The war in George Orwell's 1984 is perpetually ongoing not because of a desire for victory, but as a deliberate and essential mechanism for the totalitarian Party, Ingsoc, to maintain absolute control over its populace and sustain its power indefinitely. It is a calculated strategy to ensure the Party's eternal dominance.
The Party's Strategic Objectives
The endless conflict serves several critical functions for the ruling class, ensuring their unchallenged authority:
- Maintaining Power and Control: The primary purpose of the perpetual war is to keep the ruling class firmly in power. By diverting resources and attention, the Party ensures that the lower classes remain powerless and preoccupied, preventing any organized dissent or rebellion. The constant state of war justifies the Party's oppressive measures and demands for unquestioning loyalty.
- Economic Control and Destruction of Productivity: The war is a crucial tool to prevent the prosperity that might otherwise arise from a productive society. A nation that becomes too productive could eventually become prosperous, potentially empowering its citizens to question the Party's authority and demand better living conditions or freedom. The constant warfare ensures that economic output is consumed and destroyed, preventing the population from accumulating surplus resources, leisure time, or the means to think independently. This engineered scarcity keeps the populace poor, dependent, and constantly struggling for basic necessities, making them less likely to challenge the status quo.
- Justification for Scarcity and Austerity: The war provides a convenient scapegoat for the widespread poverty, dilapidated infrastructure, and severe rationing that define life in Oceania. All hardships and deprivations can be attributed to the demands of the war effort, making the public more accepting of their dire living conditions.
- Diverting Public Attention: The constant threat of war, the shifting allegiances, and the focus on an external enemy serve to distract the populace from the Party's internal oppression and the true nature of their society. Public hatred and fear are directed outwards, away from Big Brother and the Party.
Psychological Manipulation and Social Engineering
The war is also a powerful tool for psychological conditioning and maintaining a specific social structure:
- Perpetual State of Emergency: It creates a permanent state of emergency that justifies the Party's draconian laws, constant surveillance, and the suppression of any form of independent thought or expression. The existence of ministries like the Ministry of Love is rationalized by the need for national security against the ever-present external threat.
- Fostering Loyalty and Hatred: The external enemy (Eurasia or Eastasia) provides a focal point for collective hatred and fervent loyalty to Big Brother. Events like the "Two Minutes Hate" are designed to channel emotions of fear and anger outwards, solidifying allegiance to the Party.
- Preventing Alliances and Knowledge: The constant shifts in wartime alliances confuse the population, making it impossible to remember historical facts or form consistent narratives. This manipulation of truth prevents any potential alliances between the superstates that could threaten the Party's isolated existence.
- Destroying Intellectual Life: The war absorbs the intellectual and scientific capabilities of the nation. Brilliant minds are not used for progress that could benefit the people, but rather for designing increasingly destructive weapons that are never actually used to win the war, only to consume resources and keep the war effort going.
The Illusion of Progress and Victory
The war is designed to be unwinnable and never-ending, creating a perpetual cycle that benefits the Party:
- No Genuine Strategic Goals: The superstates are not fighting for specific territories, resources, or ideologies that would lead to a decisive victory. Their borders are fluid and strategically unimportant. The fighting itself is localized and symbolic, primarily serving to maintain the internal conditions of the respective totalitarian regimes.
- The Unwinnable Nature: A definitive victory for Oceania would remove the justification for the Party's absolute power, the constant sacrifices, and the need for Big Brother. A state of peace would allow people to reflect, question, and potentially realize the true nature of their oppression. Therefore, the war must continue indefinitely.
- Technological Stagnation: While weapons are continually developed, true technological advancement that would improve the lives of ordinary citizens is suppressed. The focus is on warfare that maintains the balance of power among the superstates, rather than achieving a true advantage or ending the conflict.
The perpetual war in 1984 is, therefore, an intricate instrument of totalitarian control, serving to manipulate the economy, psychology, and social structure of Oceania to ensure the eternal dominance of the Party.
