Rothbards
review of George Orwells Nineteen
Eight-Four (Harcourt, 1949) appeared in Analysis,
September 1949, p. 4
In recent
years, many writers have given us their vision of the coming collectivist
future. At the turn of the century, neither Edward Bellamy nor
H. G. Wells suspected that the collectivist societies of their
dreams were so close at hand. As collectivism sprouted following
World War I, many keen observers felt that there was a big difference
between the idyllic Edens pictured by Bellamy and Wells and the
actual conditions of the various waves of the future.
Notable among
these revised forecasts of the world of the future were Aldous
Huxleys Brave
New World and Ayn Rands Anthem.
Both of their future worlds, evil as they were, had saving graces.
Huxleys future was spiritually dead, but at least the masses
were happy; Ayn Rands dictators were timid, stupid men who
permitted a renascent individualist to escape from the strangling
collectivist world and begin life anew.
George Orwells
collectivist Utopia has plugged all the loopholes. There is no
hope at all for the individual or for humanity, and so the effect
on the reader is devastating. Orwells future is run by a
Party whose job is the total exercise of Power, and it goes about
its job with diabolic efficiency and ingenuity. The Party represents
itself as the embodiment of the principles of Ingsoc, or English
Socialism. These principles turn out to be: blind, unquestioning
obedience to the Party, and equally blind hatred of any person
or group the Party proclaims as its enemy. These emotions are
the only ones permitted to anybody; all others, such as personal
and family love, are systematically stamped out.
All ideas
are of course treasonable and subversive the only persons
permitted to live are those who unthinkingly parrot the Party
Line. Any man with a bent for independent thought is subtly encouraged
in his heresy by the Thought Police. Then, when he has come to
realize the nature of the regime and hates it thoroughly, the
Ministry of Love takes over and, via the most horrible forms of
torture, burns out of him any spark of human dignity. Finally,
the heretic goes to his slaughter convinced of the goodness of
his persecutors. He dies loving the Party and its mythical leader,
Big Brother. Not even martyrdom is permitted in the inferno of
the future.
To accomplish
its purpose of destroying the human mind and heart, the Party
uses: constant propaganda, inducing all to love Big Brother and
hate his enemies; the destruction of truth by continually altering
historical records to conform to the ever-changing Party Line
thus history is destroyed and all truth flows from the
Party; the destruction of language to make it impossible to think
independent thoughts by confusing the meaning of words
and by introducing a new gibberish-language; and the destruction
of logic by a process known as doublethink defined as the capacity
to hold in ones mind two contradictory beliefs at the same
time.
One significant
method that the Party uses to remain in power is to contrive to
keep its country always at war with some other country. The other
countries are also run by similar parties, though each have different
names. By the process of doublethink every loyal Party member
believes that his part will ultimately conquer the world, yet
also recognizes that all the countries tacitly engage in a war
that never becomes too hot. Thus, each Party has an
excuse to starve and terrorize its subjects in the name of military
necessity, while its ruler remains secure from any wartime disaster.
I understand
how, said Winston Smith, the pathetic heretic of Nineteen
Eight-Four,but I dont understand why. Why
does the Party do all this? One of its leaders explains:
The
Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested
in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. We are
different from all the oligarchies of the past in that we know
what we are doing. All the others were cowards and hypocrites.
They never had the courage to recognize their motives. We know
that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing
it. Power is not a means; it is an end. The object of persecution
is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of
power is power. How does one man assert his power over another?
By making him suffer. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure
that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting
pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces
and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.
In our world, there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph,
and self-abasement a world of fear and treachery and torment.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on
a human face forever. Orwells collectivist world of
the future is doubtless a nightmare but is it merely a
dream?