George Orwell’s 1984: A Warning Against Totalitarianism

George Orwell’s 1984 is a renowned, modern classic and for good reason. Published in 1949, Orwell sought to tell a story of a futuristic, dystopian Britain in the year 1984. Many of Orwell’s innovative themes outlined in the book have engraved themselves in the common lexicon and remain incredibly relevant today; think concepts like ‘Big Brother’, ‘Thought Police’ or ‘Doublethink’. Yet, many of the themes in 1984 were not simply hypotheticals, rather Orwell’s book is a warning of the dangers of totalitarianism and is based heavily on historical cases, particularly Stalinist Russia.

1984 tells the story of Winston Smith. Winston is a member of the nation Oceania and he lives in Airstrip One, a fictional representation of London. Winston is a low-level member of Ingsoc, more commonly referred to in the book as simply The Party. In this dystopian world, The Party rules over everyone and everything. With ‘Big Brother’ watching all, Ingsoc is omniscient and omnipresent as it keeps a sharp and fervent eye over its citizens.

Publicly, Winston is a good party member; he says the right things, he denounces the right people and he performs his job of truth-fabrication well. Yet, Winston does not believe in Ingsoc or its values and he takes steps throughout the book to engage in increasingly treasonous acts. From the simple act of writing, to a secret love affair, and ultimately joining a proscribed rebel group, Winston continuously puts his life at risk as he defies The Party. Ultimately, Orwellian is an adjective used to describe the complete power of a political system, and accordingly, Winston is ensnared in the grasp of the dreaded ‘Thought Police’ and is subsequently ‘corrected’.

While the world of 1984 may initially seem like a thought experiment for a far-fetched future, Orwell drew most of the book’s concepts straight from historical events, especially Stalinism. Firstly and most obviously, Ingsoc is a clear nod to the rise of the Bolshevik/Communist Party following the Russian Revolution. Furthermore, the concept of ‘Big Brother’ can be linked directly to the prophetic nature of leaders in the Communist Party, especially Lenin and Stalin. Indeed, the policy of Ingsoc is essentially Stalinism —an ideology of totalitarianism, centralisation and collectivism.

For example, Winston’s work for the ‘Ministry of Truth’ involves the deliberate doctoring of historical documents to create ‘new truths’ by erasing old ones. Likewise, there is evidence of Stalin doctoring and shaping history for his own political gain. An infamous example of this is when he had a photograph of himself and other party members doctored to erase any evidence of one of the men — Nikolai Yezhov, who had fallen from Stalin’s favour and was ultimately executed in a purge. Furthermore, the ruthless persecution of political enemies by Ingsoc closely resembles Stalin’s purges of the 1930s, in which he had political dissidents murdered. Moreover, characters in the book mirror historical figures, such as Emmanuel Goldstein, who is a parallel to Leon Trotsky, a key player in the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik party. Trotsky was arguably Stalin’s most prominent political rival and Stalin fervently sought to eliminate him both figuratively and literally. Indeed, Stalin altered historical accounts to portray Trotsky negatively, and Trotsky was murdered in Mexico in 1940 by a Stalinist agent. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list and many more similarities between the themes of 1984 and history exist.

Stalinist Russia is the foundation of Orwell’s imagined totalitarian state, and the concept of Ingsoc in 1984 is Orwell’s depiction of a what totalitarian state might look like if perfected. Understanding this is crucial because it highlights that 1984 is primarily a warning to us today that the threat of totalitarianism is very much real and never far away.

Bibliography

Blakemore, Erin, ‘How Photos Became a Weapon in Stalin’s Great Purge’, History.com, 20 April 2018 <https://www.history.com/news/josef-stalin-great-purge-photo-retouching> [accessed on 30 September 2024].

‘Great Terror’, History.com, 15 March 2018 <https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/great-purge> [accessed on 30 September 2024].

Lowne, Catherine, ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’, Britannica.com, 5 September 2024 <https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nineteen-Eighty-four> [accessed on 30 September 2024].