The inner party and how they function

[fajitaeater1]

Why would the government go to all this trouble to find this one man that performed some politicaly shameful things? Doesn't the goverment have bigger fish to fry? Why is Winston so important to the government for how small his impact is? The government of Oceania is so worried about a small insegnificant outer party member, why is this? I found this to be odd and questionable.

[skisurfer11]

Why is Winston who is just one member of the party so focused on? I believe that its just kind of like a process of elimination. The inner party is willing to do anything to eliminate that slim chance of one person starting a rebellion. By erasing or brainwashing the mind of just one person at a time will virtaully eliminate the possiblity of thoughtcrime or a chance of rebellion. Like I have said before the inner party has created a system that will or cannot be destroyed. They have complete power over all the peoples thoughts and minds. ;)

[The Atheist]

Another frequent flyer question!

:)

O'Brien covers it all towards the end. He points out that it has nothing to do with Winston starting a rebellion - it is not possible. He also explains the reason every individual piece of unorthodoxy must be hunted down and reformed - for Party purity. A perfect Party machine has no dissidents, because the dissidents have been re-programmed to become orthodox Party members.

[Enjoi.]

As soon as the Party caught on to a hint of rebellion in Winston, he was a target. Once he bought that notebook, or even sooner than that, the Party was watching.

[lukgem]

do you also think orwell was trying to highlight the power of an intelligtent and informed populus and the real threat it poses to oligarchs?
for example a rudimentary knowledge of the american revoloution shows how a highly intelligent relatively small group of individuals and renegades overthrew the might of the british empire.hence highlighting the real threat even to the biggest empire or totalitarian state(orwell mentions this in emmanuel goldsteins book).
another example winston believes the future lies in the proles,if we as a general population strove for intellectual advancement of ourselves and it was a "cool" thing to do you think we would have let global bankers rob our banks of our money and then make us pay it back in taxes for generations?
the power lies in me and in you being well informed and watching the oligarchs like hawks,and when they step out of line everybody says no.
this i would suggest would petrify them,but it does not happen because we do not realise how much power lies in individual hands.
it was not personal against winston,i do not think he was a real threat but its the cumulative addition of that dissent that is dangerous to the totalitarian state because by its nature it is fundamentally weak and survives only through fear and ignorance,which oligarchical collectivism readily supports

[The Atheist]

do you also think orwell was trying to highlight the power of an intelligtent and informed populus and the real threat it poses to oligarchs?

Oh yeah.

I think Orwell would have both loved and hated the internet. Loved because it promotes the free exchange of ideas and ideals without borders, hated because of the power watchers have to see our every word. I suspect he would have had some harsh looks at Google as well - the amount of information it has on almost every one of us is frightening.

Orwell definitely believed that education against the dangers of totalitarianism was the best defence against it.


for example a rudimentary knowledge of the american revoloution shows how a highly intelligent relatively small group of individuals and renegades overthrew the might of the british empire.hence highlighting the real threat even to the biggest empire or totalitarian state(orwell mentions this in emmanuel goldsteins book).
another example winston believes the future lies in the proles,if we as a general population strove for intellectual advancement of ourselves and it was a "cool" thing to do you think we would have let global bankers rob our banks of our money and then make us pay it back in taxes for generations?
the power lies in me and in you being well informed and watching the oligarchs like hawks,and when they step out of line everybody says no.
this i would suggest would petrify them,but it does not happen because we do not realise how much power lies in individual hands.

Yep, that's all spot on.

I think this is why Orwell de-powers the Proles so much - it's obvious that they collectively had power to overthrow the Party, but without organisation, they were nothing.

You raise an interesting point about people saying no. There have been enough examples of totalitarian rule to show that the ruling elite knows very well that power exists and that it must be held in check by force, while the Proles/hoi polloi often don't realise the power they hold.


it was not personal against winston,i do not think he was a real threat but its the cumulative addition of that dissent that is dangerous to the totalitarian state because by its nature it is fundamentally weak and survives only through fear and ignorance,which oligarchical collectivism readily supports

Spot on again. The Party took the use of fear & ignorance to new heights with Doublethink and Newspeak. While Orwell's premise of language changing psychology is wrong, inability to communicate would certainly make it a lot harder to form a rebellion.

[Enjoi.]

for example a rudimentary knowledge of the american revoloution shows how a highly intelligent relatively small group of individuals and renegades overthrew the might of the british empire.hence highlighting the real threat even to the biggest empire or totalitarian state(orwell mentions this in emmanuel goldsteins book).
another example winston believes the future lies in the proles,if we as a general population strove for intellectual advancement of ourselves and it was a "cool" thing to do you think we would have let global bankers rob our banks of our money and then make us pay it back in taxes for generations?
the power lies in me and in you being well informed and watching the oligarchs like hawks,and when they step out of line everybody says no.


Agreed, the government in 1924 doesn't have this rudimentary system. They say no and they never existed.