Preface by Giancarlo RossiniThe road to Wigan Pier is brilliantly divided into two parts, a first that uncovers the appalling living conditions of millions of people who are suddenly deprived of access to livelihoods, and a second that outlines possible solutions. Orwell starts from the analysis of the conditions of the miners ("Our civilization, with all due respect to Chesterton, is based on coal [..] The machines that keep us alive, and the machines that create the machines, all depend directly or indirectly on coal "), then proceeds by considering as their potential allies in the struggle for redemption, all the variegated components of the lower levels of the social pyramid: the teacher with a starving income, the unemployed Cambridge student, the commander without a ship, shop assist
