fascinating
The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism is a fictional book in George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). The book was supposedly written by Emmanuel Goldstein, the principal enemy of the state of Oceania's ruling party. The Party portrays Goldstein as a member of the Inner Party who continually conspired to depose Big Brother and overthrow the government.[1] In the novel, the book is read by the protagonist, Winston Smith who recalls that "There were … whispered stories of a terrible book, a compendium of all the heresies, of which Goldstein was the author, and which circulated clandestinely here and there. It was a book without a title. People referred to it, if at all, simply as The Book."
In Nineteen Eighty-four, the protagonist Winston Smith writes a diary in which he confesses thought crimes, such as his secret hatred of Big Brother and the Party.[2] In the course of his work life at the Ministry of Truth, Winston approaches O'Brien, a member of the Inner Party, believing him part of the Brotherhood, Goldstein's conspiracy against Oceania.[3] Initially, O'Brien appears as such, especially in arranging to give Winston a copy of The Book, the possession of which is a crime in Oceania. In conversation, O'Brien tells Winston that The Book reveals the true, totalitarian nature of the dystopian society that the Party established in Oceania, and that full membership to the Brotherhood requires reading The Book.[4] Winston describes his first enounter with The Book:
A heavy black volume, amateurishly bound, with no name or title on the cover. The print also looked slightly irregular. The pages were worn at the edges, and fell apart easily, as though the book had passed through many hands. The inscription on the title-page ran:[5]
THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF
OLIGARCHICAL COLLECTIVISM
by
Emmanuel Goldstein
The term Oligarchical Collectivism refers to Ingsoc (English Socialism), the dominant ideology of Oceania, and to the ideologies of Neo-Bolshevism in Eurasia and Death Worship (Obliteration of the Self) in Eastasia. Winston reads two long excerpts establishing how the three totalitarian super-states – Eastasia, Eurasia, Oceania – emerged from a global war, thus connecting the past to his present, the year 1984, and explains the basic political philosophy of the totalitarianism that derived from the authoritarian political tendencies manifested in the twentieth century. That the three, ostensibly opposing ideologies are functionally identical is the central revelation of The Book.[6]
Theoretically, Oligarchical Collectivism recalls the theory of bureaucratic collectivism put forth by some Trotskyists in the late 1930s as a description of the Soviet Union under Stalin. Oceania's principal enemy of the people, Emmanuel Goldstein, is modelled after Leon Trotsky, a former member of the inner circle of the Bolshevik Party whom Stalin purged and then declared an enemy of the people of the Soviet Union, the socialist state that Trotsky had helped found in Russia.[7] From exile, Trotsky criticised the social system of the Soviet Union.
The Book has been described as a parody of The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going? (1937), by Leon Trotsky;[8] and The Managerial Revolution (1941), by James Burnham, a former Trotskyite.[9]
Contents
"Chapter I: Ignorance is Strength", and "Chapter III: War is Peace" of The Book are titled with Party slogans; O'Brien later refers to chapters featuring a programme for deposing the Party. (Chapter II, presumably titled "Freedom is Slavery" after the remaining Party slogan, is not detailed in the novel.)
Chapter I
"Ignorance is Strength" details the perpetual class struggle characteristic of human societies;[10] beginning with the historical observation that societies always have hierarchically divided themselves into social classes and castes: the High (who rule); the Middle (who work for, and yearn to supplant the High), and the Low (whose goal is quotidian survival). Cyclically, the Middle deposed the High, by enlisting the Low. Upon assuming power, however, the Middle (the new High class) recast the Low into their usual servitude. In the event, the classes perpetually repeat the cycle, when the Middle class speaks to the Low class of "justice" and of "human brotherhood" in aid of becoming the High class rulers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_and_Practice_of_Oligarchical_Collectivism
did the people behind the 16 year plan just plagiarize 1984?