Its occurrence is visible throughout history, and it is prevalent. Nationalism is the name that Orwell gives to the propensity of "identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no other duty than that of advancing its interests". Orwell compares Nazism with other forms of nationalistic ideologies to generate an overall argument and questions the function of nationalism. Nazism is used as an example of how nationalism can cause havoc between groups of people and can instigate ignorance within those groups. The essay was written during the final stages of World War II while Europe had just witnessed the destructive effects of political movements. A short introduction, based on material supplied by Orwell, preceded the translated abridgements. The article was abridged in the translated versions by omitting details of particular relevance to British readers. The essay was soon translated into French and Dutch, Italian and Finnish (in which the word nationalism was represented by chauvinisme). He specifies that this is not a standard use of the term 'nationalism', but is instead a placeholder for a term that would better characterise this unreflective partisanship. In the essay, Orwell uses the term nationalism to pick out a tendency to think in terms of 'competitive prestige' and argues that it causes people to disregard common sense and become more ignorant towards facts. Political theorist Gregory Claeys insists it is a key source for understanding Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
'Notes on Nationalism ' is an essay completed in May 1945 by George Orwell and published in the first issue of the British magazine Polemic in October 1945.
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