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Comments on What is "these gentry" in Marxist writing?

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What is "these gentry" in Marxist writing?

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In George Orwell's essay "Politics and the English Language", he refers to "[t]he jargon peculiar to Marxist writing (hyena, hangman, cannibal, petty bourgeois, these gentry, lackey, flunkey, mad dog, White Guard, etc.)". Seemingly these gentry means something other than simply "the aforementioned gentry" or "the local gentry". But I can't seem to find any such meaning with a Web search. Does anyone know what it means?

(For example, the phrase appears in Marx's July 11, 1868, letter to Kugelmann, but seems there to refer to a particular kind of gentry referred to earlier in the letter. These gentry is thus not a set phrase there.)

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posted over 3 years ago
3y ago
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msh210‭
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Lundin‭ wrote over 3 years ago · edited over 3 years ago
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The context seems to be him giving examples of words imported from other languages, gentry originating from French and referring to noblemen, easy enough to Google, see this. What makes you think it has any special meaning?

msh210‭ wrote over 3 years ago
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@Lundin, did you read the entirety of my question? I'm asking what these gentry means as a phrase, which seems to be how he means it. Perhaps there's a way I can make my question clearer?

Moshi‭ wrote over 3 years ago
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@msh210 If you're asking that, why not ask about the petty bourgeois or mad dog? Those are also phrases without a specific idiomatic meaning.

msh210‭ wrote over 3 years ago
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@Moshi, there are untold questions one can ask and a finite lifespan to ask them in. Right now I'm asking this one.