Orwell was commissioned to write this book by his publisher
Victor Gollancz, a campaigner for left- wing causes and the
founder of the Left Book Club. It comprises two journeys. The
first finds Orwell in investigative journalist mode, as he
embarks on a physical journey amongst industrial workers in
the economically depressed north of England, investigating and
describing the causes and symptoms of poverty. The second is a
journey of the mind, which takes the form of a long essay in which
Orwell explores his own middleclass background, English attitudes to
social class, the development of political consciousness and the reasons
behind the average English person's resistance to socialism.