In the aftermath of the Second World War, Europe was a dark place. Great cities lay in ruin, countrysides were pillaged and burnt, and the continent reeled from the effects of total war. This great conflict, which succeeded in taking millions of lives and destroying thousands of years of history, had been largely the result of totalitarian regimes seeking to impose their will on their own people and the peoples around them. This was the world which inspired George Orwell’s book, 1984. A world ruled by restrictive, manipulative governments, consumed by war, and dehumanizing to a degree unprecedented in human history. Orwell wrote his book with the assumption that, if totalitarian regimes were left unchecked, the entire globe would be consumed by their iron fist, and the evils of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia would be commonplace for the average citizen.
Orwell’s protagonist is a man named Winston Smith, who lives in what was previously known as England. Under the regime of the new super-state Oceania, England became known as Airstrip One, presumably because of its proximity to Oceania’s primary enemy, Eurasia. A large majority of Oceania’s population is considered proles, or the proletariat. Winston, however, is a member of the Outer Party, which is the nation’s middle class. Members of the Outer Party look down upon the proles with disdain, though the proles have a degree of freedom which Outer Party members do not have; they are not monitored endlessly by the Inner Party. The Inner Party is the ruling class of Oceania, which excersizes power over the rest of the nation. Inner Party members have access to many goods and accommodations about which Outer Party members can only dream, and they loom over the Outer Party like hawks. “Ingsoc,” or English Socialism, is the style of government enforced by the Inner Party, and by the Thought Police, which monitor peoples’ actions and thoughts. The Party actively revises its own history, eliminating “unpersons” and destroying undesired records. At the head of the Party is a mysterious figure known only as Big Brother. It is never made clear exactly who Big Brother is, or if he really exists at all, but the Party builds a cult of personality around him not unlike that of Stalin or Hitler. Big Brother’s face is projected at the end of regular brainwashing sessions, the Two Minutes Hate, providing Oceania’s citizens with someone to love after being taught to despise the Party’s enemies.
The Party imposes a new language on the people of Oceania called “Newspeak.” The language is an extremely simplified version of English, with a much narrowed vocabulary. Many organizations in the book are named in Newspeak: “Ingsoc,” or English Socialism; “Minitrue,” or Ministry of Truth, where Winston works; and “Miniluv,” or Ministry of Love, where Winston ends up being tortured later in the story. Newspeak is devised by the Party as a form of mind control. By limiting people’s vocabulary, the Party can eliminate ideas opposed to its regime, which are known as “thoughtcrime.” Newspeak is used alongside English in the book because it is a recent invention, but the Party wants to have everyone speaking it by 2050. The Party’s goal is to reduce people’s ability to think freely, and ultimately eliminate all dissent from Ingsoc. Winston, who edits historical records for the Party, begins to keep a journal, which is considered a major thoughtcrime. In this journal, he criticizes Big Brother and the Party, and expresses his desire for freedom from the restrictions of Ingsoc. Due to the ever watchful eyes of the Inner Party, his dissent is discovered, and he is tortured and “re-educated” until he recants and decides to love Big Brother.
Orwell’s inspiration for the totalitarian society of Oceania is quite clear. Ingsoc is based on the regimes of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and Fascist Italy. The Party’s style of propaganda, with the Two Minutes Hate and worship of Big Brother, reflects the propaganda used by the aforementioned non-fictional regimes. The Nazis, Fascists and Soviets all inspired hatred among their respective populations, targeted at people who opposed the regime internally or externally. Communists and Jews were scapegoated in Germany and Italy, and in Russia, people who had been loyal to the Soviet Party were hunted for dissidence under Stalin. The cult of personality surrounding Big Brother is also almost identical to that of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin, the only major difference being that Big Brother seems to never make a physical appearance, and may not actually exist. Otherwise, his purpose is the same; he serves as a figurehead of the Party, someone for the common people to rally behind, look up to, and worship. Just as the Thought Police detect and punish critics of Big Brother for their thought crimes in 1984, Stalin utilized the NKVD to purge anyone who opposed him, and Germans who disliked Hitler were often silenced by the Gestapo. Orwell combined and intensified the worst aspects of these actual totalitarian societies into his fictional regime, in an attempt to show the extent to which such regimes might go to consolidate power for themselves.
1984 is a warning about the risks of allowing totalitarian governments to exist unchecked. After two World Wars, Europe knew all too well the potential damages of totalitarianism. Nazi Germany, which was reflected by the political, military and propaganda machine of Oceania, had just been defeated. But Soviet Russia was still on the rise, and Stalin continued to consolidate power as always. Between purges, historical revisionism, and the cult of personality around Stalin himself, it probably did not seem unlikely to Orwell that the world might look like 1984 in 1984. The U.S.S.R. had a stranglehold on Eastern Europe after the war, and if it had not been faced with opposition from the U.S., it may have considered encroaching farther West, as in the book. Despite maintaining an oppresive regime for decades afterwards, the Soviets slowly backed down from Stalin’s totalitarianism through the second half of the 20th century. People across Europe and in Russia seem to have realized the danger of trusting in a totalitarian government, and began leaning towards more democratic and free ways of life. In contrast, 1984 presents an alternate timeline of events, in which people do not make this realization (or perhaps simply deny it,) and lean more aggressively towards totalitarianism.
When it was first written, Orwell’s dystopian future probably did not seem unlikely, especially to survivors of the Fascist and Nazi regimes, and to those who still lived under Soviet influence. Perhaps for the better, democracy has flourished instead of totalitarianism, and the wounds of postwar Europe have healed, albeit slowly in some cases. While 1984 explores the darkest potential of totalitarian governments, the regimes which gripped Europe never quite reached the extremes of Oceania. Even so, one can only imagine the oppression faced by people in our past, and 1984 provides vivid illustration of the extent to which that oppression could be taken. Orwell’s book remains a haunting reminder of one of the dark chapters of our past, and of the freedoms we are so blessed with in modern society.
Written April 2, 2016. Published April 7, 2015.
J.D. Smirl 