Insights into Oligarchical Collectivism and Class System in Orwell's 1984
In George Orwell's "1984," the disruptive events of Hate Week reveal the manipulative nature of the Party, as Oceania unexpectedly shifts enemies from Eurasia to Eastasia. The book explores the themes of oligarchical collectivism through Emmanuel Goldstein's book and the rigid class system that divides society into the High, the Middle, and the Low. The perpetual struggle for power and equality among these classes sheds light on the dynamics of control and rebellion in a totalitarian regime.
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1984 BOOK 2, CH. 9 NOTES Goldstein s Book
"Oceania was at war with Eastasia! The next moment there was a tremendous commotion. The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong! Quite half of them had the wrong faces on them. It was sabotage! The agents of Goldstein had been at work! There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls, banners torn to shreds and trampled underfoot. The Spies performed prodigies of activity in clambering over the rooftops and cutting the streamers that fluttered from the chimneys. But within two or three minutes it was all over. The orator, still gripping the neck of the microphone, his shoulders hunched forward, his free hand clawing at the air, had gone straight on with his speech. One minute more, and the feral roars of rage were again bursting from the crowd. The Hate continued exactly as before, except that the target had been changed" (Orwell 181).
BEGINNING OF BOOK 2, CH. 9 Winston's work week explodes during Hate Week - it was "discovered" halfway through Hate Week that Oceania was really at war with Eastasia! This means that five years worth of records needed to be updated, so Minitrue was a busy place. Winston also receives The Book, and reads two chapters (1 and 3).
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM BY EMMANUEL GOLDSTEIN Oligarchical relating to a state governed by a few Collectivism - a political or economic theory advocating collective control. especially over production and distribution
CLASS SYSTEM "Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, The High, the Middle, and the Low" (Orwell 184). "The essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable " (184).
CLASS SYSTEM The aim of the High is to remain where they are (201). The aim of the Low, [when they have one], is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal (201). The aim of the Middle is to become the High.
GEOGRAPHY Three great superstates Russia absorbed Europe (Eurasia) The United States absorbed the British Empire (Oceania) The third emerged after a decade of confused fighting (Eastasia)
GEOGRAPHY Geographical lines Eurasia - compromises the whole of the northern part of the European and Asiatic land-mass, from Portugal to the Bering Strait Oceania - comprises the Americas, the Atlantic islands including the British Isles, Australasia, and the southern portion of Africa Eastasia - smaller than the others and with a less definite western frontier, comprises China and the countries to the south of it, the Japanese islands, and a large but fluctuating portion of Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet
WAR "In one combination or another, these three superstates are permanently at war, and have been so for the past twenty-five years" (185). "War, however, is no longer the desperate, annihilating struggle that it was in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting, and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference" (186). "In the centers of civilization war means no more than the continuous shortage of goods, and the occasional crash of a rocket bomb which may cause a few scores of deaths" (186).
WAR "There is no longer, in a material sense, anything to fight about" (187). "In any case, each of the three superstates is so vast that it can obtain almost all of the materials that it needs within its own boundaries. In so far as the war has a direction economic purpose, it is a war for labor power" (187).
WAR Disputed Areas A rough quadrilateral (at its corners Tangier, Brazzaville, Darwin, and Hong Kong) Contain a fifth of the population of earth Contain valuable minerals and vegetable products such as rubber
WAR Disputed Areas Contain bottomless reserve of cheap labor = hundreds of millions of ill- paid and hardworking coolies Coolies are reduced to slaves who obey the current conqueror of the area This cheap labor is not necessary to the world, but it quickens the rate of continuous warfare Fighting only occurs at the edges of the disputed areas Balance of power remains the same
THE AIM OF MODERN WARFARE "The primary aim of modern warfare is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living" (188). People envisioned a rich future beyond 1914, but it failed because of the atomic war of the 1950's Therefore, the world is more primitive than it was fifty years ago
THE AIM OF MODERN WARFARE Experiment and invention have stopped (aside from technology used for warfare and police espionage) While a world where everyone has enough to eat and has luxuries while a small caste of people have the power is ideal, this society in practice could not remain stable "For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away (190).
THE AIM OF MODERN WARFARE Poverty and ignorance become the solution to maintaining a hierarchy (must keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world)
"THE ESSENTIAL ACT OF WAR IS DESTRUCTION" (191) destruction of human labor (not of human lives) A Floating Fortress - a navy-like cargo ship that holds supplies The goal is to "eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population" (191) For the classes, the "state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another" i.e. Inner Party Members have "luxuries" been their lives aren't wildly extravagant (191).
THE PARTY MEMBERS & FOREIGN AFFAIRS (OR LACK THEREOF) Party Members must be ignorant, yet competent, industrious, fearful, hateful, and passionate Two aims of the party are To conquer the whole surface of the earth To extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought
THE PARTY MEMBERS & FOREIGN AFFAIRS (OR LACK THEREOF) There should be no contact with foreigners except for war prisoners, or else Oceania citizens would realize the lies the Party feeds them Philosophies: Oceania = INGSOC, Eurasia = Neo-Bolshevism, Eastasia =a Chinese name usually translated as Death-worship or Obliteration of the Self. Other states have the same pyramidical structure, the same worship of a semi-divine leader, the same economy existing by and for continuous warfare (197).
THE PARTY MEMBERS & FOREIGN AFFAIRS (OR LACK THEREOF) When war becomes literally continuous, it also ceases to be dangerous (198). The object of war is not to win against other nations, but it is to make sure the structure of society remains the same WAR IS PEACE
ORIGINS OF INGSOC A new aristocracy started INGSOC (English Socialism) The invention of print made it easier for manipulation Private life (and private property) came to an end
ORIGINS OF INGSOC Big Brother is infallible and all-powerful (208). Inner Party admission is considered at age (16) no racial discrimination Outer Party Proles ( dumb masses ) English chief lingua franca and Newspeak official language Thought Police scrutinizes all acts and thoughts, although there is no law (211)
ORIGINS OF INGSOC Crimestop the faculty of stopping short at the threshold of any dangerous thought Blackwhite the habit of impudently claiming that black is white, in contradiction of the plain facts Doublethink the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them
