1984: Book Review

1984, George Orwell (Eric Blair) was a British novelist, journalist, and poet, focusing on totalitarianism. World War II gave the world the horrors of Naziism and the Cold War, communism. Orwell was declared unfit for military duty during WWII (he would die of tuberculosis in 1950). Instead, he became a journalist, including broadcasting for the BBC. Then he mixed journalism, essays, and novel writing, including Animal Farm. 1984 was published in 1949, becoming a dystopian classic.

The major themes of 1984 were extreme totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and repression. The key to the elites was power, not wealth, only power—collective power. Presumably, this totalitarian state is modeled after the extreme features of both Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Technological progress focuses exclusively on military hardware and the surveillance state. Economically, it was a failed state with no interest in economic progress or efficiency.  

My biggest objection was the focus exclusively on power. Power has been key to villainous elites throughout history, but they have consistently been interested in wealth as well. Of course, that was the people at the top. Below that, power was likely enough (plus corruption, if possible). Big Brother is on top, but this is a figurehead with no evidence of reality. The Mega state was Oceania, always at war with Eurasia or Eastasia. War used all economic surplus, so there were no funds that could be used to benefit people. Of course, they were never made aware of this. One problem is economies, efficient or not, need considerable information to work at all (and avoid nihilism). Just logistics, moving supplies, for example. That did not seem likely in this Orwellian world.

Emmanuel Goldstein, the Enemy of the People, subject of two-minute hate, commander of a vast shadow army to overthrow the state. No external records were available for reference. The past was effectively destroyed: “The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth” (p. 83). Winston Smith understood how, just not why. “The heresy of heresies was common sense. … The Party told you to reject the evidence of your own eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command” (p. 88-9). 

There is a dystopian plot. Winston Smith is in the Outer Party, a bureaucratic drone working in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, to rewrite historical documents to conform to the Party Line. Unfortunately, he has some critical thinking skills and really opposes the system. He meets Julia, also a member of the Outer Party, with resentment, and they defy the system. They meet O’Brien as a member of the resistance and volunteer. O’Brien is part of the Thought Police and accumulates evidence of their “crimes.” They are arrested and Smith essentially never sees her again. He is tortured and expected to be killed. Instead, he is eventually released with what’s left of his mental faculties and that is where the book ends.

The magic of 1984 terminology:

Big Brother is watching you. War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.

Newspeak (moving from Oldspeak): working on the 11th edition of the Newspeak Dictionary, making thoughtcime impossible.

Doublethink (part of reality control). “To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, to use logic against logic …” (p. 39).

Two Minute Hate.

Thoughtcrime, the mere thought not in accordance of the party line.

Speakwrite (Winston Smith’s job, to change the news: “substituting one piece of nonsense for another.” “Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version” (p. 46).

Ingsoc (English Socialism, meaning totalitarian ideology of Oceania).

Thought Police, the Secret Police of Oceania.

Proles, for proletariat, the working-class people or “disregarded masses,” 85% of the population. They are the lower classes, but have the most freedom, away from Inner Party surveillance.

Ministry of Truth (news, entertainment, education, and fine arts). Ministry of Peace (war). Ministry of Love (law and order). Ministry of Plenty (economic affairs). In Newspeak: Minitrue, Minipax, Miniluv, and Miniplenty. They essentially served the inverse function of their names.

Well, “1984 speak” is commonplace, absolutely in authoritarian states in multiple forms. Unfortunately, it shows up in the US and other democracies and possibly getting worse. Much of it is propaganda, but increasingly beyond the pale. Even worse, authoritarianism has been growing stronger in the 21st century: Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, but also Turkey, Hungary, Egypt, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, and Myanmar. Democracies are fragile. Project 2025 seems to be a manual on turning a democracy authoritarian.