What is the Party?

The Party in 1984 is the totalitarian ruling power of Oceania, the state that controls Winston Smith’s life, work, thoughts, history, and even emotions. It is an oligarchy: the Inner Party, about two percent of the population, effectively governs, while the Outer Party, including Winston, carries out its orders. The proles make up most of the population, but the Party mostly ignores them because it considers them incapable of organized rebellion.

The Party rules through surveillance, propaganda, fear, and the rewriting of reality. Telescreens watch citizens, the Thought Police arrest people for thoughtcrime, and Winston’s job at the Ministry of Truth is to alter records so that the Party always appears correct. Its public face is Big Brother, whose image appears everywhere with the warning “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” Big Brother is less a normal leader than a larger-than-life symbol of fear, loyalty, and worship.

The Party’s ideology is Ingsoc, or English Socialism, and its famous slogans are “WAR IS PEACE,” “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY,” and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” These contradictions are central to how the Party trains people in doublethink, the ability to accept opposing claims as true when the Party demands it. It also develops Newspeak to shrink language so that rebellious ideas become harder to express or even think.

O'Brien reveals the Party’s deepest purpose when he tortures Winston. He tells him, “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake,” and later sums up its philosophy: “The object of power is power.” The Party is a government devoted to domination itself, rather than wealth, peace, justice, or even ordinary political success. Its final victory over Winston comes when it destroys his love for Julia and replaces his private loyalties with love for Big Brother.