The Great Operation

730 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The success of the Bolsheviks in Russia

“When there is state there can be no freedom, but when there is freedom there will be no state.”(Lenin, 1918) Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We is a novel written in 1921 after the Russian revolution. The novel was translated to English by Natasha Randall. The novel was written in parallel to the communist regime created by Vladimir Lenin. The quote above, shows one of the ideologies of which Lenin-Marxism was created on. Initially Zamyatin supported the Bolshevik government, however after he witnessed the effect of communism on society, he started to question the Bolsheviks. The novel depicts the journey of realisation of the protagonist, D-503, as he progressively realises the constraints of freedom. Furthermore, Zamyatin uses the motif of fear to demonstrate how the state uses fear to blind the ciphers from freedom to highlight that fear is used to control the state from observing freedom. The motif of fear was constructed by many events and settings in the novel including the public executions, the use of the bureau of guardians, and the great operations. These events in the novel contribute the fear created by the one state. Zamyatin utilises the motif of fear as a parallel to the use of ‘Cheka’ under the control of Vladimir Lenin. “The Red Terror was a period in 1918 when the murderous activities of the Bolshevik secret police, the Cheka, intensified to instill fear across Russia.” (Allison, 2010) As quoted, the purpose of the Cheka was the fear the people of Soviet Russia. Likewise, Zamyatin used the bureau of guardians to fear the one state from revolting again the one state.

The use of the Bureau of Guardians is to construct the motif of fear. The bureau of Guardians are the secret police in the one state. Due to the transparency o...

... middle of paper ...

...in, p.186) This simile represents the effects of the Great operation. Now the ciphers including D-503 are back to their mechanical phase. This truly shows that the one state has blinded the all the ciphers of freedom as a way of controlling them.

All these events and settings show that the motif of fear does demonstrate that it is used to blind the ciphers from realising freedom. Zamyatin was a political activist and this can be seen throughout the novel as it is showing an exaggerated parallel between Soviet Russia after 1917 and the one state. As said before, the states use of fear is seen in both the one state and Bolshevik regime. Zamyatin used the novel as a mouthpiece of his political ideologies through the satire on the control of the one state. In doing so, he demonstrates the soviet Russia has blinded of freedom through the use of fear such as the Cheka.

Show More
Related

  • The Legacy of Russia and the Soviet Union - Authoritarian and Repressive Traditions that Refuse to

    1785 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tucker, Robert C. "Stalinism as Revolution from Above". Stalinism. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1999.

    Read More

  • OPERATION ANACONDA

    2014 Words  | 5 Pages

    Introduction Operation Anaconda was the first major joint combat operation against the war on terror that the US was committed to winning. This operation would test our military’s readiness for joint operations against a hardened and willing adversary. The primary mission was to kill/capture Taliban/Al Qaeda forces occupying towns and villages in the vicinity of Shahi Khot in order to gain control of the valley.1 The US needed the towns, villages, mountains, and more importantly, the intricate and hard to access caves cleared of enemy fighters. Units participating in the operation included elements of the 101st Airborne Division, 10th Mountain Division, Special Operations Forces (SOF), and Coalition forces from seven nations including Afghanistan.2 With so many different nations fighting along with our own branches of military, it would test our ability to conduct joint operations on multiple levels. History On September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden decided to “wake the sleeping giant.”

    Read More

  • Literature And Freedom Of Power In Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    1535 Words  | 4 Pages

    Joseph Stalin said, “Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don 't let our people have guns. Why should we let them have ideas?”. Stalin was a dictator of the USSR from 1929 to 1953. Under his dictatorship, the Soviet Union began to transform from a poor economy to an industrial and military based one. While still a teen, Stalin secretly read Karl Marx 's book the “Communist Manifesto”, and became more interested in his teachings. When Stalin gained power, he ruled his nations using terror and fear, eliminating those who did not comply with his governance.

    Read More

  • Conformity In Elie Wiesel's Night

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    When people are scared, they tend to follow a routine, or pattern. In "Night" this is shown when a prisoner tries to steal soup during an air raid. Elie states "Hundreds of eyes were looking at them, shining with desire. Two lambs with hundreds of wolves lying in wait for them. Two lambs without a shepherd, free for the taking. But who would dare? Fear was greater than hunger." (Wiesel 59) This shows the way that fear can cause conformity in a society because the prisoners were too scared to go out and even attempt to try and get some food. They were

    Read More

  • The Sixties, by Terry H. Anderson

    1617 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are several significant, as well as less significant, themes that are put forth by the author. Some themes that are not as meticulously elaborated on, but still contribute to the book, include the idea that war can corrupt the government and it’s actions, police brutality was part of the norm of the 1960s, and the word “power” had more than one meaning during the civil rights era. All these themes are important to take into consideration upon reading this book; however th...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Our Eyes Secure Your Safety

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the editorial cartoon, Our Eyes Secure Your Safety, is dealing with giving up rights and freedoms. The cartoonist has presented the perspective that rejecting collectivism can be ineffective, which is shown by people walking around surrounded by video surveillance. The author uses irony of large eyes in the sky with big bold letters that states the quote our eyes secure individuals' safety to show the ideas presented on portraying negative notion on the subject of which is surrendering our rights and freedoms for more collective security; he/she also stresses the idea of individualism. The individualist view of a society without high government involvement was furthermore illustrated in the source by the idea of all the eyes, gloominess

    Read More

  • The History Of Stalin's Great Purges

    790 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1934, Sergey Kirov a rival to Stalin was murdered. Stalin is believed to have been behind the assassination, he used it as a pretext to arrest thousands of his other opponents who in his words might have been responsible for Kirov’s murder. These purges not only affected those who openly opposed Stalin but ordinary people too. During the rule of Stain o...

    Read More

  • Women as Authroity Figures in Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and Richard III by William Shakespeare

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    To hold authority is to possess power, and when one has power over a person or people he or she is generally feared. In t...

    Read More

  • Using Fear to Control the Masses

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    Fear is an emotion brought on by danger, evil, or pain. Sometimes the threat is real and sometimes it can be imagined. A person who is walking through a dark alley in the middle of the night may experience fear because they do not know whether or not it is safe to continue on. The fear of the unknown is also expressed in 1984, The Lottery, and Harrison Bergeron. The government in 1984 uses fear to control the masses. They set strict rules but leave a level of life completely unknown. The Party uses the people’s easygoing, trusting personalities to their advantages. In Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, the government holds an annual meeting where names are drawn and someone is toned to death. Not knowing through the whole process who will be chosen is a way for the government to instill fear in the people. Shirley Jackson used the fear of the unknown just as George Orwell did. In Harrison Bergeron people are afraid of what will happen if they disobey when putting Harrison’s case into consideration. They also do not know what the government does not want them to know because of their handicap. Not being able to finish a complete thought may bring the fear of the unknown as well. The government controls the masses using fear to keep total control over everything in their society, and in each story, Orwell, Jackson, and Vonnegut all use the idea of fear of the unknown to further control the people.

    Read More

  • Slavery In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    The famed political author George Orwell once said “I write […] because there is some lie that I want to expose, some fact to which I want to draw attention . . .” (Orwell 3). This philosophy is at the heart of his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four in which he strives to reveal the dangers of communism through the extreme totalitarian world of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The principal danger which Orwell presents is that “communism [is] not a revolutionary force, but instead [is] a new, dangerous form of totalitarianism” (Rossi 207) in which the government is stifling society to gain control and power at the cost of its citizen’s freedom, and humanity. There are

    Read More

  • Happiness In Yevgeny Zamyatin's We

    1495 Words  | 3 Pages

    Despite the state’s glorified rhetoric, Zamyatin reveals the volatile nature of stability when people walk “in twos” (129). This deviation from the norm of four signals a crack in the society’s ability to control its populace. When the government announces the Operation, pandemonium erupts as ciphers run without “[singing] the Hymn” and a couple “shamelessly copulates….without a ticket” (190, 192). The ciphers oppose routine. Before this ultimate requirement to conform, no cipher willingly lends himself to greater society, revealing the human instinct to be free. Even those who passionately embrace society’s standards quickly abandon them. As the expectations of the state clash with the nature of humanity, the plausibility of regulated happiness diminishes and becomes

    Read More

  • Everyday Stalinism

    546 Words  | 2 Pages

    When most people hear the name Joseph Stalin, they usually associate the name with a man who was part of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. He was willingly to do anything to improve the power of the Soviet Union’s economy and military, even if it meant executing tens of millions of innocent people (Frankforter, A. Daniel., and W. M. Spellman 655). In chapter three of Sheila Fitzpatrick’s book, Everyday Stalinism, she argues that since citizens believed the propaganda of “a radiant future” (67), they were able to be manipulated by the Party in the transformation of the Soviet Union. This allowed the Soviet government to expand its power, which ultimately was very disastrous for the people.

    Read More

  • Vivisection

    1555 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the late 1930’s while the United States was going through The Great Depression the Soviet Union was going through its own turbulent times. This would be known as the Moscow Show Trials, which took place under the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The book Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler takes place during this time period. The main character Nicholas Rubashov has been imprisoned even though he always has been loyal to the goals of the party (Koestler). This showed a shift that was happening in the country and an attempt by Stalin to eliminate any possible opposition even if they were heroes in the revolution. In the text two different concepts come to light vivisection morality where the party comes before the individual and anti-vivisection morality where the individual is sacred. Rubashov in the beginning does not embrace individualism however throughout the novel he begins to adopt individualism that he refers to as grammatical fiction. Vivisection morality is never a justifiable political system. Suppressing the rights of human beings is not only inhumane but also counter productive in creating an effective and wealthy society.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Panoptic Gaze In 1984

    1890 Words  | 4 Pages

    Parents begin to fear even their children, who are capable of landing them in jail. This establishes relationships built on distrust, further distancing people and disabling the ability to form social bonds. This is best portrayed in the scene where Winston visits his neighbors, the Parsons. Mrs. Parsons is visibly shaken the whole time, as her children keep a watchful eye over their conversation. It seems ridiculous to fear children, especially your own children, but as the kids had their own father thrown into jail, it makes sense for Mrs. Parsons to feel afraid and distanced from her children. As each person feels alone and alienated under big brother’s watchful eye, they have no choice but to build the only relationship and bond they can, with that of their oppressor. The knowledge that the thought police watches the citizen’s every move influences the masses towards a “norm” of a constant state of fear and discipline resulting in utmost loyalty to Big Brother. Also, because people have no idea when they’re being watched, they learn to behave as if always under scrutiny. This transforms people into their own forms of a panoptic gaze, policing their own thoughts and actions from the fear of possible surveillance. Foucault refers to it as “ becoming the bearers of our own oppression”. Aside from establishing a norm for behavior, the panoptic gaze and thought police also exhibit deadly force on those who display what they consider abnormal behavior. When Winston and a woman named Julia from his workplace commit the crime of falling in love and starting a relationship as an act of rebellion, the thought police capture them and take them to the Ministry of Love. Ironically here , they are tortured until no feelings of love or treason remain.

    Read More

  • Social Change In The Spy By Bertolt Brecht's The Spy

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    When an environment of fear is presented to a group of people, you begin to see a shift in social structures. Secondly, you begin to see those effected becoming paranoid not only of those initiating the environment, but also of each other. This is expressed in The Spy, by Bertolt Brecht. In The Spy, a German family has just finished lunch. The mother and father began to speak of what is happening to the country, forgetting of their son’s presence in the room. Once the boy leaves, his parents become fearful that he has gone to report them to the Hitler youth. Upon his return, having gone to buy chocolate, the parents are still suspicious of the boy. This fear is brought on by the possibility of punishment from the government, which has caused

    Read More

More about The Great Operation

Open Document