Communism In

1984
By Kyler Langworthy

Communism is an ideal government which can never be reached. In

an ideal world communism would work as everyone would be given
the same amount of everything, give the same amount, and wear the
same things. No one person would be different from one another and a
utopian society would be reached. Certain societies tried to reach the
ideal communist government, but establish frightening regimes. The
most well-known of these regimes is the Soviet Union, as it instilled
terror across the globe. These fears were expressed through people in
a variety of ways.

Communism as a whole

Many people saw communism as a major threat and began to

vocalize this belief. One of these people was George Orwell, an
author who wrote the book 1984. In his book he creates many
parallelisms to real world communism and expresses how
dangerous communism is to him. He depicts a future in which
communism has taken control of the world, and implies that
communism will lead to the demise of the world if not kept in
check.

Reactions to Communism

In 1984, Orwell compares the government, philosophies,

and fear captured in the communist government. The
government mainly seen is called INGSOC, which is a
collective of people who make decisions for the massive
population. They instill fear with the concept of Big
Brother, who is always watching, and through the fear of
imprisonment in the Ministry of Love.

Communism in 1984

The biggest and most blatant of the parallelisms is the structure of

the government. INGSOCs government is built in the same
exact manner as both are set up as a collective of people who
make decisions for the populous. Both governments are
extremely strict, INGSOC controls the all aspects of each citizen
while the USSR government denied its citizens almost any basic
right. They also kept their population in the dark and refused
them to inform them of anything. INGSOC keeps any details of
the past and outside world hidden from its citizens and the
USSR government stagnated the flow of information and created
the Iron Curtain.

The Real and Fake Governments

In both INGSOC and real communist regimes, fear was used

extensively to control citizens. INGSOC used the concept of Big
Brother always watching you to control citizens while the USSR
used the aforementioned Iron Curtain. INGSOC also implemented
torture as a method of instilling fear. People who were captured were
taken to the Ministry of love and tortured and killed, never to be seen
again. Real life communist governments like the USSR forced
citizens to go to labor camps and work to near exhaustion. These
camps were known as corrective labour camps and they also
executed workers there as punishment, just like in 1984.

Fear

The similarities between the USSRs government and INGSOC are

striking as the two governments seem to be almost the exact same.
THe only difference is that INGSOC is more technologically
advanced and has had more time to develop its methods. Orwell
clearly made INGSOC a parallel government to the USSR, as their
structure, methods, and values are one in the same.

Similarities

"Gulag". Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica Online.

Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 05 May. 2016
<http://www.britannica.com/place/Gulag>.

Sources