George Orwell  Orwell was a socialist, the direct result of his service as a militiaman - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

George OrwellSlide2

 Orwell was a socialist, the direct result of his service as a militiaman on the Republican side against the Fascist general Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. Upon his return to England he joined the British Independent Labour Party and began to write against Stalinism and the Nazi regime. Orwell was also influenced by anarchist critiques of Soviet communism and by the Marxist writings of Leon Trotsky, the exiled communist revolutionary and model for Emmanuel Goldstein

in Nineteen

Eighty-Four

.

“

The Spanish war and other events in 1936-37 turned the scale and thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it

.”

George

Orwell exposed

and critiqued the human tendency to oppress others politically, economically, and physically. Slide3

“[A] 

plongeur

 is one of the slaves of the modern world. Not that there is any need to whine over him, for he is better off than many manual workers, but still, he is no freer than if he were bought and sold. His work is servile and without art; he is paid just enough to keep him alive; his only holiday is the sack... trapped by a routine which makes thought impossible. If 

plongeurs

 thought at all, they would long ago have formed a union and gone on strike for better treatment. But they do not think, because they have no leisure for it; their life has made slaves of them.” —

Down and Out in Paris and London

 (1933)Slide4

A proponent for socialism, Blair now wanted to write for the ‘common man’ and purposefully lived as a tramp in London and the Home Counties and stayed with miners in the north. Blair learned of the disparity between the classes and came to know a life of poverty and hardship amongst beggars and thieves. His study of the under-classes in general would provide the theme for many of his works to follow. We read of his ‘urban rides’ and experience with the unemployed

in

The

Road to Wigan Pier

 (1937), written for the Left Book Club.

In 1932 Blair was a teacher for a time before moving to Hampstead, London to work in a bookstore. In the sardonically comical 

Keep The Aspidistra Flying

(1936) Gordon Comstock spurns the ‘Money God’, materialism, and status, though that which he hates becomes an obsession. Comstock’s political creed soon proves a cover-up for deep seated emotional issues;Slide5

Other Books Related to 

1984

In 1516, Sir Thomas More published a book called 

Utopia

. It's title meant, in Greek, either "good place" or "no place," and the book described an ideal society that More used in order to criticize his own society. Utopia was not the first book to imagine a perfect society, Plato's 

Republic

, for example, does the same thing. But Utopia did give the genre a name, and numerous writers over the years wrote their own Utopian novels. In addition, a number of writers wrote Dystopian novels, in which they imagined the worst possible society, and used it to criticize their current

world.

Nineteen

Eighty-Four 

is a dystopian novel. The primary literary model for 

Nineteen Eighty-Four

 is considered to be H.G.

Wells's

anti-Utopian satire 

When the Sleeper Wakes

 (1899), but Orwell was also influenced by the writings of the 18th century satirist Jonathan Swift, author of 

Gulliver's Travels

 (1726). Prior to writing 

Nineteen Eighty-Four

 Orwell wrote and published essays on Aldous Huxley's 

Brave New World

 (1932), Jack London's 

The Iron Heel

 (1907) and Yevgeny

Zamyatin's

We

(1924), dystopian novels set in an imaginary future, and James Burnham's nonfiction political

tract

The

Managerial Revolution

 (1941).Slide6

Written in 1949 – Orwell dying of tuberculosis – wanted to perfect political writing as art.

WWII ends in 1945 – Orwell still left with questions. Personal experiences that he had (Imperial Army in Burma, fighting in Spain against General Franco) led him to mistrust politics except for Socialism.Slide7

Socialism

A system based on public ownership of the means of production and distribution of wealth”. “

People have the power/governments work for the people

More even distribution of wealth

INGSOC is meant to stand for English Socialism – does it?Slide8

More on the Historical Context

Great parallels between the text and Stalin’s history. Clearly the inspiration for Big Brother.

Russian Socialist Revolution (1917) – Lenin becomes leader (Bolshevik Party).

At first, great reform including five-year plans for economy, collectivisation of farms, nationalisation of industry, liberation of thought and art

.

Intellectuals around the world inspired by Bolshevism.

Lenin dies in 1924, Stalin becomes leader. He is charismatic, but tyrannical.

Stalin purges party intellectuals to get rid of competition.

Key opponent was Trotsky – represented by Goldstein. Slide9

Life in USSR under Stalin

Stalin’s control

over

Russia meant

that freedom was the one thing that people lost. The people of

Russia

had to read what the state allowed, see what the state allowed and listen to what the state allowed. The state’s control of the media was total. Those who attempted to listen, read etc. anything else were severely punished. Everybody knew of the labour camps and that was enough of a deterrent

.Slide10

Stalin developed what became known as a “personality cult”. Artists painted pictures glorifying Stalin  and he dominated many pictures. It was not unusual for Stalin to be in a white suit so that he stood out from the crowd. He gained the nickname “Uncle Joe” which was an attempt to develop an image of a kind, homely man who was the ‘father’ of all Russians. This was all called “Social Realism”.

Those who wrote poems and novels had to do the same – write about Stalin in a manner which gloried him. Some artists and authors were so depressed by all this that they committed suicide rather than do what the state ordered them to do. Many others tried to leave the country.Slide11

Education was strictly controlled by the state. In 1932, a rigid programme of discipline and education was introduced. Exams, banned under Lenin, were reintroduced. The way subjects were taught was laid down by the government – especially History where Stalin’s part in the 1917 Revolution and his relationship with Lenin was overplayed. Books were strictly censored by the state and Stalin ordered the writing of a new book called “A short history of the USSR” which had to be used in schools.

Outside of school, children were expected to join youth organisations such as the

Octobrists

for 8 to 10 year olds and the Pioneers for the 10 to 16 year olds. From 19 to 23 you were expected to join the Komsomol. Children were taught how to be a good socialist/communist and an emphasis was put on outdoor activities and clean living.Slide12

The Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment

1n 1933 Joseph Goebbels was appointed the Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment.

Unlike the propagandists in other totalitarian regimes, Goebbels was very open about his methods and objectives. His speeches and writings often contained Goebbels’ views on the principles and purposes of propaganda. He claimed that propaganda is most effective when controlled and disseminated from one source, such as his ministry; and that good government cannot function without good propaganda, and vice versa.

The

best propaganda, according to Goebbels, used simple slogans and motifs that could be repeated and learned by the public. It should produce an emotional rather than a rational response; it should enhance the credibility of the government and create anxiety about the ‘enemy’.Slide13

Stalin’s opponents forced into exile

Stalin begins the KGB – crucial to retaining his power, much like the Thought Police

Clearly, Orwell is envisaging a world that has continued along this path. Real Socialism (supported by Orwell) has been subverted

.Slide14

‘1984’ and Joseph Goebbels

In 1984, the Party oppresses and removes freedom of speech, and even thought, from citizens through the thought police, officials who have the right to access and invade people’s homes at will and with no justification.

Orwell

could be

making a parody of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ statement: “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”. He distinctly illustrates that we must not let the Party, in whichever form it takes, win, or we will lose all the liberal values we have come to know and take for granted

.

“The essence of propaganda consists of winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally that in the end they succumb to it and can never escape it”Slide15

Goebbels’ ministry was given near unlimited control of Germany’s communication media, including newspapers, radio and cinema. Through these and other mediums, Nazi propagandists reached into every aspect of German cultural life: news, opinion, drama, music, dance, the visual arts, film-making and architecture.

The

ministry subsidised radios for German homes, organised free screenings of film and newsreels, sponsored art exhibitions in remote towns, paid for music concerts and dramatic performances in factories. While these projects were usually steeped in Nazi propaganda, they were also popular with ordinary Germans.Slide16

Goebbels remained loyal to Hitler for the duration of the Nazi regime, even to the

fuhrer’s

last days, when he had been deserted and betrayed by the likes of Goering and Himmler. Goebbels and his family remained with Hitler in his Berlin bunker. He was ‘rewarded’ for this loyalty by being made chancellor of Germany after Hitler’s suicide, though his’ ‘reign’ lasted only one day. Goebbels and his wife took their own lives, after poisoning their five children as they slept.Slide17

• millions had died in famine after the failed experiment of

collectivisation

.

• Russia’s agriculture was at the same level in 1939 as in 1928 with a 40 million increased population.

• Russia had become a ‘telling’ society. The secret police actively encouraged people to inform on neighbours, work mates etc. and many suffered simply as a result of jealous neighbours/workers.

Also many of Russia’s most talented people had been murdered during the Purges of the 1930’s. Anyone with talent was seen as a threat by the increasingly paranoid behaviour associated with Stalin and were killed or imprisoned (which usually lead to death anyway). The vast Soviet army was a body without a brain as most of her senior officers had been arrested and murdered during the Purges.Slide18

Propaganda in ‘1984’

Omni is a Latin prefix meaning all or every.

Omnipotent – all powerful

Omniscient – all knowing

Omnipresent – all presentSlide19
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Doublespeak (cont.)

To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out, knowing them to be contradictory and believing in both of them, to use logic against logic, to repudiate morality while laying claim to it, to believe that democracy was impossible and that the Party was the guardian of democracy, to forget, whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment when it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again, and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself--that was the ultimate subtlety; consciously to induce unconsciousness, and then, once again, to become unconscious of the act of hypnosis you had just performed. Even to understand the word "doublethink" involved the use of doublethink.Slide21

Doublespeak (cont.)

War is peace.

Freedom is slavery. 

Ignorance is knowledge.

Weakness is strength.

In Orwell's

1984

, the Ministry of Truth instills doublethink in all citizens with the goal of making thought crime impossible.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2015/12/02/meet-the-2015-winner-of-the-doublespeak-award-a-dubious-honor-from-english-teachers/Slide22

From the first sentence of the novel it is clear that we must alter our perspectives as we enter 1984: “It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen”. Even time as we know it is counted and recorded differently; here, we cannot trust the seemingly most basic way of measuring our world. Perhaps this is an indication that we have become oblivious to the things we should be questioning in society; taking for granted our access to apparently unlimited informationSlide23
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Themes

Dangers of Totalitarianism

The Attack on Privacy

The Control of Language

The Destruction of History

The Attack on Sex

The Value of Memory

The Appreciation on the Past

The Fallibility of the Human Mind