The weakness
of all Utopias is this, that they take the greatest difficulty of man and assume it to
be overcome, and then give an elaborate account of the overcoming of the smaller ones.
C. K. Chesterton,
Heretics
I
think the above quote states pretty accurately what Orwell had in mind. Changing
institutions does not change human nature, which is "the greatest difficulty of man."
Some people will work hard, cooperate, and share with others, but there will always be
those who don't want to work, don't want to share, and don't want to cooperate. And
there will always be the ones who want to tell the others what to
do.
B. F. Skinner's novel Walden Two is a good example of
a utopian experiment in which a large commune functions perfectly because the author, a
famous psychologist, ignores the differences in human character and simply assumes that
everyone will live in harmony and common purpose. A different picture of a utopian
commune is to be found in the infamous Jonestown Massacre, where over nine hundred
people were persuaded by the monomaniacal leader to commit
suicide.
Please refer to the links
below.
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