Author: Connor Thurston

In George Orwell’s 1984, INGSOC’s Thought Police are able to arrest, interrogate, and condemn party members without due process or true judicial proceedings, because Orwell’s INGSOC takes inspiration from totalitarian governments like Russia under Stalin, in which due process was almost never respected by the government. Orwell’s Thought Police act as the ultimate goal of Russia’s government under Stalin. Their name comes from the idea that they are able to reach into the mind of their party members and listen to their thoughts and ideas. This way they are able to ensure that everybody’s thoughts align with the ideas and laws of INGSOC. Because of this, 1984 showcases a world in which one’s guilt is established without the need for judicial process. They do not need to prove your guilt through judicial means, and are able to condemn one for simply thought. The name for this in Orwell’s world is defined as Thoughtcrime. When Winston is writing in his journal at the beginning of the novel, he acknowledges the fact that he is not only writing down things which the government could condemn him for, but he is thinking things which could also get him vaporized.  “Thoughtcrime does not entail death, Thoughtcrime is death” (Orwell, 28). The absence of due process is a reoccuring theme in totalitarian regimes. When writing 1984, Orwell chose to comment on this fact by basing his fictional regime (INGSOC) on totalitarianism in the real world. Specifically his regime is a more extreme, but very similar version of the Communist Party of Spain (PEC) and Soviet Russia under Stalin. Shortly after the assassination of his political rival Sergei Kirov in 1934, Stalin issued the”Law of 1 December.” This law “authorized by the Politburo two days later, ordered that the period of questioning for suspected terrorists be reduced to ten days, allowed suspects to be tried without legal representation, and permitted executions to be carried out immediately” (BBC, 180). This is often cited by historians as the ideal instrument in the launching of Stalin’s Great Terror (BBC, 180). The Great Terror was a period of Soviet Russia in which hundreds of thousands of people were condemned, deported, or executed on only the suspicions that they do not confine to Stalin’s idea of Russia. The Great Terror did not just stop at normal civilians, but also those inside the government of Russia. One of Stalinism’s main justification for the Great Terror was “to replace these officials with people more obedient to his wishes” (BBC, 201). We can directly see this in 1984, where Winston already condemns himself as a dead man when writing in his journal. Nobody has seen what he has written in the journal, but the fact that he thought of those things is even to condemn him.

Witness by Whittaker Chambers takes the reader through nuanced perspective of the cold war. Not every book was written by ex-communist party member who was part of an operation which infiltrated the United States government. Chambers doesn’t choose to focus his memoir on his induction into the communist party but rather his flight from the party. Chamber’s expresses that those who decided to excommunicate themselves from the party after being involved in Soviet espionage are often looked at as loose ends which need to be silenced via assassination. It is a wonder that Chambers lived long enough to publish this book and release it to the world. Assassination was a common fate for those who chose to leave the communist party, but staying with the party was also a chose which Chambers grew more apprehensive of as his years in the party went by. The network of Soviet Spies in the U.S operated in the utmost secrecy. Chambers states that members of the party were give a multitude of aliases, and would use different ones depending on the different circles that they would operate in. Chamber’s remarks that he would’ve been called Bob in some circles, and John in other circles. The Communist party would often operate in complete secrecy when you were a spy who worked in the United States, and the job for Chambers became more alienating the he originally hoped for a organization which preaches collectivism and group activism. Such secrecy has been fueled by the Soviet regime in Russia since Lenin’s October Revolution in 1918. In the Black Book of Communism, Courtois details the aftermath and devastation which took place after the Bolshevik’s revolution and takeover of the northern sections of Russia. This time was fueled by the hate of the Bolsheviks who have been reported to terrorize and murder the anti-Bolshevik’s and Mensheviks who fought in the revolution to overthrow the Tsars but disagreed with Lenin’s political ideology. It is a common misconception among the public that Lenin’s revolution brought more peace than under the Tsarist regime, but Courtois states that the amount of violence increased fourfold as a Civil War between the Bolshevik’s and Anti-Bolsheviks erupted. Bolshevik forces across the country terrorized and destroyed anti-Bolshevik forces throughout the country. Courtois states that an overwhelming majority of Bolshevik forces committed atrocities against the bourgeoise with the reasoning that it was now their time to assert themselves as above them on the social and economic ladder. This sentiment fueled a movement of isolationism as many feared that if they revealed to much about themselves, they would be report to the government and sent to work in internment camps. Chamber’s is definitely thankful that he was not one of the unfortunate cogs in the Soviet machine who was found out to have defected from the party.

Welcome to Bucknell Blogs. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!