1984

Title: 1984
Author: George Orwell
Publisher: Maple Press, 2016 (First published 1949)
ISBN: 9788190782692
Pages: 312

The Soviet Union went into World War II as an ally of Nazi Germany. When Hitler turned towards Poland and France on the western front, Stalin annexed a good chunk of eastern Europe. Unexpectedly, Hitler turned against Stalin in 1941 and invaded Russia, who then joined the Allies in fighting Germany. Stalin emerged victorious and righteous at the end of the war with an immense political clout. With the rise of a worldwide Leftist movement gaining momentum, it seemed as if communism would take over the whole world. The absence of personal freedom and civil liberties in the Soviet Union had attracted the scorn of non-partisan intellectuals in the West. This book is essentially a political satire that gives a dire warning against totalitarianism. This was originally published in 1949. The plot envisages a nation named Oceania which geographically includes all regions coming under the definition of the West, such as the USA, UK and Western Europe. The story unfolds in London. An authoritarian political regime controlled by a cadre-party and headed by a figure named 'Big Brother' runs the administration where the citizens' rights and privileges hardly rises above the level of animals. George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair who was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic. He was born in Motihari, Bihar, where his father was an opium agent. 

Orwell portrays the authoritarian society in the hypothetical republic of Oceania as something modelled on the erstwhile Soviet Union. Like the larger than life-size pictures of Stalin in the Soviet Union, Big Brother's portraits were everywhere, watching over the people. He is depicted with a heavy, black moustache and ruggedly handsome features. Continuously living under the punishing gaze of the authorities, all looked older than their age in Oceania and one has the impression that 'there was dust in the creases of their faces'. Children eavesdropped on their parents and denounced them to the police who then elevated these little monsters as child heroes. Nothing was one's own, except for the few cubic centimetres inside the skull. That was why the most stringent mechanism was put in place to regulate what was going on there, in the form of the Thought Police. The Ministry of Truth ensured that people who were purged are wiped clean in all records. It created fictitious people to uphold some points of the party's dogma and to serve as a model for others. There were no friendships in the real sense between people, but everyone was comrades with each other. This is a direct adaptation from communist jargon. It was that there were some comrades whose society was pleasanter than the others. Slogans that run counter to common sense were promoted by the party to spread among the people. Some such slogans were: 'War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength'; 'Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past'. 

Orwell has imagined a comprehensive surveillance mechanism for the citizens of Oceania that fully utilized the technological know-how of the 1940s. We may shudder at the thought of what an authoritarian government of the future would not be capable of, considering the mind-boggling advances in AI. In Oceania, every house was fitted with a telescreen that received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound above the level of a low whisper would be picked up and relayed to the police. No privacy was allowed. The punishment for keeping a diary was death or 25 years in a forced-labour camp. People suppressed their feelings and emotions, just to keep on living. To dissemble your feelings, to control your face, to do what everyone was doing, was an instinctive reaction. A new category of offense was introduced in the form of 'thought-crime'. Even thinking about practises that run counter to what the party advocated was a crime. A thought or an attitude could not be concealed forever and sooner or later, the thought-police would get them. The heresy of heresies was common sense. The party bluntly told its cadres to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears.

Orwell brilliantly picturizes the novel ways in which all intellectual exercises not conforming to the party line could be bridled effectively. Shortening of the vocabulary of the language was a clever idea. There was only one word for a concept, which eliminated synonyms and finer nuances. For example, the word 'good' was in the dictionary. Its antonym 'bad' was removed from it. Instead, it was expressed as 'ungood'. Comparative terms like 'better' and 'best' were changed to 'plusgood' and 'doubleplusgood' respectively. This was intended to narrow the range of thought so as to make 'thought-crime' impossible to commit. Marriage was permitted only between party members, but was only for begetting children for the service of the party. Sexual intercourse was looked upon as a slightly disgusting minor operation, like having an enema. A party committee has to approve marriage between party members. Permission is refused if physical attraction was suspected. 85 per cent of the populace belonged to 'proles', which is a shortened form of proletariat. They were the slaves over whose efforts the edifice of the party was constructed. Proles had some freedom to act as they wished and the hero of the novel secretly wished that the regime would one day be usurped through rebellion by the proles. A party member had no spare time in principle. When they were not working, he or she should be taking part in some kind of communal recreations. A taste for solitude which is a suggestion of individuality was frowned upon. The proles were lured by a government-run lottery which was regularly conducted and offered enormous prizes. Only small sums were actually paid out, the larger ones assigned to imaginary persons. It was the principal reason for a lot of people remaining alive. Literature was commanded to serve the interests of the party. Novels were written by machines according to the general directives issued by the Planning committee. Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces. Music was generated by a machine called versificator. All recipes for an AI-ruled world are pictured by Orwell in this book.

The story turns around Winston Smith, an employee in the Ministry of Truth, whose real job is to falsify records as per the needs of the party. His rebellious nature makes him stifled to live according to the dictates of the party. He secretly starts a diary and records his observations. He falls in love with a fellow employee Julia against the code of conduct. Both of them join the clandestine resistance movement which was in fact secretly run by the party itself to identify detractors. He was tortured by his mentor and finally betrays Julia who had betrayed him similarly under torture. After a brainwashing experience during the interrogation, he submits to the will of the Big Brother. The only hope for civilized society was the proles, who remained loyal to each other than to the party or country, and hence were looked down upon. They stayed human and did not become hardened inside. Orwell analyses the nature of absolute power in this book. It is not a means; it is an end. It is not merely an ability to control human bodies, but their minds too. How they do it is nicely described. The rationale for the privileged minority in the party top brass to keep the masses in poverty even though the technology can make every one of them wealthier is rather odd and brutal. Wealth brings in leisure and security which may turn the poor into thinking for themselves and who might conclude that the privileged has no function to perform. Indulging in continuous warfare with other states destroys the surplus produce and keeps everybody on scarcity of essential goods. Small privileges to some groups means a lot in such cases. The book claims that the philosophies that run in the three super states are barely distinguishable. Everywhere there is the same pyramidal structure. The super states cannot conquer each other, they remain in conflict and thereby prop each other up to keep the people in poverty.

1984 is not, as is usually believed, a scathing criticism of the communist system alone. It raised its voice against all kinds of authoritarian tendencies to intrude into the life of the people. It has some cadences tuned to what is called McCarthyism in the US. This book is a poignant reminder to the dangers inherent in hoisting a single party or group with unbridled powers onto the throne. This has added resonance to our technologically advanced societies. In the past no government had the power to keep its citizens under constant surveillance. That is not so today with the ubiquity of mobile phones and its enhanced powers to eavesdrop and voyeurism. Doomed are the people who are fated to live under a regime that is keen on utilizing the surveillance potential of sophisticated technology. The conclusive chapter of the book on Newspeak — the language developed by the party for popular use — is informative but pointless.

The book is highly recommended.

 

Rating: 4 Star