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In his famous novel 1984, George Orwell shows what life in the future could be like under a totalitarian government, based similar to the communist United Socialist States of Russia government (USSR). Life is completely regulated by the government with a leader known only as Big Brother. Everywhere the main character walks, there is a poster that says, Big Brother is watching you with the image of the leader. The result is a society filled with people in poverty who end up accepting a life of treating Big Brother and the government as deities by worship. In truth, the government has manipulated virtually every aspect of life to meet their personal needs and prevent the idea of a rebellion from ever taking root. But is Big Brother already here on Earth? In this case (based off of the leader from 1984), a big brother is someone who has all of the following: virtually unlimited authority, is a key political figure, threatens its citizens by means of spying, torture and possible execution, and must be respected as if they were a holy figure. Despite the name, a big brother does not have to be a man. When compared to figures of many nations around the world, these characteristics seem to be present virtually everywhere. But many of the leaders of various nations lack one or more of the listed characteristics. The totalitarian political system is one of many ways a nation is governed. Across the globe, countries have their own leaders and ways of creating laws. But could any of these nations harbor a Big Brother? George Orwell argues in 1984 that a post-apocalyptic world (possibly after a nuclear war) that socialism and communism could give such a figure life. However, Karl Marx takes the stance that the working class (proletariats) will lead a revolution with a conclusion that results in the end of classes by means of ending private property. In other
words, the communism that Orwell critiques is not the type of communism that was envisioned by Marx. Three distinct nations went through a communist revolution within the past century, the Soviet Union, North Korea and China. However, the Soviet Union is now Russia, China is becoming a capitalist nation and North Korea has become an authoritarian regime. The chances of finding a big brother in each of those three nations have been thrown around as a result and thus require looking in different places. The evidence to prove that there is at least one Big Brother in Russia is limited due to high secrecy with regards to Vladimir Putin and other high ranking political officials. Currently, Putin seems to be taking steps to rebuild the Soviet Union and bring back the type of communism that the Soviets used; this involves highly strict laws involving international matters and limited freedom of speech as well as not allowing political parties to register with the Russian politics. There is also a lack of facts with regard to the government of Russia spying on its citizens, even though the country boasts one of the largest and most sophisticated security systems in the world. China became a communist nation led by Mao Zedong and succeeded by Deng Xiaoping. Although the nation has not collapsed, there is strong evidence that the political system harbors a group-version of Big Brother. Every website, television station, magazine and even books that are accessible to Chinese citizens has to be permitted by the government to be distributed. This stance indicates that there is a possible and strong desire to keep citizens from considering a revolution by limiting information from the outside world. In relation to this, the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 shows that the leadership (then run by Deng Xiaoping) is not tolerant of any uprising that could overthrow or at least challenge the communists system. After the massacre, the government attempted (and has largely succeeded) in erasing the events in all forms of media, from textbooks, documents to images of the horrific events. In spite of these acts by China, the economy points in a different direction than that of communist ideals. These
ideals include private property being eliminated and replaced by property shared by all of the people and elimination of classes in terms of income (meaning that everyone is paid the same amount and therefore has equal access to resources). With regards to making vast types of products in factories, China appears to becoming more of a capitalist country to some degree. This is evident by the change in living conditions for a vast majority of the population; some live in luxurious and well-kept mansions while most live in poor, unhealthy and resource poor areas. Also to be noted with regards to this argument are the variations of payment of workers in factories (most have low wages due to a lack of a minimum wage but higher ranking members earn more). One would argue that a Big Brother is present in North Korea. Evidence includes incredibly harsh and inhumane living conditions for most of the population. If that were not enough, every citizen is required to pay absolute devotion to the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un, as if he were God. Any less respect could result in being sent to a prison camp where most do not survive and are worked to death. In some cases, brutal torture and execution techniques are used on any citizen that dare break the laws, even by accident. But the worst law of all is the one where no one is allowed to leave the country unless authorized by Kim himself. If anyone is caught trying to flee the nation, they are automatically executed upon being forced back in. The conditions and life in North Korea have become so severe according to many analysts that the United Nations is seeking to charge Kim Jong-Un with crimes against humanity. It should be noted though that while North Korea has a life style similar to that of 1984, there isnt strong evidence that the political leadership spies on every single individual. But the media is completely state-controlled. No foreign ideas or forms of media are allowed to even be circulated throughout the devastatingly poor nation without government permission. North Korea may still be listed as a hardline communist nation but after studying all forms of communism as well as the ideals of Karl Marx and other philosophers, I have come to the conclusion that the nation is not communist but is run by a tyrannical system.
In conclusion, these three nations do harbor Big Brothers but have very different life styles in comparison to Oceana in 1984. Russia is still struggling to pull itself together after the fall of the USSR and being slowed down by the acts of Vladimir Putin. The Chinese are developing into a nation that is backing away from communism to capitalism but still rules the media, thus altering the peoples perspectives of the world around them. North Korea is a nation that not only violates human rights but also essentially controls every aspect of the citizens life especially when it comes to those fleeing the nation in hopes of pursuing a better way of life, only to be put to death. Karl Marx takes the stance that communism involves the elimination of private property and classes, thus everyone becoming equal. However, his ideas do not mesh with how Russia, China and North Korea are or have been run in terms of politics. George Orwell agues that communism will lead to an authoritarian government instead of everyone being treated as equal. The depictions in 1984 closely match the way of living in China and North Korea. In the end, I would say that George Orwell was right and also that Big Brothers are here. Dreadful were the views of those who were granted power that defied mankinds comprehension.
Works cited -SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on The Communist Manifesto. SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. -Tom ONeill. Escape from North Korea. nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. -Central Intelligence Agency Editors. North Korea. cia.gov/library. CIA. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. -Peter Hessler. Chinas Journey. nationalgeographic.com. National Geographic Magazine. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. -Sandle Mark. Communism. Edinburgh Gate. Pearson Education Limited. 2006. Book