1984 Marxist Analysis

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” is a phrase the people of Oceania were taught in 1984 (Orwell 6). 1984 is a novel written by George Orwell which depicts an imperfect dystopia with a totalitarian and controlling government. Such factors which came to influence Orwell in writing 1984 was his point of view against Marxism. As a socialist, he did not agree with such viewpoints and portrayed how Marxist ideals could go wrong in 1984.

According to allaboutphilosophy.org, Marxism is “the system of socialism in which the dominant feature is public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange” (allaboutphilosophy.org). In other words, Marxism is when everyone has equal ownership of everything, there are

Marxism was the ideal base of another form of government known as Communism. It had came to be the key ideology of movements which took place in the twentieth century such as Nazi Germany, Joseph Stalin’s rule over the Soviet Union, and Communist China. Orwell used those as inspiration for 1984 as to why Marxism was inevitably incorrect. “1984, then, is not a realistic novel, but an ideological satire; not simply a prophecy, but a warning. If we keep these distinctions in mind, we will see more clearly what Orwell is doing” (Beauchamp 3). For example, according to Marx, everyone in his ideal and perfect world, could not inherit their wealth and they only received what they needed. It is relatively told in the book as “ the problem was how to keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world. Goods must be produced, but they must not be distributed” (Orwell 241). The Party did not want to give its people an abundant amount of products but only give them what they need. The people of Oceania were to only be given what they needed but they did not always receive such necessities. In the beginning of the book, Winston and a group of other men were talking about the lack of razors and how other times they lacked such things that were needed in the household. “At any given moment there was some necessary article which the Party shops were unable to supply. Sometimes it was buttons, sometimes it was darning wool, sometimes it was shoelaces; at present it was razor blades” (Orwell 63). People lacked resources and they had no way of getting them. Orwell related such events with how wrong caring for the community and only giving them what they need can go