1984: The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism (Goldstein's book)

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Flashcard set on Goldstein's book from Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell.

26 Terms

1

What is “oligarchical collectivism"“?

  • social structure of Oceania after the Revolution

  • small group of wealthy and powerful individuals

    • own land and resources

    • administer equal portions to the people

      • keeps the wealthy in power while maintaining an illusion of equality

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2

How has war changed since the early decades of the twentieth century?

  • early decades of the 20th century: war between Eurasia and Oceania

  • decade later: Eastasia evolved as another war country

  • war is no longer a “desperate struggle” as it was in the early 20th century

  • now a warfare of enemies who:

    • are unable to destroy one another

    • have no reason for fighting

    • are not divided by any ideological differences

  • war hysteria (extreme punishments and slaughters of the enemy) is seen as normal and even rewarded if committed by one’s own side

  • motives for war are

    • dominant

    • consistently recognized

    • acted upon

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3

Goldstein says that it is a “warfare of limited aims”. What are those aims?

  • opposing forces:

    • cannot annihilate each other

    • possess no tangible reason for conflict

    • not genuinely divided by ideological differences

  • Party has two primary objectives:

    • conquer entire surface of Earth

    • eradicate any potential for independent thought

  • Party’s pursuit of power not driven by specific purpose, just insatiable desire for dominance

    • two kinds of power: external (conquering others) and internal (controlling feelings and beliefs)

    • ultimate goal: complete control over both kinds

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4

Previously, wars were waged for territory and resources. Why is that no longer necessary?

  • no longer, materially, anything to fight about

  • self-contained economies

    • no scramble for markets

    • production and consumption are geared towards one another

  • superstates are vast

    • almost everything they need can be accessed from within its borders

  • real purpose of war: (cheap) labor power

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5

In what areas of the world are wars concentrated? Why?

  • disputed territories

    • inhabitants: bottomless source of cheap labor

    • openly reduce people to slaves

      • distributed from conqueror to conqueror

      • greatly expended

        • conquer more territory

        • control more labor power

        • produce more weapons

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6

How has the vision of the future, as the people of the early 20th century saw it, been overturned?

  • 20th-century vision:

    • masses did not want for anything

    • society functioned efficiently

    • people could live leisurely

    • continuation of rapid scientific and technological development

  • priority is maintenance of hierarchal structure

    • resources allocated to constant warfare instead of scientific progress

    • keep lower society uneducated, easily manipulated

    • led to population that lived mostly in poverty, subject to every whim of Party members in charge

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7

Why is scientific and technological progress stunted?

  • impoverishment from long series of wars and revolutions

  • could not survive in strictly regimented society

    • partly because scientific and technical progress depended on the empirical habit of thought

    • use of outside knowledge and the questioning of ideas is necessary

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8

How is the hierarchical society of Oceania different from previous hierarchies?

  • Ingsoc hierarchy:

    • Inner Party at the top

      • have a monopoly over history and facts

      • control the media that the uneducated public consume

      • control the Outer Party that lies below them in the hierarchy

    • micromanaged free thinkers (perform the minor tasks of the Party that the Inner Party wouldn’t bother themselves with)

    • ignorant masses are at the bottom (day workers in factories and in the military)

  • hierarchy of capitalism 1920-1940

    • at the top are the politicians

      • in writing have similar jobs to the members of the Inner Party

      • they serve their voters (elected to power)

    • businessmen

      • control the market

      • have to keep prices affordable to remain competitive in market

      • still helped the common people of their country

    • workers (work in factories or farms to provide the physical capital)

  • comparison

    • Ingsoc: hierarchy only benefits the top, with the bottom providing these benefits

    • capitalism: all members receiving benefits, albeit in unequal amounts

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9

What is the ideal profile of a Party member?

  • strict, abiding, and fearless personality

    • can be portrayed and seen in situations of any intensity or level

  • key: strength in purity and passion

    • brings out what a true Party member is expected and assumed to retain in order to be a loyal contributor

  • providing and presenting to the highest allows respect and faith to seep in

    • gives the sense of loyalty the Party desires in its people

  • overall:

    • one must suit the needs of the Party

    • no second thought or contradicting notion to morals or ulterior motives

  • subjugation to the rules is necessary to the highest degree regardless of how the government is operated

    • showing no emotion and showing strength in these situations is what it means to be ideal

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10

What are the two aims of the Party?

  • conquer the whole surface of the earth

  • extinguish the possibility of independent thought

  • having absolute control means eliminating any doubt by using doublethink

    • every action carefully cultivated to give Party the most control they can obtain over the people

    • corrupting science, books, technological practices

  • powers are limited; strive for:

    • complete and total control over the mind

    • ability to wipe several hundred million people quickly

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11

Why is contact with foreigners extremely limited?

  • so citizens don’t discover that foreigners live similar lives as they do

  • so they don’t discover that everything that the Party said about foreigners were lies

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12

How are the three remaining superpowers alike?

  • constantly at war with one another

  • utilize war to control their populations

  • oppressive

  • have semi-divine figures that they worship (e.g. Big Brother)

  • follow strict orthodox policies

    • Oceania: Ingsoc

    • Eurasia: Neo-Bolshevism

    • Eastasia: Chinese; Death-worship or Obliteration of the Self

  • similar social hierarchies

  • extremely isolated

  • unconquerable

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13

How does Goldstein explain the paradox that “War is Peace”?

  • the three superstates are not able to destroy each other through war

  • all fighting in Oceania’s wars are on frontlines so most citizens do not see the fighting

  • war is used as an excuse to use up goods

    • otherwise would have made the Proles and Outer Party members comfortable and able to rebel

    • enables them to prevent rebellions by destroying all excess materials

  • object of war: keep the social hierarchy intact, bringing stability to society

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14

Goldstein divides societies into High, Middle, and Low. What is the aim of the High?

  • remain in power

  • sooner or later there always comes a moment when they lose

    • belief in themselves

    • capacity to govern efficiently

    • both

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15

Goldstein divides societies into High, Middle, and Low. What is the aim of the Middle?

  • switch places with the High

    • High are overthrown by Middle, who enlist the Low by pretending to fight for liberty and justice

    • when the Middle become High, they thrust the Low back down

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16

Goldstein divides societies into High, Middle, and Low. What is the aim of the Low?

  • create a society with equality for everyone

  • often too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives

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17

According to Goldstein, have the revolutions of the past brought greater equality? Why not?

  • revolutions of the past have not brought greater equality

  • often been followed by large periods of recession

  • true equality can only be achieved through a global revolution that overthrows all forms of oppression

  • the revolutions of the past have created a cycle which temporarily brings greater equality for the middle groups but inevitably ends up with a new group in power and others being still repressed

    • High, Middle, and Low

    • Middle overthrows the High in search of greater power and freedom

    • High group then becomes part of the Low and the Middle group becomes the High

    • Low never gain anything and are always oppressed

  • humans are materially and physically better off than they were before but equality only runs in a cycle of power and oppression 

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18

How do the members of the Inner Party remain in power? What is the role of surveillance?

  • combination of:

    • surveillance

    • thought control

    • propaganda

    • elimination of opposition

    • establishment of hierarchal social structure

  • constant surveillance: effective way of maintaining control over the population

    • end of private life

    • all other channels of communication closed

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19

Is Big Brother real? Does it matter? Why or why not?

  • no, likely not real

  • does not matter

    • idea of presence and dominance is enough to control the totalitarian society

    • just the idea of him watching and being in control

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20

Is Party membership hereditary? Does it matter? Why or why not?

  • Party membership is theoretically not hereditary

    • admission to either branch of Party through examination (16 years old)

      • no racial discrimination

      • no marked domination of one province over another

    • Oceania’s rules held together by adherence to common doctrine, not blood ties

      • not centralized

      • only common elements: English is lingua franca, Newspeak is official language

    • society is rigidly stratified on what appear to be hereditary lines

      • certain amount of interchange

        • weaklings are excluded from Inner Party

        • ambitious members in Outer Party made harmless by being allowed to rise

  • in practice: proletarians not allowed to graduate into the Party

    • if gifted: eliminated by Thought Police

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21

What is crimestop?

  • Newspeak; a person simply stops by instinct when they think of doing something dangerous

  • includes:

    • not understanding language like analogies

    • not being able to perceive logical errors

    • misunderstanding simple arguments

  • refers to “protective stupidity”

  • part of how the Party uses ignorance and doublethink against the people to help control them

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22

What is blackwhite?

  • Newspeak; two contradictory meanings

  • opponent: habit of absent-mindedly claiming that black is white despite evidence to the contrary

  • Party member: loyal willingness to say that black is white when the Party says so

    • believing and knowing this is true; forgetting that you ever thought otherwise

  • principles: doublethink, mutability of the past

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23

What is the relationship between doublethink and the mutability of the past?

  • doublethink: having two contradictory thoughts while believing both to be true

  • mutability of the past: changing records to align with the present

  • goal of mutability of the past:

    • ensure all records agree with orthodoxy

    • rearrange memories and tamper with media

    • forget that one has tampered with evidence (doublethink)

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24

With what question is Winston left as he falls asleep?

  • “He understood how; he did not understand why (217)

  • book confirmed Winston’s personal opinions

    • justified his resistance to the Party

    • failed to introduce any new information

  • satisfied him but left him curious to understand the Brotherhood and Goldstein’s actions

    • “how” and “why” italicized: thought-provoking words portraying curiosity; demonstrate desire to learn more

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25

Interpret Winston’s “profound wisdom” asserting that “[s]anity is not statistical”.

  • near-complete control that the Party has over the population

    • Party’s ideals are not sane (rapid switch of enemy/ally)

      • population still followed the Party

  • Winston is right, but everyone else thinks he is crazy

    • doesn’t matter how many people think you’re wrong if you’re actually right

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26

How is the society portrayed in 1984 different from contemporary totalitarian societies, such as North Korea’s? How is it similar?

  • differences

    • 1984 is totalitarianism to an extreme

      • North Korea: extreme, puts many limits on citizens

      • Oceania: even more manipulative (telescreens)

        • strict, highly dystopian (thoughtcrime, Thought Police)

  • similarities

    • place intense regulations on people

    • prohibit many “normal” things

    • limiting media, products, freedom

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