Joseph Stalin's Manipulation In 1984

“People are free to do exactly what they are told,” stated author Ward Churchill. Churchill describes the manipulation that although people believe that they have the ability to think and do what as they choose, their thoughts and actions are being influenced and changed by an outer force. In the novel 1984, the Party maintains control over the people of Oceania using crafty methods. After Joseph Stalin gained power over the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union’s people were also controlled by many dubious tactics. Joseph Stalin enforced manipulative tactics similar to the Party’s tactics in the novel 1984, which demonstrated the practicality and realism in the Party’s cunning and controlling methods. The propaganda of glorifying the leader of …show more content…
Joseph Stalin purposely denied food to the lower people in society to control them and their right to live. In 1932 Joseph Stalin knowing set an impossible quota of grain that must be collected from Ukraine farms. Along with setting this quota, Stalin began killing the most prosperous farmers to ensure starvation and a shortage of grain (Mass 37). Joseph Stalin’s intentional starving of the Ukraine people had a larger purpose than just causing death. Stalin suppressed any possibility of revolt from the Ukraine people by manipulating them into believing they must give up their grain and there is no way to revolt. Similarly the Party denied the outer Party members and the proles of resources to keep peace in the society. In the book that O’Brien wrote he stated, “Goods must be produced, but they need not be distributed” (Orwell 190-191). The Party’s method described by O’Brien is to keep peace among their people by making them believe the resources are being fairly handed out. Although the Party told the people the resources were for war and Stalin did not, both their tactics had the purpose of manipulating resources to maintain their power. Joseph Stalin’s methods of control presented the viability of the Party’s tactics in the real world. The goal of both the Party and Joseph Stalin was to maintain power no matter what actions they had to perform. To manipulate the minds of the people, Joseph Stalin and the Party devised similar devious tactics such as displaying propaganda, monitoring resources, and killing potential threats. Although the Party’s methods of control may be perceived as outlandish, many leaders throughout history, including Joseph Stalin, have successfully utilized similar methods of

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