Nineteen Eighty-Four - Context
Religion
Political terminology :
Socialism - Social organisation that advertises that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned/regulated by the community as a whole
Totalitarianism - form of government that does not permit individual freedom or opposition to the state + its rules
Marxism - the belief that the working class needs to revolt and establish a new communist regime
Communism - a theory/system of social organisation in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs
Orwell's life
In 1936, he fought for republicans in the Spanish civil war but was forced to flee in fear of soviet-backed communists
Orwell worked in the BBC --> saw the dissemination of propaganda through media
'Every line of serious work I have written since 1936 has been written... against totalitarianism and for socialism
Influence of the Soviet Union
Under Stalin's rule ambitious Five-year plans of ambitious goals were implemented (starting in 1928) and were declared successful in 1932 even though they weren't
The great purges - (1936-1938) Stalin's paranoia surrounding his position as head of the USSR led to his execution of many of his opposers on the grounds of alleged terrorism
Leon Trotsky was exiled by Stalin and assassinated on his orders later
Influence of WWII
Nazi youth - indoctrination
Threat of nuclear conflict - mutually assured destruction
Influence of the Spanish civil war
War between the Nationalists (monarchists and traditionalists led by Francisco Franco) and Republicans (left leaning)
Roman Church demonstrated rigid opposition to liberal and democratic principles, hostility which induced its collaboration with fascist governments in Italy and Spain
- initiated Orwell's anti-Catholicism
Orwell was raised on the Anglican faith, grew up
to become an agnostic.
Orwell became disillusioned with elements within the resistance forces that he felt wanted to replace the Fascist government with an authoritarian regime of its own
Trotsky wrote The Revolution Betrayed (1937), calling for a new political revolution to end bureaucratic dictatorship
British political climate
Orwell came to believe that the British Labour Party was a movement professing to fight for the working classes against capitalism but in reality concerned only with establishing and perpetuating their own power (alike the Communist Party)
The Gulag - a system of forced labour camps in soviet Russia
Komsomol - a group for the ages of 14-28 a political organ for spreading Communist teachings and preparing future members of the Communist Party - In Soviet society, its members were frequently favoured over non-members in matters of employment and scholarships
Holodomor - the great famine in Ukraine as a result of the collectivisation of agriculture, forced grain procurement and uneven distribution of food
Nuremberg rallies- primarily propaganda events, carefully staged to reinforce party enthusiasm and to showcase the power of National Socialism to the rest of Germany and the world