“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed—if all records told the same tale—then the lie passed into history and became truth. 'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past” (Orwell). Throughout history, and particularly since the authoritarian regimes of the twentieth century, historians have struggled to understand the fundamental factors behind dictators’ ascendancy to power. Why did the fascists and communists do what they did, and how did an otherwise freedom-loving populace allow such tyranny to occur? What contributed to the Nazi Party’s majority in the Reichstag after the July 1932 elections? Why did the world, including America, sit by idly as terror spread across Europe and the rest of the world? …show more content…
As evidenced in the novel, Ingsoc utilizes “groupthink” and propaganda to enforce a regime of deceit and lies. Ingsoc, the Nazi Party, and Stalin’s Russia all desired to change public opinion in their favor. From Oceania to the Third Reich, groupthink has repeatedly been the most important factor in the success of authoritarian regimes. Originally coined in 1972 by Irving Janis, the term “groupthink” has its roots in 1984. The Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology defines the phenomenon as “a condition in which highly cohesive groups in “hot” decision situations display excessive levels of concurrence seeking that suppress critical inquiry and result in faulty decision making” (Aldag). Janis chose the name groupthink due to Orwell’s “doublethink” in 1984, a similar condition marked by the simultaneous acceptance of two