Historical Context

• Who was Leon Trotsky (written into Emmanuel Goldstein's character)?

  
  

  • Leon Trotsky = Soviet Bolshevik leader
  • Leon trotsky: a former member of the Party inner circle, was purged and declared an enemy of the people by the Soviet State he helped create
  • Was charged by supporting an armed rebellion
  • 1937 essay ‘The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going? (similar to goldstein's book)
• Historical Context on Surveillance:

  • Stalin's Soviet Union used the NKVD (later known as the KGB)
  • Hitler's Nazi Germany employed the Gestapo to maintain a state of constant surveillance.
  • Both: employed informants, tapped telephone lines etc to monitor the activities and conversations of the citizens
• Modern Context on Surveillance:


  • NSA electronic surveillance program, leaked by Edward Snowden.
  • Monitors international phone calls, text messages, and emails.
• What was the context for Big Brother Character Face?

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• What was the context for Big Brother's character appearance?

  • ‘Lord Kitchener Wants You’ 1914 advertisement for WW1 inspo for 1984 = Invasive and reminiscent of Big Brother face

  
• What was Stalin's Cult of Personality?

  • The Soviet Press presented Stalin as an all-powerful / all-knowing leader, with his name and image appearing everywhere
  • (BIG BROTHER POSTER PROPAGANDA)
• Historical Context on Manipulation of Truth:

  • Soviet Dissidents = opposed the Soviet Government & experienced the systematic suppression of their voices.
  • Dissenting claims were discredited, rebellious literature confiscated, subjected to prosecution and imprisonment (in mental institutions or prisons), banished or forced into exile (removal of their Soviet citizenship)
• Book Burning in Nazi Germany:


  • Burned books that were deemed subversive or "un-German."
  • Symbolised the suppression of intellectual freedom, the rejection of diverse ideas, and the establishment of ideological conformity.
  • Nazi regime's determination to shape public intellect and eliminate dissenting voices
  • A means of censorship.
• Manipulation of History: What was The Great Purge in the Soviet Union?

  • The erasure of records
  • Manipulated official documents, newspapers, and other sources to reshape historical narratives.
  • Individuals who were purged, often labelled as ‘enemies of the state'
  • They were physically eliminated & erased from the historical record:
  • Names were removed from official documents, and references to them in newspapers, books, and other publications were expunged.
• What was Stalin’s 5 Year Plan?

  • "2+2=5"= real politics slogan from the Soviet Union
  • Was a promise to complete the industrialising 5 year plan, in 4 years - Orwell satirises the slogan to demonstrate the authoritarian tendency of suspending reality
• WW2 – The Blitz (1941):


  London was systematically bombed by the Germans, causing complete structural devastation.
• Modern Day Context (Trump):


  • The day Donald Trump was elected, 1984 became a bestseller again
  • Modern Day Dystopia