The novel depicts a world of three constantly warring superpowers: Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia, and is set in London, although England is now known as Airstrip One and annexed to Oceania which is ruled by Big Brother, whose immense face looms down from posters everywhere and telescreens, microphones and Thought Police follow the population’s every move. The three slogans of the Party – War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength – are the mainstay of belief for a population that thrives on hatred. The novel begins with Winston’s first attempt at rebellion, keeping a handwritten diary, and follows him through to his inevitable destruction by the Thought Police and reformation in the mould of a ‘model citizen’.

The novel was George Orwell’s final piece of work before his death in 1950. Along with Animal Farm it was extremely successful at the time as it highlighted popular concerns about the rise of totalitarianism in general and in the communist bloc particularly. Orwell had lived through two World Wars and seen the rise of totalitarian fascist regimes in Germany and Italy, he fought in the Spanish Civil War and was extremely critical of Stalinist Russia, particularly in his fantasy Animal Farm. Fighting in the Spanish Civil War crystallised Orwell’s “ideals of liberty, justice and equality” and many of his previous works, from essays, articles, poems and novels, led seamlessly into the novel 1984. He also credited Zamyatin’s book ‘We’ and Huxley’s ‘A Brave New World’ together with Jack London’s novels as part inspiration for his novel, together with his deteriorating health due to tuberculosis which caused him to philosophise a great deal.

To Orwell the idea of the type of thought and mind control displayed by totalitarian regimes frightened him “much more than bombs.” News of the Stalinist purges, propaganda machine and “clever psychological and torture tactics used to convince prisoners of the value of hard work” and the “heroic achievements of the Soviet motherland” convinced him of the dangers of such political mind control.

After Orwell’s death however his books were used more sinisterly to drum up anti- Soviet feeling and became “weapons in the hands of anti-Communist defenders of capitalism” with doctored film versions being released of both Animal Farm and 1984. The novel 1984 was highly popular though with a huge readership throughout the world and in excess of forty million copies sold in sixty different translations. Indeed, even behind the Iron Curtain it was said that “Communist leaders took it as a blueprint of how to run their oppressive domains” certainly, however, Eastern European dissidents were amazed at how Orwell managed to describe their system so vividly. The book is written in a style which is simple and straightforward and is not difficult to read, although the party slogans and some of the philosophy outlined is a little complex at times.

London in Orwell’s 1984 is a bleak and depressing scene with “vistas of rotting nineteenth-century houses, their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron.” From a historic point of view this could well be an accurate picture of many of the bombed out cities after the second World War. The primary message of the book relates to Party control of the population, using thoughtcrime, doublethink, spying and the threat of death or being imprisoned for many years as a deterrent, which is very reminiscent of Stalin’s purges and use of the gulags.

To the inhabitants of Winston’s horrific world, “Thoughtcrime does not entail death: thoughtcrime IS death” with each individual relegated to automaton status and dedicated to the good of the Party. Although the Inner and Outer Party comprise only fifteen per cent of the population, the “proles” are insignificant and interested primarily in gambling, alcohol and pornography. Winston works in the Ministry of Truth and is concerned with forging records of the past as according to the party “he who controls the past, controls the future”. Winston, therefore, is constantly rewriting news items and editorials from previous editions of newspapers. The Party is also gradually working towards the creation of a universal new language called Newspeak which according to one of Winston’s colleagues Syme is to further “narrow the range of thought.”

The book also details a clandestine love affair between Julia and Winston, who are all the time aware of the telescreens and bugs planted everywhere and details Winston’s experiences of sex under the Party which is attempting to kill the sexual urge. Also their enrolment by O’Brien into the undercover revolutionary movement headed by the enemy of the people, Goldstein. The extracts from Goldstein’s book depict an interesting philosophy outlining the benefits of war to capitalist productive states. This is an aspect of the world wars which would not have escaped Orwell, as the impact of higher employment due to wartime efforts, strict rationing on the nation’s health and the morale of the population as a whole was evident.

The final section of the novel refers to Winston’s captivity by the Thought Police and torture at the hands of O’Brien. According to O’Brien, “We do not merely destroy our enemies we change them” as the Party is “interested solely in power.” For O’Brien the Party is creating a “world of fear and treachery and torment” as a civilisation founded on hatred will “cut the links between child and parent, and man and man. No one dares trust a wife or a child or a friend any longer.” Big Brother’s regime is superior to Hitler’s or to Communism as they created martyrs by just destroying dissidents but Big Brother’s form of torture leaves dissidents broken, therefore with no martyrs there can be no revolution. In conclusion, the broken Winston whose ”greatest pleasure in life was in his work” was finally released back into society with sinecure employment, and of no further interest to the forces of Big Brother.

From a historical perspective this book is invaluable, as it depicts the fear inspired both in and by totalitarian regimes and the futility of war. The three superpowers delineated by Orwell are a fair enough representation of the balance of combative powers prior to World War 2. To modern students however with no recollection of Cold War politics, the novel may seem a little dated. As stated by Rorty “Orwell is one of those writers who live most significantly for their own age.” From a historic point of view the great totalitarian state of the USSR was created in 1917, peaked after World War 2 and began a steady decline from the 1960s onwards until the final dissolution from 1989.

In conclusion, whilst the book 1984 had immense success for many years and could be looked upon as a valid historic document detailing the real fears that the capitalist West held for the totalitarian state, it does appear a little dated now. The Orwellian vocabulary has passed into common usage with the television programmes Big Brother and Room 101 and frequent references to doublethink and mind control by politicians worldwide. Given Orwell’s own observations about the habitual English ‘nosiness’ in ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’, he would be unsurprised to learn that his beloved England has more spy cameras than anywhere else in the world.