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The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism
- GenresScience Fiction
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 15, 2014
I was given a second-hand copy of this book by a co-worker and urged to read it. I was unable to finish it, however, because it was seized by the authorities during the period in which I was being detained for questioning. I do wish to make it clear that according to the authorities, there is no connection between the detainment and me being in possession of this book.
The part I was able to read was extremely unimpressive and this Emmanuel Goldstein does seem like an absolute raving lunatic. I do hope he is being kept under careful observation and heavy sedation!
The part I was able to read was extremely unimpressive and this Emmanuel Goldstein does seem like an absolute raving lunatic. I do hope he is being kept under careful observation and heavy sedation!
May 1, 2014
As description it's fine. The programme it sets forth is nonsense.
June 23, 2013
"Ignorance is Strength."
"The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians."
"There are only four ways in which a ruling group can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern."
"The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed. Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed."
"The older kind of Socialist, who had been trained to fight against something called " class privilege " assumed that what is not hereditary cannot be permanent."
"The essence of oligarchical rule is not father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the dead upon the living."
"What opinions the masses hold, or do not hold, is looked on as a matter of indifference."
"They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no intellect."
"If one is to rule, and to continue ruling, one must be able to dislocate the sense of reality."
"Freedom is Slavery"
"War is Peace."
"This failed to happen, partly because of the impoverishment caused by a long series of wars and revolutions, partly because scientific and technical progress depended on the empirical habit of thought, which could not survive in a strictly regimented society. As a whole the world is more primitive today than it was fifty years ago."
"For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves ; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away."
"The economy of many countries was al owed to stagnate, land went out of cultivation, capital equipment was not added to, great blocks of the population were prevented from working and kept half alive by State charity."
"followers from starving to death in numbers large enough to be inconvenient"
"They are obliged to prevent their followers from starving to death in numbers large enough to be inconvenient"
"The new aristocracy was made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians."
"There are only four ways in which a ruling group can fall from power. Either it is conquered from without, or it governs so inefficiently that the masses are stirred to revolt, or it allows a strong and discontented Middle group to come into being, or it loses its own self-confidence and willingness to govern."
"The masses never revolt of their own accord, and they never revolt merely because they are oppressed. Indeed, so long as they are not permitted to have standards of comparison, they never even become aware that they are oppressed."
"The older kind of Socialist, who had been trained to fight against something called " class privilege " assumed that what is not hereditary cannot be permanent."
"The essence of oligarchical rule is not father-to-son inheritance, but the persistence of a certain world-view and a certain way of life, imposed by the dead upon the living."
"What opinions the masses hold, or do not hold, is looked on as a matter of indifference."
"They can be granted intellectual liberty because they have no intellect."
"If one is to rule, and to continue ruling, one must be able to dislocate the sense of reality."
"Freedom is Slavery"
"War is Peace."
"This failed to happen, partly because of the impoverishment caused by a long series of wars and revolutions, partly because scientific and technical progress depended on the empirical habit of thought, which could not survive in a strictly regimented society. As a whole the world is more primitive today than it was fifty years ago."
"For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves ; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away."
"The economy of many countries was al owed to stagnate, land went out of cultivation, capital equipment was not added to, great blocks of the population were prevented from working and kept half alive by State charity."
"followers from starving to death in numbers large enough to be inconvenient"
"They are obliged to prevent their followers from starving to death in numbers large enough to be inconvenient"
March 14, 2025
Mersi Orwell, dar nu imi trebuia gargara asta.
July 20, 2017
We have a long way to go comrades but we'll get there!
May 8, 2023
A nutshell in a nutshell in a Kinder Surprise in a fortune cookie in a pink cameo egg. Lacking enigma.
July 23, 2025
I didn't finish it. As a description it's fine but the programme it sets forth is nonsense.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews