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Fake Communism and WWII Parallels

 Oceania is clearly a Communist country. In chapters 7-8 there was a strong emphasis on community, with Winston mentioning how risky it was to even take a walk alone because it suggests individuality. However, even with all of the pro-community messaging, 85% of the population lives in slums. The proles seem to be the working class from the pre-revolution world, and are allowed to lead somewhat normal lives as long as they do their jobs. These seems strange to me because Oceania flaunts itself as the perfect communist society, but the proles are on a distinct tier that makes class divides significantly harsher in Oceania than in capitalist society.

I'm not going to pretend like class mobility is very legitimate in our modern society - it's extraordinarily difficult to alter your financial situation so significantly. However, there is at least the prospect of it happening - in Oceania, the divide between the proles and the Party members is impassable. The proles are treated like a different species, which is how the Party justifies their treatment. I can't help but see parallels to Germany in the late 1930s and early 1940s in this justification, as the Nazis also argued that Jews were not really humans. To many, this dehumanization made it feel okay to discriminate against, isolate, and eventually murder Jews. Clearly the proles have more autonomy, space, and access to resources than Jews did in Nazi Germany. However, there are many aspects of this book that are influenced by WWII and I think that the divide between Party members and proles is one of them.

What other details have you noticed in 1984 so far that seem to have been influenced by WWII?

Comments

  1. Anya11 February 2021 at 07:36

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    1. Anya11 February 2021 at 07:41

      One thing I'll point out that seems influenced by World War II is the way the government riles up the citizens of Oceania against its foreign enemies. The Party does not view their enemies as individuals, but rather a single dehumanized entity that must be met with extreme hatred. The tactics they use to brainwash the people into sharing this hatred for their enemies, such as brainwashing, (e.g. Two Minutes Hate) are reminiscent of the tactics that the Nazi Party used to rile people up against its enemies.

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  2. L. Moffitt11 February 2021 at 07:38

    Good post. The fact that the scapegoated enemy is Goldstein, a Jew, suggests ties to Nazi Germany as well.

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