Nineteen Eighty-four (1984) is a novel by Georgel Orwell (whose real
name was Eric Arthur Blair), that tells us the
story of Winston Smith
and his inner revolt against the society, dominated by a totalitarian
state.
Orwell intended to write a warning to the world, predicting that by
1984 (as he wrote it in 1948, he reversed the last two digits of the
date), the planet could be dominated by massive totalitarian states.
Terms like "Orwellian" and "Big Brother", entered the daily basis
vocabulary in academic and political circles, specially related to
political science, international relations and security issues.
In 1984 the world would be divided in 3 main huge states, Oceania
(where Winston lives, precisely in the ruins of London), Eurasia (based
in the Soviet Union) and Eastasia (several east asian countries) , each
with its political doctrin (despite having diferent names, the 3
doctrins are very similar).
Oceania's totalitarian government doctrin is Ingsoc (English
Socialism), an ideology that divides Oceania's society in 3 classes:
the inner party (sometimes referred as "The Party), which runs the
government; the outer party, the middle class; and the proles that
compose the vast lower class.
The Party institutionalized four Ministries, Peace, Plenty, Truth and
Love, that in fact take care of precisely the contrary of what their
names intend to (this ability is called Doublethink). So the Ministry
of Peace takes care of War issues (Oceania is in a perpetual war), the
Plenty controls the food, the Truth controls propaganda and rewrites
historical facts, and the Love arrests and tortures dissidents, so that
they can be brainwashed and embrace the one and only Party.
The Party controls everyone's life, specially through tele-screens, and
propagands it's slogan everywhere: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery,
Ignorance is Strenght.
Orwell formulated a new language, Newspeak, a basic language
that supressed many English words, that along with Doublethink would
narrow each individual's intelectual capacity.
The system keeps working perpetually thanks to the never ending war
between the 3 super-powers, and new alliances are forged all the time
(and history rewritten once again), as each state can not be defeated
even if the other 2 are allied against him.
All in all, it is one of the world's most famous political novels,
controversial to the point of being forbidden in some countries and
communist regimes, who some say were the main target of Orwell's
writing. An obligatory reading and a must in every political section
library.