The Origins of Totalitarianism offers historical insight about regimes that use totalitarianism as a tool to achieve power. 1984 offers a fictional and dramatized version of how a regime successfully takes power. The Origins of Totalitarianism talks about real life events, but 1984 book builds off of true historical events. Therefore, there are some similarities we can draw from the real and the fiction, and specifically around the idea of a surveillance state.
“The deadly danger of ‘invisible government’ to the institutions of ‘visible government’ has often been pointed out; what is perhaps less well known is the intimate traditional connection between imperialist politics and rule by ‘invisible government’ and secret agents.” (Arendt, xxv) The use of spies or in totalitarian regimes is a common theme throughout history. In order for a party to maintain stability or to be more specific, power, the citizens must be kept in line. The Soviet had their KGB spies. They performed many duties and amongst one of them was to monitor citizens and keep the internal security of Russia stable. This is a way of keeping the power to a party away from the public eye thus rendering it ‘invisible’. Now there is another way of keeping order that is more ‘visible’. An example The Origins of Totalitarianism brings up are the SS Soldiers of Nazi Germany during World War II. SS Soldiers acted as a police force to keep citizens in line and to eliminate anyone that was not deemed loyal to the Nazi Party. This example is more visible and to an extent more extreme. Public executions would be carried out by the SS as a way of directly showing what happens to those who are unloyal. Now this is very different to how the KGB responds to unloyal citizens with actions being done in private, away from the public eye. However, the main point is the consequences of not being loyal are clear and present in totalitarianism. There is a constant surveillance whether it be done in secret or out for the public to see, the presence is still there.
Now I want to shift over into 1984 because both forms of surveillance are present in this book. “There were no telescreens, of course, but there was always the danger of concealed microphones by which your voice might be picked up and recognized (…) but sometimes there were patrols hanging about the railway stations…”. (Orwell, 117) On top of there being hidden devices for surveillance, there is also the threat of patrols by what I assume are the Thought Police. The Party utilizes both ‘invisible’ and ‘visible’ forms of surveillance to keep citizens in line. And they survey something that sounds impossible to us and that is ‘thought’. There is a reason they are called the Thought Police because they respond to thought crimes which in the world of 1984 is viewed as the worst kind of crime. It is a crime that goes against all thoughts that might go against The Party. 1984 portrays a true surveillance state where aspects of everyday life, even thought, are surveyed. The Soviet Union and Nazi Party could only do so much to survey its citizens, but The Party succeeds at this using totalitarianism.
Leave a Reply