Jesus and the Inner Party System
61The novel 1984 by George Orwell (published in 1949) was a fear-based novel aimed to raise patriotism against the socialism, playing to American's emotions concerning the resolved World War II and using them to deface the U.S.S.R. situation, as well as communism in general. The book displays the ins and outs of a perfect communist government, shocking the readers. But such shocking government is very parallel to Christianity and the Christian government: the Vatican.
There is, in the novel, one direct reference to communism. In the first chapter, the protagonist Winston Smith awakes in his underwear. His rationalization is that pajamas cost a lot of clothing coupons, and the Party only gives out so many every year. If that sentence is removed from the book, then all the following sentences, with modification, meet the same standards as Christianity and the Christian government!
In 1984, there is one person at the top of the Oceania government named Big Brother. Big Brother is more than a political figure: he is practically the citizens’ god. Below Big Brother is the Inner Party. These are the more trusted members of the government. Below that is the Outer Party, filled with people who are still in the Party but just barely. All the rest are Proles, short for Karl Marx’s “proletarian.” The Party members (those in the Outer and Inner Party) don’t think much of the Proles.
Big Brother is at the top of the government and in complete control, but it is unsure whether he exists or not. If one were to edit the text, one could replace the words “Big Brother” with Jesus Christ, and the newspeak acronym “B.B.” with “J.C.”
The Inner Party essentially toys with the Outer Party and interprets Big Brother’s wants. The Inner Party could be replaced with the members of the Vatican, the saints and bishops and so on. The saints and bishop and popes all interpret the words of God and Jesus, but neither God nor Jesus is there to tell them. The word of God is “free to interpretation.”
The Outer Party would be the priests. Not the members of the Vatican, the much lesser people on the hierarchy of the church.
The Proles can be interpreted as the church-goers.
In Oceania there are four government ministries: the Ministry of Truth (which capitalizes in lies), the Ministry of Peace (which capitalizes in war), the Ministry of Plenty (which distributes supplies, as in communism, though the supplies within Oceania are certainly not “plentiful”), and the Ministry of Love (which does not strictly capitalize in hate, but does capitalize in torture).
The Ministry of Truth constantly reprints the “truth,” which Winston (who works there) has no problem doing, since he’s only replacing lies with lies. This is can be compared to the adapting of Christianity. Christianity has been constantly redefined by the Party to make it socially acceptable.
The Ministry of Peace constantly makes war on one of two other nations: Eurasia and Eastasia. The government exploits this war (supposed to be imaginary amongst the less patriotic Julia and Winston) to make the Oceanians more patriotic. This is comparable to Christ and the Devil. If there is always a “war” between God and Satan, everyone will always be on God’s side, as he defends the people’s best interests (or close enough, anyway). When threatened with Hell, Heaven seems appealing. In The Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey, Anton presents the “Nine Satanic Statements,” presenting the beliefs that enable the religion Satanism to exist. The ninth statement is: “Satan is the church’s best friend…he has kept it in business all these years!” By scaring people with Hell and Satan, people seek out God, the only one that can save them.
The Ministry of Plenty distributes materials, but somehow there is always a shortage of one item (razorblades, for example). This is intentional, so that when the Party gives the Proles more (though so still so little), the people will be grateful (for nothing). The same occurs–somewhat–in Christianity. In Christianity, the ministers and priests promise what cannot be given, yet with so much hope invested in the otherworldly, and so much need to believe in the otherworldly (for if there were no God, who would take care the weak?), that any random justice is rationalized as an “act of God.” The boy who falls out of a burning building and into a tree and does not die, and any other statistically-abnormal-yet-not-impossible feats are all rationalized as “acts of God.”
The Ministry of Love takes even the least unpatriotic citizens and tortures them until they love Big Brother. This has happened many times throughout Christian history. The inquisition is the most obvious example, but more subtle modern-day examples include the “Heaven’s Gate” suicide cult as well as many other Christian cults that use fear and family to brainwash its followers as well as offering a sense of community, and ostracizing those that do not conform to their beliefs. The Westboro Church is (besides being a somewhat accurate and honest representation of Christianity without the social reform it has undergone) an example of one of such cults. Also, though the bible preaches love, Christians display hate to influence others, as in the case of Westboro Church.
When Winston Smith is caught and taken to the Ministry of Love, he is tortured until he believes what the Inner Party and Big Brother tells him to. This is reminiscent of Christianity, as the Christian bible tells of things that contradict science. So, Winston is tortured until he believes not what makes sense, but what he is told. This is similar to Christianity, though with different forms of torture (guilt, isolation).
At the end of Winston’s stay, he is faced with what he most fears: rats. That happens to be his worst fear, but it can be any fear. This is used in Christianity through the threat of Hell.
Christianity is so clearly an institute geared towards the manipulation of people, most likely to abolish all other groups’ understanding of decency. But such narrow-minded social mechanics have been stripped away! Christianity, no matter how much it is reshaped, is based off of an outdated model of decency. One day, perhaps such outdated hopes will be blown away.
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You are correct, and I apologize for the mistake. I was in a rush to get past the introduction and into the heart of the matter. The sentence has been corrected.
As to the disembowelment of Axis socialism, I must disagree. I've learned that the Italians were fascist, the Nazis socialist, and the Japanese communist.
At any rate, the first sentence does not have to do much with the rest of the essay. If the rest of the essay were dependent on the thought that the Axis powers had yet to disband at 1949, your argument would be compromising, but it is not, as the essay does not have anything to do with World War II. If I were to say red firetrucks are fast and someone points out that a lot of firetrucks are green, that doesn't argue that firetrucks aren't fast, does it?
I apologize, though, for my initial oversight.
Attikos Level 4 Commenter 4 months ago
In 1949, the Axis powers were attacking no one. The Axis had ceased to exist. Whether or not they had been socialist is a matter of some dispute. Most socialists deny it because of the strong strain of nationalism they had incorporated, and the negative connotations attached to fascism. Many others think that socialism isn't necessarily internationalist, that fascists are as likely to be found in that branch of it as in the former, and that just because some socialists have been nasty people is no reason to say they weren't socialists. In any event, one need read no further than this essay's first factually incoherent sentence to know it's claptrap.