1984: The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism (Goldstein's book)

social structure of Oceania after the Revolution

small group of wealthy and powerful individuals

• own land and resources

• administer equal portions to the people

  • keeps the wealthy in power while maintaining an illusion of equality

early decades of the 20th century: war between Eurasia and Oceania

decade later: Eastasia evolved as another war country

war is no longer a “desperate struggle” as it was in the early 20th century

now a warfare of enemies who:

• are unable to destroy one another

• have no reason for fighting

• are not divided by any ideological differences

war hysteria (extreme punishments and slaughters of the enemy) is seen as normal and even rewarded if committed by one’s own side

motives for war are

• dominant

• consistently recognized

• acted upon

opposing forces:

• cannot annihilate each other

• possess no tangible reason for conflict

• not genuinely divided by ideological differences

Party has two primary objectives:

• conquer entire surface of Earth

• eradicate any potential for independent thought

Party’s pursuit of power not driven by specific purpose, just insatiable desire for dominance

• two kinds of power: external (conquering others) and internal (controlling feelings and beliefs)

• ultimate goal: complete control over both kinds

no longer, materially, anything to fight about

self-contained economies

• no scramble for markets

• production and consumption are geared towards one another

superstates are vast

• almost everything they need can be accessed from within its borders

real purpose of war: (cheap) labor power

disputed territories

• inhabitants: bottomless source of cheap labor

• openly reduce people to slaves

  • distributed from conqueror to conqueror

  • greatly expended

    • conquer more territory

    • control more labor power

    • produce more weapons

20th-century vision:

• masses did not want for anything

• society functioned efficiently

• people could live leisurely

• continuation of rapid scientific and technological development

priority is maintenance of hierarchal structure

• resources allocated to constant warfare instead of scientific progress

• keep lower society uneducated, easily manipulated

• led to population that lived mostly in poverty, subject to every whim of Party members in charge

impoverishment from long series of wars and revolutions

could not survive in strictly regimented society

• partly because scientific and technical progress depended on the empirical habit of thought

• use of outside knowledge and the questioning of ideas is necessary

Ingsoc hierarchy:

• Inner Party at the top

  • have a monopoly over history and facts

  • control the media that the uneducated public consume

  • control the Outer Party that lies below them in the hierarchy

• micromanaged free thinkers (perform the minor tasks of the Party that the Inner Party wouldn’t bother themselves with)

• ignorant masses are at the bottom (day workers in factories and in the military)

hierarchy of capitalism 1920-1940

• at the top are the politicians

  • in writing have similar jobs to the members of the Inner Party

  • they serve their voters (elected to power)

• businessmen

  • control the market

  • have to keep prices affordable to remain competitive in market

  • still helped the common people of their country

• workers (work in factories or farms to provide the physical capital)

comparison

• Ingsoc: hierarchy only benefits the top, with the bottom providing these benefits

• capitalism: all members receiving benefits, albeit in unequal amounts

strict, abiding, and fearless personality

• can be portrayed and seen in situations of any intensity or level

key: strength in purity and passion

• brings out what a true Party member is expected and assumed to retain in order to be a loyal contributor

providing and presenting to the highest allows respect and faith to seep in

• gives the sense of loyalty the Party desires in its people

overall:

• one must suit the needs of the Party

• no second thought or contradicting notion to morals or ulterior motives

subjugation to the rules is necessary to the highest degree regardless of how the government is operated

• showing no emotion and showing strength in these situations is what it means to be ideal

conquer the whole surface of the earth

extinguish the possibility of independent thought

having absolute control means eliminating any doubt by using doublethink

• every action carefully cultivated to give Party the most control they can obtain over the people

• corrupting science, books, technological practices

powers are limited; strive for:

• complete and total control over the mind

• ability to wipe several hundred million people quickly

so citizens don’t discover that foreigners live similar lives as they do

so they don’t discover that everything that the Party said about foreigners were lies

constantly at war with one another

utilize war to control their populations

oppressive

have semi-divine figures that they worship (e.g. Big Brother)

follow strict orthodox policies

• Oceania: Ingsoc

• Eurasia: Neo-Bolshevism

• Eastasia: Chinese; Death-worship or Obliteration of the Self

similar social hierarchies

extremely isolated

unconquerable

the three superstates are not able to destroy each other through war

all fighting in Oceania’s wars are on frontlines so most citizens do not see the fighting

war is used as an excuse to use up goods

• otherwise would have made the Proles and Outer Party members comfortable and able to rebel

• enables them to prevent rebellions by destroying all excess materials

object of war: keep the social hierarchy intact, bringing stability to society

remain in power

sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose

• belief in themselves

• capacity to govern efficiently

• both

switch places with the High

• High are overthrown by Middle, who enlist the Low by pretending to fight for liberty and justice

• when the Middle become High, they thrust the Low back down

create a society with equality for everyone

often too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives

revolutions of the past have not brought greater equality

often been followed by large periods of recession

true equality can only be achieved through a global revolution that overthrows all forms of oppression

the revolutions of the past have created a cycle which temporarily brings greater equality for the middle groups but inevitably ends up with a new group in power and others being still repressed

• High, Middle, and Low

• Middle overthrows the High in search of greater power and freedom

• High group then becomes part of the Low and the Middle group becomes the High

• Low never gain anything and are always oppressed

humans are materially and physically better off than they were before but equality only runs in a cycle of power and oppression 

combination of:

• surveillance

• thought control

• propaganda

• elimination of opposition

• establishment of hierarchal social structure

constant surveillance: effective way of maintaining control over the population

• end of private life

• all other channels of communication closed

no, likely not real

does not matter

• idea of presence and dominance is enough to control the totalitarian society

• just the idea of him watching and being in control

Party membership is theoretically not hereditary

• admission to either branch of Party through examination (16 years old)

  • no racial discrimination

  • no marked domination of one province over another

• Oceania’s rules held together by adherence to common doctrine, not blood ties

  • not centralized

  • only common elements: English is lingua franca, Newspeak is official language

• society is rigidly stratified on what appear to be hereditary lines

  • certain amount of interchange

    • weaklings are excluded from Inner Party

    • ambitious members in Outer Party made harmless by being allowed to rise

in practice: proletarians not allowed to graduate into the Party

• if gifted: eliminated by Thought Police

Newspeak; a person simply stops by instinct when they think of doing something dangerous

includes:

• not understanding language like analogies

• not being able to perceive logical errors

• misunderstanding simple arguments

refers to “protective stupidity”

part of how the Party uses ignorance and doublethink against the people to help control them

Newspeak; two contradictory meanings

opponent: habit of absent-mindedly claiming that black is white despite evidence to the contrary

Party member: loyal willingness to say that black is white when the Party says so

• believing and knowing this is true; forgetting that you ever thought otherwise

principles: doublethink, mutability of the past

doublethink: having two contradictory thoughts while believing both to be true

mutability of the past: changing records to align with the present

goal of mutability of the past:

• ensure all records agree with orthodoxy

• rearrange memories and tamper with media

• forget that one has tampered with evidence (doublethink)

“He understood how; he did not understand why” (217)

book confirmed Winston’s personal opinions

• justified his resistance to the Party

• failed to introduce any new information

satisfied him but left him curious to understand the Brotherhood and Goldstein’s actions

• “how” and “why” italicized: thought-provoking words portraying curiosity; demonstrate desire to learn more

near-complete control that the Party has over the population

• Party’s ideals are not sane (rapid switch of enemy/ally)

  • population still followed the Party

Winston is right, but everyone else thinks he is crazy

• doesn’t matter how many people think you’re wrong if you’re actually right

differences

• 1984 is totalitarianism to an extreme

  • North Korea: extreme, puts many limits on citizens

  • Oceania: even more manipulative (telescreens)

    • strict, highly dystopian (thoughtcrime, Thought Police)

similarities

• place intense regulations on people

• prohibit many “normal” things

• limiting media, products, freedom