See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354512029 Analysis of a Literary Work, “1984” by George Orwell in terms of World History, Political Science, Sociology and Geopolitics Presented as an Extended Essay Document by Yusuf Cinakl... Article · September 2021 CITATIONS READS 0 6,020 1 author: Yusuf Cinakli University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 2 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Analysis of a Literary Work, “1984” by George Orwell in terms of World History, Political Science, Sociology and Geopolitics Presented as an Extended Essay Document by Yusuf Cinakli View project All content following this page was uploaded by Yusuf Cinakli on 10 September 2021. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Analysis of a Literary Work, “1984” by George Orwell in terms of World History, Political Science, Sociology and Geopolitics Presented as an Extended Essay Document Interdisciplinary Independent Extended Essay Analyzing the Fictional World of George Orwell’s “1984” and the Ideology of the Proposed Super State Oceania which is ruled by INGSOC in terms of World History, Political Science, Sociology and Geopolitics. By Yusuf Cinakli Word Count: 4719 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Geopolitical Analysis of the State of the World in 1984 3 3. INGSOC Compared to Modern Era Dictatorships 5 3.1 INGSOC’s relation to Communist Theory 5 3.2 INGSOC’s relation to Fascist Theory 6 3.3 INGSOC’s relation to Nazist Theory and INGSOC Ideology 7 3.3.1 Justification for the Existence of the Nation 8 3.3.1.1 INGSOC’s Usage of Propaganda in Justification through Political Truth 8 3.3.2 Level of Authority through Surveillance and Political Correctness 11 4. Conclusion 13 Works Cited 14 1 1. Introduction 1984 is a novel by George Orwell that was written during the time leading up to the Cold War Period, in 1948, depicting a world where the year 1984 would house three super countries that ruled over the entire world. One is Oceania ruled by INGSOC, an extension of the British Empire which came to be the American sphere during the actual time of the book in real life without the EU. Another one is the Russian established Eurasia occupying all of the Soviet Union and Europe which was the dreaded Greater Soviet Union the Americans feared could have happened as they thought the Iron Curtain could extend to the shores of the English Channel if they let it. The last one is in the far east, Eastasia, controlling most of Southern Asia and the whole of the far east; Japan, Korea and China. This was presumably an establishment made by the Communist Chinese and throughout the novel is referred to as a place that houses savages that eat anything and a place where people perform self-death worship. This is a reference to the awful hunger and drought suffered by the Chinese after their civil war which had cost over 30 million lives. During this period, the Chinese would infamously eat anything they could rest on the table. These three super countries were all harsh dictatorships according to the information of our protagonist, including the one he resides in. He knows that all these governments function in a similar manner, however they have been fighting for a long time. He knows all this as he has been taught it. While that may be the case, the super country our protagonist lives in, INGSOC, is obsessed with controlling the truth. As any dictatorship likes twisting the truth to its benefit, INGSOC has taken a step further and based their entire ideology on this political truth as will be explained in this paper. The rationale for writing this paper is similar to the one of George Orwell when writing 1984: to inform people upon a dystopia lost into ideology embracing political correctness and tyranny. Through this paper, readers will hopefully be more aware of the power of propaganda and radical ideology. 2 2. Geopolitical Analysis of the State of the World in 1984 Throughout the novel, we as the reader are informed through our protagonist, Winston Smith who is a member of "the party" who works in the Ministry of Truth and lives in a government owned building with no personal belongings. Winston, in the world of 1984, is not an ordinary man. He is more aware than most people and that is one reason that makes him a great protagonist. He likes to observe people and comment on their actions. As an outside observer ourselves, his questioning of his colleagues and fellow citizens extends quite literally to us as all he finds strange is quite peculiar to us readers as well. As aforementioned, his understanding of the state of the world is limited by what he is allowed to know by his government. Since we have no other sources of information however, we can assume his knowledge is correct. Firstly, he tells us about the three super countries and the parts of the world no one has control over. These "uncontrolled" lands are mostly in Middle Africa, the Middle East and the Indies. These fronts are of course expectable as they are natural boundaries for empires. The Romans for example couldn't settle further south as the Sahara was inhabitable for them. There was simply no way they could have extended their empire south so they looked elsewhere. The Middle East was a place where empires either couldn't stay in power for long and collapsed or held everything under one organization for many years. That was because the fertile lands of the crescent allowed for great empires while also gathering interest of foreign invaders. Additionally though, the mountainous terrain surrounding the Middle East in the Caucasus on the north east and Persia on the east while also having the Istanbul strait limiting access with Europe and the Arabian-Egyptian deserts in the south accompanied by the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the Black Sea in the north allow for natural boundaries on all fronts. This means both that the organization inside is safe but also is limited to these borders.1 In our situation however, since the Middle East serves as a bridge connecting east and west, it is a natural boundary for the Eurasians and the Eastasians. The people still living in the Middle East always have the threat of war against them by these two countries but are kept from invasion due to their geography. The Siamese and Indonesian lands in present day are battlegrounds too for INGSOC and Eastasia as 1 This can be shown as a reason why the Ottomans, Byzantians and other middle eastern empires could not grow in size after a point despite being very powerful and also hold tremendous amounts of land still when they were weaker than their neighbours. This is largely because of the natural boundaries of the Middle East. 3 they are also natural boundaries with many small islands with dense forests proving to be quite atrocious for passing armies. When elaborating on the lands sought over, Winston describes it as an endless battle that has the singular purpose of providing a simple thing, "purpose". These super countries have a lot of resources and industry with overproduction being an issue. It is an issue as they want to leave their people with a lower quality of life so that they won’t notice how miserable they actually are. Since educating the masses and pursuing science would threaten their position, result in even more overproduction and since all dictatorships need a glorious purpose to be justified2, these countries use war as a means to an end. An end which makes them perpetually stay in power. If they are always at war, then nobody ever expects the situation to get better and life quality remains stagnant. They are just told to hold on. For overproduction, war is a project that never ends for these countries. It is an activity that always needs resources, and wars are definitely very expensive. Finally, for the lands sought over, Winston confirms that they are ruled with anarchy. No authority rests within them and the people living there are embroiled in a terrible fate. 2 For the Soviet Union, this was a global workers’ revolution. For Nazi Germany, it was extermination of all other than Aryans and populating the Earth with only the supreme race. For the Italian Fascists it was reestablishing Rome and controlling the Mediterranean as the rightful owner. 4 3. INGSOC Compared to Modern Era Dictatorships 3.1 INGSOC’s relation to Communist Theory Winston, as someone living under the British-American INGSOC lives in a country that has very noticeable socialist elements like government housing and collectivization, as can be seen by the name itself being English Socialism. It is inarguably authoritarian, to the point of being totalitarian. This is the recipe for communism. Many countries known as communist superpowers follow this exact route for communism, but INGSOC has a special dynamic that releases it from that category. Winston is a party member and has a pretty decent life with a decent job3. But throughout the novel we see Winston engaging with a separate group other than his colleagues or friends, one he calls the proletariat. The word used for describing this group is one used by many Communist thinkers, it means the working class. The theory of communism suggests that all people should live in communes, these communes should house members of the proletariat and they should make choices together. As a commune of all communes, unions such as the Soviet Union form. While the communes were arguably not present in the Soviets either post Lenin, many other elements of communism existed within it, making it the bulwark of communism throughout the world. A dictatorship of the proletariat, the communists called it. INGSOC lacks this very aspect. INGSOC is definitely not a dictatorship of the proletariat.4 Winston talks about the people in this group as filthy and uneducated. The people referred to, talk and act weird and live lives that are presumably way worse than Winston does. While evidence of party members living better lives than the average peasant inside the Soviet Union could be found, communist theory rejects this completely. Moreover, communism is an ideology of internationalism. It calls for a global union where all workers can live together. It suggests that people are driven apart more by class than nationality. Though INGSOC isn’t internationalist, it could have been a national communist movement if it weren’t for the fact that INGSOC is highly militaristic. While communism does permit military action when spreading the revolution, many national communism attempts were relatively non-militaristic after their formation. Examples 3 4 Taking into account this is a dystopia. This is specifically referenced in the novel as Winston is sent a book named “The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism” that proposes a system like INGSOC. 5 could be Cuba5 under Fidel Castro and Communist China6 under Mao's successors. If we considered INGSOC as a national communist movement, then still the non-militaristic nature of such movements would pose problems. Therefore, communism and its national counterpart become far left7 and anti-militaristic whereas INGSOC is not far left and is militaristic. Their foreign politics differ. 3.2 INGSOC’s relation to Fascist Theory Fascist movements are militaristic by nature as they are hate driven. These movements need people to use as scapegoats in order to keep power and eventually the hate they fuel for years explodes into warfare. Examples of this could be seen in Italy under Mussolini where the hate towards the Allies8 for unkept promises was so overwhelming that they eventually joined the Axis and Croatia-Bosnia where the hate towards Serbians grew so much that they also started purging civilians alongside their Axis companions. In order to justify this hate, many fascist movements use ultra-nationalism and racism. This is because many matters that allow hate for another group can be resolved, but hating someone from pure spite of them being born in a different lineage has no chance of being resolved. If that hate is fueled enough, the opposing site cannot defend themselves in any way. INGSOC, although not commenting about race, uses ultranationalism to fuel hatred. Throughout the novel, we as the reader are encountered with interesting scenes such as people raging and cursing at news on the television during “Hate weeks”. These news are concerning current wars and people are reacting to them in a very interesting way. As can be expected from a person with nationalist views, bad news from the 5 Duncan, W. Raymond. Cuba: National Communism in the Global Setting. 1976. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40542150. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. 6 BBC. 30 Sept. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49631120. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. 7 Left on the political compass refers to liberal-neo liberality. When a government is far left, it has become socialist as trade becomes more and more controlled as it goes to the left. Furthermore, the social spectrum of the political compass dictates that the left indicates internationalism while the right dictates nationalism. For example, being anti-immigrant is an ideology rooted in the right. 8 History.com Editors. "Italy Declares War on France and Great Britain." History, A&E Television Networks, 16 Nov. 2019, www.history.com/ this-day-in-history/italy-declares-war-on-france-and-great-britain. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. 6 army is no laughing matter. However, Winston’s colleagues are literally screaming with anger and throwing things around from hearing the news. These organized hate weeks, canonization of fallen soldiers and alienation of the enemy are obvious attempts at getting people to be enraged and while Winston is aware of this, he has to conform into this hatred as he carries the risk of being named a traitor against the nation. This is what many fascist movements do to get people mobilized as most start as paramilitary groups and gather other, much less radical people on the way with the threat of naming them anti-nationalistic if they do not agree. While INGSOC’s use of hate propaganda and ultranationalism does make it seem suitable for fascism, INGSOC cannot really be claimed to be fascist because of its collectivized nature. Fascism as defined by Mussolini, an ex-socialist, was set out to be National Socialism. But today, we know that what is meant by the name National Socialism was way closer to the Nazis rather than the Italian fascists. What Mussolini’s economic system could be called is closer to corporatism which is a neo-liberal right9 wing economic model that is almost ultra right wing, being directly against socialism which is ultra left wing. Socialism is all assets being owned by the state while other companies or corporations are either not present or only used for further development of the biggest company, the state. Corporatism on the other hand is all assets being owned by businessmen who have companies or corporations that are only supported by the biggest company, the state. Therefore, corporatism is one of the economic models farthest from socialism ever implemented. Therefore, fascism becomes far right and is not collectivized whereas INGSOC is not far right and is collectivized. Their economic models differ. 3.3 INGSOC’s relation to Nazist Theory and INGSOC Ideology As seen, INGSOC houses many aspects within communism and also fascism but isn’t really applicable to either one. There is an ideology in the middle of those two however which is more suitable then both, Nazism which is based on National Socialism. It proposes collectivization accompanied by totalitarianism, militarism and harsh ultra nationalism. This means nazism exists 9 Right on the political compass in the economic spectrum refers to neo-liberality. What is meant by neo-liberality is unrestricted trade. While enabling the danger of monopolies, this also creates a freer market. This freer market can be taken advantage of by predator monopolies. 7 in both the far left and right, making it seem in the middle. At first glance, INGSOC and Nazism seem quite close. Both are socialists within their own borders, militaristic, ultra nationalistic and misinforming the public. There are however some points where they differ which are in terms of philosophical justification, level of authority and INGSOC’s extensive work on political correctness. 3.3.1 Justification for the Existence of the Nation The philosophy of nations is usually referred to as ideologies however I am going to be discussing the foundation of the philosophical idea of a nation, the justification for a nation’s existence and dominance. For example, the Nazis were built on racial supremacy. All their policies were geared towards it and all propaganda was done for it. Research was conducted to study it and money was spent to teach it. People were preached to know it and people took it to heart. Nazi Germany is the national embodiment of racism, being based primarily on the idea that they are superior to other races and using that idea to justify their actions and existence. Most nations have different “philosophies” of course but INGSOC and the Nazis have a stark difference. The Nazis were built on the people, they wanted to make people feel superior so that they would support their cause and believe in them. According to their philosophy, their people lived because they were racially superior to others and had the right to populate the Earth. In INGSOC, this is very different. People live for the party. People die for the party. Everything is done by definition for the party to stay in power. They achieve this by controlling the truth. 3.3.1.1 INGSOC’s Usage of Propaganda in Justification through Political Truth As a society believing deeply in evidence, the party justifies all knowledge with evidence. If someone claims an apple fell, they should show a document that shows the apple falling so that they can prove it. Otherwise, they are wrong, the apple never fell. When INGSOC declares it was never at war with Eurasia, it deletes all records of it being at war with Eurasia. Anyone stepping up to claim they were ever at war cannot prove it, since there is no proof. The party however can prove they were never at war, with existing fresh documents saying so. When people claim the government had destroyed previous documents, they are asked for records of this event. There are none. In a society where only statements that can be proven by evidence are believed, one 8 who controls evidence controls information itself. Therefore, the party chooses what is true and what isn’t. It is what makes them so powerful. INGSOC is rooted in this political truth. It is what its philosophy is, the party being the ones controlling the truth makes them all-powerful therefore they should be obeyed. Furthermore, frequent broadcasting of false information takes place where one never really knows whether what they are seeing at the moment is true or not, making them either reject everything completely or believe all they are told. It seems quite silly after a while, printing false information only to destroy it only to print new information about past events only to destroy them later and doing this over and over but there is genius in it too. No one can ever know about a past event, let alone present events. No one can claim anything since they know nothing. When all information is manufactured by the party, how would information not benefiting them ever get out? We see this constant spread of misinformation for the sake of confusion and control in many totalitarian movements precisely because it is so proficient at doing so. For example, in Nazi Germany, the Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment, Joseph Goebbels consistently misinformed the public on the war in the years where it turned against them and 12 year old boys were sent to the frontlines believing they were actually winning. An example can be seen below. Figure 1: German Reich Poster that Reads Inexorably Forwards towards Inevitable Victory in 194310 10 Parole der Woche. 3 Jan. 1943. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn11198. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. 9 Another instance of this was the Soviet Union misinformation campaigns which were used to cover up the famine in Ukraine where millions perished. Or in another instance, the Soviets misinforming the public again on the status of Chernobyl and trying to cover up the nuclear catastrophe. Misinformation campaigns don’t all have to do with destroying evidence. For example, on the walls of the INGSOC Ministry of Truth, three sentences are displayed and those are the famous words describing the party’s stance on truth completely. Figure 2: The Words of the Party on the Walls of the Ministry of Truth 11 These are contradictory statements that the party makes to be accepted as fact. Since the Ministry of Truth dictates truth, these are correct statements which logically do not make sense.12 As Winston works in the Ministry of Truth, a place where the government’s claims are proven while opposing evidence is destroyed, Winston is fully aware of the misinformation campaigns but has no way of intervening. He simply has to accept the situation where the party decides what is what and he has to obey as any act of rebellion would lead to his arrest where even if he was reported missing one day he could just be brushed off as never existed in the first place seconds later. Nevertheless, he eventually rebels as he cannot take living in such a restricted manner any 11 https://paradoxoftheday.com/war-is-peace-freedom-is-slavery-ignorance-is-strength/ While this is a whole conundrum of its own, the statements make some level of sense in the context of INGSOC. They say that war is peace, since the wars they pursue are what keeps the country together. They say that freedom is slavery since they have made the prolateriat essentially free when compared to the restrictions on party members but the prolateriat are essentially slaves with no choice and no gains. Finally, they say ignorance is strength as the party has become so strong through ignoring what is “true” and making their own truths that benefit them. From their point of view, ignorance is what brought them their strength. 12 10 longer. In his rebellion, Winston gets caught trying to live in his own house by his rules choosing the woman he loves. This gets him a ticket to prison where he is beaten to submission. Then he is beaten again. And again. He is asked about liking the government and is beaten regardless of his answer. He is left for weeks with barely any food. He is talked to again, he is left for weeks again. He no longer fights back and just lies there, waiting to die. But they fix him every time to beat him up again. Through this process, Winston is slowly broken and finally is sent to a person who is educated on the INGSOC ideology. After being broken in so many ways, here he gets broken again as he is brainwashed with answers so nonsensical to questions so flawed by nature that he eventually starts to believe the nonsense he is told with his resilience already being exhausted. My point here is that INGSOC has mastered political truth and its integration into ideology to a point that nobody can claim to know anything without referring to the party. To anyone who would try resisting they readily have torture and professional debaters available. The party is so powerful that no one can do anything without it. They are as powerless as Winston is at that moment. So while the Nazis use racism to gain influence, INGSOC uses political truth to pacify and subvert citizens into its ways. One is devious as it brings self entitled power while the other is unavoidable as there is literally no escape from living it. 3.3.2 Level of Authority through Surveillance and Political Correctness A Big Brother character is shown throughout the novel in posters and on television in many INGSOC facilities. Winston is constantly being told by these media outlets that Big Brother is always watching. Winston knows this too, from the very beginning he avoids cameras in his house when he is doing something questionable. To emphasize this point, he even knows where the cameras are in his own house and knows their blind spots. He knows there are microphones everywhere too so he always has to watch what he says. This level of surveillance over Winston keeps him anxious at all times. Additionally, INGSOC has an ongoing project in the novel where they are looking to transform every word into their “preferred” version. They are creating a language where no bad words exist. These “bad” words are words that display negativity or discontent. If nobody ever knows anything like rebellion, then they won’t rebel. If nobody ever knows anything like drought, they won’t be able to express their concerns. If nobody loves what love is, government assigned partners are just all there is. Winston, as a party member is 11 expected to use the preferred words and is judged on every instance. These both do a great job of showing how much control INGSOC actually has on their society. And let me tell you, the Nazis were not even close to this. The systems we talked about in order to explain INGSOC; Fascism, Nazism and Communism, are considered ultra-authoritarian which is totalitarian. This means all power resides within a dictator that has all the say with no limiting factors. While that definition does apply to Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union pretty well, INGSOC is not really on the same level. Here is why: in order to be considered more authoritarian on the political compass, restrictions must be put in place and surveillance has to be increased to enforce it. Liberties have to be taken away and standards put in their place. While all three of these nations attempted to do these things, none ever came close to the level of INGSOC. This was primarily due to the lack of technology but also since a government like INGSOC, when applied properly, is unbeatable by its citizens. Total surveillance and perfect political science accompanied by a whole language designed to make obedient citizens is quite enough to pacify any domestic interdiction. Moreover, since INGSOC is a super country with superpower status, it is also unbeatable by foreign forces. This means that INGSOC is a system frozen in time where nothing really happens other than the party just getting more and more efficient at staying in power. Nothing gets accomplished, discovered or explored. The existence of humankind is limited on the simple request of forever ruling everything. Now, returning to the Big Brother figure, he doesn’t really exist. Or maybe he does, we don’t know. He might have existed and died during the formation of INGSOC, or may just purely be fabrication. The dictator of this country only exists within the party and can never be seen in person. This is of course quite different from any of the leaders of the three countries considered. People believe he exists, there is faith involved. In any case, he has become God to Winston as he is watching his every move and judging him. In his wrong acts he warns him and when judgement finally comes to Winston as he is thrown in prison, he sees it as divine judgement in a sense. He goes through hell and is then thought of how he should appreciate the party, and the Big Brother. He is the sole reason they can all exist. When all is done and dusted and he is finally sent out to the real world, he is enraged to find news on the television that a war has started. He starts shouting and protesting as all around him follow suit. He is suddenly taken to be executed a few days later, when he is asked his final words are, he tells the executioner that he finally gets it. He loves the party, and he loves Big Brother. No other political system except the Imperial Japanese and North Koreans 12 have been able to portray their leader as a deity in modern times. No political system has done it as well as INGSOC. As an all seeing and all knowing being, Big Brother is God to citizens of INGSOC and they worship him by existing within his limits. When Winston is seconds from execution, he finally lets all suspicion go and is taken into this cult-like faith as well. The difference between nazism and INGSOC comes down to the level of authority, where the nazis seem to be on the limit of how authoritarian a nation can actually be, INGSOC is outside that limit. 13 4. Conclusion The differences between INGSOC and Fascist-Nazist-Communist systems have been quite extensively discussed throughout this paper. Systems compared to INGSOC, though they were totalitarian, they never got people to see their leaders as powerful as a god and never were able to restrict their citizens this much through a whole new language for the sake of obedience. With the government owning everything and ultranationalism being widespread, if attempted to be placed on the political compass, INGSOC should be put in the middle of the left and the right as they exist in both the far left and the far right, and should be put above the most authoritarian line. They are outside the compass as such a system has never been implemented, and hopefully never will be. Such an authoritarian system was never in action, but that is not to say the three dictatorships referred to did not do it out of unwillingness, rather due to imperfect circumstances and the lack of sufficient technology. A world where all houses could have cameras and microphones in every technological device and constant surveillance operated by government employees could take place, a world where specific words were forbidden to use in specific settings and a topic such as genocide or ethnic cleansing could be referred to as cleaning, a world where systems exist which are so powerful that dismantling them is impossible so everyone has to accept their existence and move on; this world is our world. All of these things happened throughout history and many more took place that we may not have knowledge of due to misinformation campaigns and propaganda. The iron fist of tyranny has been prevalent in the majority of history and there is no reason to assume it won’t ever return to being the major governmental system. Cults of personality are still maintained today as if dictators are meant to be remembered well, political correctness is still applied today as if the Soviet Union did not do enough to show how freedom to communicate is everything. If that isn’t there, a superpower such as the Soviet Union itself could disintegrate one day and every man and woman living in it could ask why it was there in the first place. In the end, states are for the good of mankind. In order to keep terrible things like INGSOC happening in the real world, people need to be aware of these self absorbed ideologies and the idiological arguments they bring about. If a system exists so it can exist further, there is no reason for it to really exist in the first place. 14 View publication stats Works Cited BBC. 30 Sept. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49631120. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. Duncan, W. Raymond. Cuba: National Communism in the Global Setting. 1976. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40542150. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. History.com Editors. "Italy Declares War on France and Great Britain." History, A&E Television Networks, 16 Nov. 2019, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/italy-declares-war-on-france-and-great-britain. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. Hitler, Adolf. Mein Kampf. 1925. Machine Learning AI by ScienceDirect. "Nazism." ScienceDirect, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/nazism. Accessed 11 Sept. 2021. Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. 1848. Mussolini, Benito. The Doctrine of Fascism. 1932. Orwell, George. 1984. 1949. Parole der Woche. 3 Jan. 1943. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn11198. Accessed 9 Sept. 2021. 15