George Orwell’s 1984 presents a chilling vision of a totalitarian future. The ruling Party of Oceania wields absolute control over its citizens. Its motives, however, are not immediately obvious. The Party’s true aims are revealed through the narrative, particularly in the forbidden book by Emmanuel Goldstein and Winston Smith’s interrogation by O’Brien. Ultimately, the Party pursues two overarching goals. It seeks total global conquest and the complete annihilation of independent human thought.
Aim 1: The Illusion of Global Conquest
The Party’s first stated aim is to conquer the entire planet. Oceania is in a state of perpetual war. It constantly battles one of two other superstates, Eurasia or Eastasia. However, this war is a carefully constructed sham. The Party has no real desire to conquer its rivals. In fact, it needs them to exist. The constant conflict serves a crucial internal purpose. It maintains a state of fear and hysteria among the population.
This manufactured crisis justifies the Party’s tight grip on power. It also consumes the nation’s surplus production. Consequently, the general standard of living remains low. People are too poor and exhausted to rebel. The war becomes a psychological tool, a way to direct the public’s hatred outwards. This prevents citizens from questioning the Party’s authority. The enemy can change overnight, but the hatred remains constant. This manipulation ensures the Party’s domestic stability.
Aim 2: The Extinction of Independent Thought
The Party’s second, and more profound, aim is to eliminate the capacity for independent thought. This is not simply about punishing dissent. It is about making dissent conceptually impossible. The Party achieves this through a multi-pronged strategy of surveillance, propaganda, and linguistic control. This internal conquest is far more important than any external war. It is the key to eternal power.
The Architecture of Control
To achieve total mental domination, the Party built an inescapable system of control. The Thought Police and constant surveillance are its most visible components. Telescreens in every home and public space watch and listen to citizens constantly. Any sign of unorthodoxy, from a facial tic to a muttered word in sleep, can lead to arrest. People live in a state of perpetual fear. This fear forces them to police their own thoughts.
Furthermore, the Party relentlessly rewrites history. The Ministry of Truth, where Winston works, alters historical records daily. They ensure the past always aligns with the Party’s current narrative. This practice, known as reality control, makes objective truth meaningless. The Party’s slogan, “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past,” encapsulates this philosophy perfectly. Citizens have no external reality to check against the Party’s claims.
Newspeak: The Language of Limitation
The Party’s most ambitious project is Newspeak. This is a new language designed to narrow the range of thought. Newspeak systematically destroys words and simplifies grammar. The ultimate goal is to make heresy, or “thoughtcrime,” literally impossible. If there are no words to express rebellious ideas, the ideas themselves will cease to exist. For example, the concept of freedom becomes incomprehensible when the word “free” only exists to describe something as being without something else, like “the dog is free from lice.”
This linguistic engineering is a powerful tool for psychological manipulation. By controlling the very structure of language, the Party controls the structure of consciousness. It is the final step in ensuring that no one can even formulate a thought that questions the Party’s absolute authority. Source
The True Goal: Power for Its Own Sake
Why does the Party go to such extreme lengths? O’Brien provides the terrifyingly simple answer during Winston’s torture. The Party does not seek power for the good of the people. It does not seek power for wealth or luxury. The Party seeks power purely for the sake of power itself. It is an end, not a means.
O’Brien explains that the Party’s vision of the future is a boot stamping on a human face—forever. This brutal image reveals the Party’s sadistic and nihilistic core. The goal is not to create a utopia but to maintain a permanent state of suffering and control. Persecution, torture, and power are not tools to achieve a goal; they are the goal itself. This stark revelation dismantles any notion of a benevolent or misguided ideology. The Party’s aims are rooted in a pure, unending lust for domination.