Totalitarianism: The Tactics that Gives the Government Complete Control All totalitarian governments claim to be founded on moral principles. The brainwashed citizens of that society believe the government is moral and all its actions are justified. However, there is usually one citizen, often the protagonist, who offers some hope in defying the totalitarian laws. This begs the question of how do the citizens reach this state of indoctrination and why do some citizens refuse to believe what the government is telling them. The government uses multiple forms of propaganda to transform the mindsets of the citizens into one, uniform mindset: to support the totalitarian regime. George Orwell’s 1984 shows how propaganda is used in the form of …show more content…
A totalitarian regime must change the way the citizens think, so institutions like the Ministry of Truth and the Rachel and Leah Center “re-educate” society. The Ministry of Truth in 1984 rewrites history and falsifies records to support Big Brother’s ideologies. Everything in society has been altered, so now “nothing [from pre-Oceania] exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right” (Orwell 155). Thus, everything that is being distributed to the citizens is propaganda. If none of the historical records are accurate, everything the citizens receive further brainwashes them. This totalitarian tactic provides the government with intellectual control because they can decide what the citizens believe and how they think. Moreover, O’Brien explains a process that party leaders follow to indoctrinate citizens. Essentially, the government must “capture his inner mind…bring him over to [their] side, not in appearance, but genuinely, heart and soul” (Orwell 255). This process brainwashes citizens or re-educates individuals who believe in doctrines against the totalitarian state, which causes all the citizens to think the same way. Thus, there will be no insubordinate actions and the totalitarian regime will withstand. This process is very similar to Atwood’s process for “re-education” because she uses the Rachel and Leah Center to indoctrinate the handmaids. The aunts are brainwashing the handmaids at this institution because they must learn and accept their new societal roles. Therefore, when they go out into society, they will obey orders and act the way they were taught at the Rachel and Leah Center. This prevents rebellion and allows for no threat to Gilead’s power because everyone was taught to think and act in a certain way. Overall, the propaganda that comes from indoctrination institutions and the figures who re-educate society are very