Socialism in Harry Potter

Time for a fun post! I really enjoy reading, and I have had the chance to read all sorts of books over the years, yet with every one that I read, I discover five new ones. Beside the fact that I feel like I’m always catching up, I have developed a knack for eyeing political or ideological themes in unexpected novels. You’re pretty much guaranteed to come across something like socialism in academic books such as The Road to Serfdom, but what about … bear with me … Harry Potter? Maybe it’s just me and my nerdy fascination with the series, just trying to find a way to write about it on this blog, but I definitely have caught many political undertones in Rowling’s books. I actually had to take a second look at them to notice this, because the first time around I was too caught up in the magic (no pun intended). Since there are seven books, to keep it brief, I’m going to talk about one in particular: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Comparing this book to the ideas presented in The Road to Serfdom, by F.A. Hayek, we can see that Rowling is warning us about the totalitarian tendencies of socialism.

The scene: Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, and the whole magical world that Harry Potter lives in, has become darker as rumors of the dark lord (Voldemort) predict his return. This leaves all the witches and wizards in a helpless and worried state. This moment of vulnerability is when fear can lead to the handing over of power to someone who seems more wise to handle it. The Ministry of Magic (the governmental body in the magical world) does this by assigning a senior ministry official, Dolores Umbridge, to "take care" of Hogwarts (the school of witchcraft and wizardry). As described in Hayek's book, this fear and ease to hand over power is what leads to socialism and thus totalitarianism, eventually. Hayek's idea is much more large-scale and applicable to the government of countries such as Germany and Russia, while in Harry Potter, it happens on the small scale in the school of Hogwarts. Throughout the novel, Umbridge's power over the school progresses as she starts as a teacher and then becomes the headmaster of the entire school. She works her way through the hierarchy by using her leverage as an ambassador from the Ministry of Magic. Umbridge often develops loyalty and justifies her actions by saying it is all:

"...for the greater good."

 This is exactly what Hayek warns us about when he writes:

“Where there is one common all-overriding end there is no room for any general morals or rules… Where a few specific ends dominate the whole of society, it is inevitable that occasionally cruelty may become a duty, that acts which revolt all our feeling, such as the shooting of hostages or the killing of the old or sick, should be treated as mere matters of expediency.... There is always in the eyes of the collectivist a greater goal which these acts serve and which to him justifies them because the pursuit of the common end of society can know no limits in any rights or values of any individual.”

By stating her "greater goal" of bettering the Ministry of Magic, Umbridge proves herself as a classic collectivist. By keeping her ends constant, she opens up a world of possibilities and cruelty by which she achieves them.  Some examples of Umbridge's cruelty include her unorthodox punishment of students, firing of staff who don't meet Ministry "standards," and making endless rules. These ingredients to her equation do exactly what she wants them to do; cause fear.

Umbridge uses her power as headmaster of the school to implement stricter rules on the students. She constantly struggles to obtain more organization and complete control of the entire school. She institutes very silly, specific rules such as:

 "Boys and girls are not to be within eight inches of each other."

She even provides propaganda to keep the students loyal. She offers a deal where extra credit can be obtained if students stay after class to study with her. The students that stay end up being the usual troublemakers, Draco Malfoy and his posse. Umbridge uses this group of tough students to act as behind-the-scene enforcers of her doctrines. This is similar to Hayek's explanation of a dictator's path to a position of power. Hayek writes that in order for a single individual to obtain complete control, they present incentives and bribery to one small portion of the population in order to use them as nobility over and against the rest of the population.

Despite her complete control, Umbridge develops a fear of rebellious students and continuously implements stricter rules. She then greatly filters the curriculum to which the  the students are accustomed. She presents a more theoretical approach of her class "Defense Against the Dark Arts" and provides no practical use in it for the students. By doing this, she limits the essential education that the students have for surviving in the world after they graduate. She limits their education in the hope of preventing revolt. This goes along with Hayek's notion that once the concept of socialism is accepted in a society, it will lead to complete control by the government, or in other words: totalitarianism.

However, Umbridge's intentions are fought against by Harry Potter when he creates a society of students called Dumbledore's Army. This society meets in secret and educates itself in preparation for Voldemort's return. Thankfully, this society, along with the Order of the Phoenix (a secret society organized by adult witches and wizards) help take down Voldemort and eventually shed light on Dolores Umbridge's controversial practices. Although greatly outnumbered, Harry Potter and his supporters use their belief in liberty to unite and bring justice to Hogwarts.

This is very similar to how important it is to remain active in our lives and protect our rights. It is easy to fall asleep and let others take control, essentially signing over our rights. When we hand these over, an all-powerful leader will only use them to our own destruction. I think Voltaire summed it up all very well when he wrote in Candide that we must cultivate our own gardens.


Have you noticed any political messages in unexpected books or movies? Feel free to post them in the comments section.