spain and Orwell followed developments there closely. At the end of the year, concerned by [[Francisco Franco]]'s military uprising, Orwell decided to go to Spain to take part in the [[Spanish Civil War]] on [[Second Spanish Republic|the Republican side]]. Under the erroneous impression that he needed papers from some left-wing organisation to cross the frontier, on [[John Strachey (politician)|John Strachey]]'s recommendation he applied unsuccessfully to [[Harry Pollitt]], leader of the [[British Communist Party]]. Pollitt was suspicious of Orwell's political reliability; he asked him whether he would undertake to join the [[International Brigades]] and advised him to get a safe-conduct from the Spanish Embassy in Paris.<ref>"Notes on the Spanish Militias" in Orwell in Spain, p. 278</ref> Not wishing to commit himself until he had seen the situation ''in situ'', Orwell instead used his Independent Labour Party contacts to get a letter of introduction to [[John McNair (UK politician)|John McNair]] in Barcelona.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ingle |first1=Stephen |title=George Orwell: A Political Life |date=1993 |publisher=Manchester University Press |page=41}}</ref>