Joseph Stalin's Use Of Propaganda

Manipulation can be executed in many different ways, but there is a difference between a stretch of the truth and a full re-writing of the past. Both men, Stalin and Big Brother, are guilty of altering the course of history. Stalin used propaganda and falsified data for his own self improvement to change books, films, and the learning material provided to children for their education. Big Brother also changed the course of history, but to a far more drastic extent. Big Brother created an entire ministry solely devoted to transforming old information into new information making Big Brother appear to the public as an astonishing leader of men. The Ministry of Truth focuses on altering books, articles, pictures, as well as creating fake stories

Big Brother tormented those who dared to go against him, innocent victims of a flawed system, by kidnapping them from their homes, murdering them, and erasing them from existence. Not only were people brutally beaten and tortured, but after they were finished molding that person into the ideal image of The Party they were “abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word” (Orwell 39). These people were ripped from their families and from actuality. Stalin had a similar way of punishing those who betrayed him. Most of his prisoners “were not only held there for years without trial or even investigation, but were subjected to the most horrific tortures” (Loishnikova). These methods of torture include: beating, starving, dehydrating, sleep depriving, and forced labor. The character of O’Brien in 1984 does a barbaric job of figuring out new and savage ways of torturing the captives. His job was figuring out the mental problems causing the prisoners to rebel against big brother, eradicating it, and eventually shaping their minds into one of an ideal Party member. Once he is successful in doing so, all of the sexual promiscuity, rebellious thought, and other ‘useless’ emotions all that was left was “the love of Big Brother” (Orwell

When a child becomes a part of the Spies, he or she is expected to live for the purpose of serving Big Brother. Once the children became aware of the threats against Big Brother “they were systematically turned into ungovernable little savages, and yet this produces in them no tendency whatever to rebel against the discipline of The Party” (Orwell 25). They learn that Big Brother’s rules come before family. Some children completely betray their own flesh and blood to enforce his rules. That betrayal is the only option for children in Oceania due to the lack of education and correct, circulating information among the youth. All “books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound-tracks, cartoons,” and pictures are always in a constant cycle of erasing and rewriting (Orwell 40). The rewriting is Big Brothers way of brainwashing his people from the earliest possible stage which is at one’s youth. Stalin also used his power to create two youth programs that were made to serve him: the Komsomols and the Pioneers. These groups participated in many programs such as recreational activities, organized sports, courses centered around education , and many more opportunities. These opportunities were created in order to mask the true agenda of Stalin, which was turning young men into elite soldiers for the Soviet Union.