An Inspector Calls, Social Murder and Blame
15 May 2025
Content Warnings: Transphobia, Ableism, Sexual Exploitation, Murder, Suicide
An Inspector Calls is a 1945 play by English writer J. B. Priestly. It follows the rich Birling family in 1912 who's night of celebration is interrupted when an inspector arrives at their door. Inspector Goole comes to the family with the news that a young girl, Eva Smith, has just committed suicide and, over the course of the play, explains how each member of the Birling family was involved in the events leading to her death.
Arthur Birling, the patriarch, kicks off the chain of events by firing Eva from his company after she leads a protest for better wages.
She then gets a job at Milwards, a clothing store in the town and particular favourite of Arthur's daughter, Sheila Birling. While helping Sheila find a dress she would like, Eva holds one of them up against herself. Sheila is wracked with jealousy for how much better the dress suits Eva in comparison to her, so she complains to the company and gets Eva fired again.
Then, the Inspector turns to the mother of the family, Sybil Birling, who works for a women's charity. Eva came to the charity looking for help after a man got her pregnant then refused to support her. Sybil refused to help her, saying "it was her business to make [the father] responsible."
Finally, it is revealed that the son of the family, Eric Birling, was the very man who got Eva pregnant, starting a relationship with her after picking her up off the street. He began helping her with money he stole from the family accounts, but Eva refused to take any more stolen money, so turned to the women's charity for help.
Out of two jobs, pregnant and with no support from family or institutions, Eva kills herself by drinking disinfectant. It is a terrible situation and the characters react with horror each time the Inspector describes it, in all its gruesome detail.
The Inspector blames each and every member of the Birling family for Eva's death, but only some of them take responsibility. By the end of the play, both children take full responsibility for their actions and feel terrible. "I felt rotten about it at the time and now I feel a lot worse," says Sheila after being grilled by the Inspector. Eric is entirely defeated by the end, he spends much of the final act quiet, only chipping in to agree with Sheila's points against their parents.
Opposing this, the Birling parents deny all blame. Arthur says "I can't accept any responsibility," after his interrogation, and stays that way through to the end. Sybil deflects her blame onto the anonymous man who got Eva pregnant. When it is revealed that it was her son, she throws wild accusations at everyone in an effort to save herself, she blames Arthur for starting it, and Eric for being the reason Eva appealed to the women's charity in the first place.
MRS B. Eric, I'm absolutely ashamed of you.
ERIC. Well, I don't blame you. But don't forget I'm ashamed of you as well — yes both of you.
BIRLING (Angrily). Drop that. There's every excuse for what both your mother and I did.
The conditions leading up to Eva's suicide (especially those involving Arthur and Sybil) might be described as "social murder". Coined by Friedrich Engels in his text The Condition of the Working-Class in England, social murder refers to deaths cause by societal oppression. Engels gives the example of a man who is put out of his job and then starves on the street. While the court rules his cause of death as starvation, the person who fired him, and the people who did nothing when they could have helped him, were also to blame.
In Eva's case, Arthur and Sheila both put her out of work, Eric exploits her while she's vulnerable, and Sybil refuses her welfare. All of these actions push Eva further and further to the brink of society, until she has no choice but to kill herself.
Priestly was a staunch leftist. His work on the BBC radio show "Postscripts" helped inspire people during World War Two, and he used the platform to call for social change after the war ended [1]. These broadcasts may have helped the Labour Party win the 1945 general election, the first election after the war was over.
80 years later, in 2025, the very same Labour party is pushing some of the most vulnerable people in our society to the brink. Since March, the government has been discussing reforms to benefit schemes that will put serious financial strain on some of the people who need it the most. One of the most controversial reforms is those being made to Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a welfare system designed to help disabled people cover extra costs they incur because of their disabilities. The reforms involve raising the bar that disabled people must cross in order to be eligible for the help, which would exclude over 1.3 million people who currently receive it [2]. PIP is designed to allow disabled people to afford the additional accommodations they require, it is not a replacement for working wages, and it is certainly not "pocket money", as Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves compared it to [3].
Additionally, in April, the Supreme Court made a ruling with huge ramifications for the transgender community. It declares, legally, that sex is assigned at birth and cannot change [4]. This is a huge step back for trans rights in the UK. Since that ruling, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have advised that transgender people be forced to use the toilets for their assigned sex at birth, but also that some transgender people may be refused from entering single sex toilets at all [5].
INSPECTOR. And so you used the power you had [...] to punish the girl just because she made you feel like that?
These legislations will kill people, some of the most vulnerable people in our society, and those who let them pass will not take any responsibility for their actions. This is social murder in action. As Priestly would put it:
INSPECTOR. We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other. And I tell you that the time will soon come when, if men will not learn that lesson, then they will be taught it in fire and blood and anguish.
This line was originally an allusion to both World Wars, which occured between the time the play is set and the time it was written. But as a modern viewer, I can't help but compare it to the killing of the United Healthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, in December 2024. I'm not the first person to compare the actions of healthcare CEOs to social murder [6], but the question persists: How many deaths was he responsible for indirectly? How many people have died because of greedy private health insurance companies who refuse to cover the care people expect of them? Some have said that it was only a matter of time until the pressure got too high and someone popped the bubble.[7]
Could a similar thing happen in the UK? I doubt it. Would people celebrate in the same way many Americans did? [8] Who knows. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about the words the killer inscribed on the bullets they fired: Delay, Deny, Depose; fire, and blood, and anguish.
But there is hope. I have been attending demonstrations against both the Supreme Court rulings and PIP legislation. I myself am trans, and multiple of my trans friends receive PIP, so these causes are particularly close to my heart. Being at these demonstrations has reminded me that I am not alone, that there are plenty of people - trans and cis, disabled and abled - who will fight alongside us for these amazing causes.
INSPECTOR. But just remember this. One Eva Smith has gone — but there are millions and millions and millions of Eva Smiths and John Smiths still left with us, with their lives, their hopes and fears, their suffering and chance of happiness, all intertwined with our lives, and what we think and say and do. We don't live alone. We are members of one body. We are responsible for each other.
Unfortunately, the Inspector didn't give a name for the nonbinary Smiths of the world.
Citations
[1] Biography, The J.B. Priestly Society. https://jbpriestleysociety.com/biography/
[2] Revealed: 1.3 million people with cancer, arthritis and more could lose PIP under Labour's benefit cuts, Chaminda Jayanetti for Big Issue. https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/disability-benefit-cuts-pip-labour-cancer-arthritis/
[3] Chancellor compares slashing benefits to cutting children's pocket money - as she reveals how much her kids get, Henry Moore for LBC. https://www.lbc.co.uk/hot-topics/spring-statement-2025/rachel-reeves-pocket-money-spring-statement-benefits-cuts-budget/
[4] UK Supreme Court rules legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex, Ben Hatton for BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cvgq9ejql39t
[5] EHRC issues guidance on single-sex spaces after Supreme Court ruling, Xander Elliards for The National. https://www.thenational.scot/news/25117418.ehrc-issues-guidance-single-sex-spaces-supreme-court-ruling/
[6] The Shooting That Was Inevitable, Sarah Jones for New York. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/unitedhealthcare-shooting-inevitable.html
[7] Was Brian Thompson the Canary in the Coalmine? Ronke Babajide on Medium. https://medium.com/bouncin-and-behavin-blogs/was-brian-thompson-the-canary-in-the-coalmine-b7094b877ff8
[8] The People Cheering the UnitedHealthcare CEO Shooting, Nia Prater for New York. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/unitedhealthcare-ceo-shooting-celebrations.html