--- title: "Elon Musk Signals Support for Militant Socialist" description: "Elon Musk has once again signaled his love for novelist George Orwell – without acknowledging the writer's well-known political stance." date: "2023-10-16" modified: "2023-10-16" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/elon-musk-socialist-orwell-shirt" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "george orwell" - "politics" - "socialism" --- # Elon Musk Signals Support for Militant Socialist ![Elon Musk has once again signaled his love for novelist George Orwell – without acknowledging the writer's well-known political stance.]() *PARIS, FRANCE - JUNE 16: Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of Twitter, Elon Musk attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre on June 16, 2023 in Paris, France. Elon Musk is visiting Paris for the VivaTech show where he gives a conference in front of 4,000 technology enthusiasts. He also took the opportunity to meet Bernard Arnaud, CEO of LVMH and the French President. Emmanuel Macron, who has already met Elon Musk twice in recent months, hopes to convince him to set up a Tesla battery factory in France, his pioneer company in electric cars. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) \Image: Getty Images\* Multi-hyphenate billionaire Elon Musk has once again signaled his love for [novelist George Orwell]() — without, it seems, realizing the author's well-known far-left political stance that directly contradicts his own worldview. In a [Friday the 13th post](), the owner of the social network formerly known as Twitter — who [blames communism]() for why his daughter won't talk to him anymore — said that he is "loving" a new shirt that featured the all-seeing "Big Brother" eye from "Nineteen Eighty-Four," the British author's best-known work that [serves as a cautionary tale]() against totalitarianism and surveillance. Underneath the eye on the shirt are the words "What would Orwell think." What he'd probably think, if he was alive today? That it's weird that an industrialist as anti-communist as Musk would be promoting his work, since Orwell himself was [such an avowed democratic socialist]() that he literally fought fascists in the Spanish Civil War and [wrote a book]() about it. Orwell's socialism is so well-known, in fact, that earlier this year [Stanford University Press published a book]() about his views titled "The Socialist Patriot." Socialism was pretty much Orwell's main thing — but for whatever reason, that seems to have been lost in translation for Musk. By contrast, Musk's politics — which are [sloppy at best]() and [self-serving at worst]() — would by any definition be far to the right of Orwell's. Just look at his regressive thinking on issues ranging from [transgender rights]() and [race relations]() to [union busting]() and the [unfettered capitalism]() he practiced to become the world's richest person. https://twitter.com/dieworkwear/status/1713018209828528216 This isn't the first time the South African-born billionaire has broadcasted his Orwell fandom. In July, [he posted a photo](), sans caption, of himself wearing a green hat that says "Make Orwell Fiction Again," another idiomatic reference to a [very different cultural meme](). In an astute read on the situation, [one Reddit user]() observed that Musk seems to have adopted 1984 as part of his personal brand as part of his turn towards right-wing culture wars and conspiracy theories. It's not the first time Musk seems to have broadly missed the point of one of his favorite books. As the [*New Yorker* pointed out in an excoriating essay](), Musk's cherished "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" books by Douglas Adams aren't a celebration of his galaxy-conquering dreams but a "razor-sharp satiric indictment of imperialism." Political science has often seemed to beguile Musk, especially when he invokes leftist vocabulary in ways that make him sound confused. Back in the summer of 2018, for instance, [when he was worth a mere $21 billion]() and his desire to buy Twitter was [just a twinkle in his eye](), Musk claimed on the social network that he was "[a socialist]()." "Marx was a capitalist," he [quipped in followup]() "He even wrote a book about it," he added, presumably referring to Karl Marx's searing indictment of capitalism titled "Das Kapital." "By the way, I am actually a socialist," [Musk continued in the 2018 thread](). "Just not the kind that shifts resources from most productive to least productive, pretending to do good, while actually causing harm. True socialism seeks greatest good for all." Is that good for all served by buying one of the world's largest social networks and letting it become a [cesspool of right wing extremism and misinformation]()? We'll let readers decide. But the reality, of course, is that anyone who's *really* understood "Nineteen Eight-Four" knows that George Orwell wouldn't be able to stand a control freak power tripper like Elon Musk. **More on Musk:** [*Elon Musk Is in Big Trouble Over the Israel-Palestine Violence*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()