Oceania

**Oceania** , officially known as the **United Socialist States of the Oceanian Union (USSOU)**, is a Authoritarian-totalitarian super state, which at it's peak controlled the two American continents, Great Britain and Ireland (then collectively called *Airstrip One*), Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the southern half of Africa below the River Congo.

A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of the former us, british, latin and africa states; in practice, both its government and its economy were highly centralized. It is a one-party state governed by the English Socialist Party or the Party of IngSoc.

## History

Oceania was founded following an anti-capitalist revolution, which, while intended to be the ultimate liberation of its proletariat (proles), soon ignored them. It is stated that Oceania formed after the United States merged with the British Empire and later annexed Latin america. The text, however, does not indicate how the Party obtained the power it possesses or when it did so. The state is composed of "the Americas, the Atlantic Islands, including the British Isles, Australasia and the southern portion of Africa". Oceania's political system, **Ingsoc** (English Socialism), uses a cult of personality to venerate the ruler, Big Brother, as the Inner Party exercises day-to-day power.

Food rationing, which does not affect Inner Party members, is in place. Winston considers the geography as now stands:

> *"[E]ven the names of countries, and their shapes on the map, had been different. Airstrip One, for instance, had not been so called in those days: it had been called England, or Britain, though London, he felt fairly certain, had always been called London."*
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The countryside outside of London is a place not for enjoying the contrast with the city but rather for purely practical grounds of exercise.

Oceania is made up by provinces, one of which is "Airstrip One", as Britain is now known. The whole province is "miserable and run-down" with London consisting, almost solely, of "decaying suburbs". Airstrip One is the third most populous province in Oceania; but London is not the capital, for Oceania has none. This decentralisation enables the Party to ensure that each province of Oceania feels itself to be the centre of affairs; and it prevents them from feeling colonised, for there is no distant capital to focus discontent on. 85% of Oceania's population are proles, with most of the remainder in the Outer Party; a tiny number rule as members of the Inner Party. Winston yearns for revolution and a return to a time before Oceania, says Craig L. Carr; but he realises that "no revolution is possible in Oceania. History, in Hegelian terms, has ended. There will be no political transformations in Oceania: political change has ended because Big Brother will not let it happen". No political collapse is possible in Oceania, suggests Carr, because the government will not allow it, regardless of internal or external pressures.

## Governmental

The ruling doctrine of Oceania is Ingsoc, the Newspeak neologism for English Socialism. Its nominal leader is Big Brother, believed by the masses to have been the leader of the revolution and still used as an icon by the Party. The cult of personality is maintained through Big Brother's function as a focal point for love, fear, and reverence, more easily felt towards an individual than towards an organization.

The unofficial language of Oceania is English (officially called Oldspeak), and the official language is Newspeak. The restructuring of the language is intended to eliminate any thought the government deem unorthodox by eliminating words needed to express such thoughts.

The society of Oceania is sharply stratified into three groups: the small ruling Inner Party (Consists of Government Officials), the more-numerous and highly indoctrinated Outer Party, and the large body of politically-meaningless Proletariats. Apart from exceptions such as Hate Week, the proles remain essentially outside Oceania's political control and are placated by trivial sports and other entertainment: the Thought Police manage any Proles who are socially aware enough to be a problem.

### Politics

A authoritarian-totalitarian and highly formalised state, Oceania also has no law, only crimes, says Lynskey. Nothing is illegal; social pressure is used to exert control, in place of law. It is hard for citizens to know when they are in breach of Party expectations; and they are in a state of permanent anxiety, unable to think too deeply on any subject whatsoever so as to avoid "thoughtcrime". For example, Winston begins to write a diary and does not know if this is a forbidden offence, but he is reasonably certain of it. In Oceania, to think is to do and no distinction is drawn between either. Criticism of the state is forbidden, even though criticism must be constant for the state's survival, since it must have critics to destroy so as to demonstrate the state's power. Governance of Oceania depends upon the necessity of suppressing freedom of thought or original thinking amongst the Outer Party (the proles are exempted from this as they are deemed incapable of having ideas).

The state is highly bureaucratic. Winston notes that myriad committees are responsible for administration and are "liable to hold up even the mending of a window-pane for two years". The rulers of Oceania, the Inner Party, says Winston, were once the intelligentsia, the "bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, and professional politicians". The state's national anthem is *Oceania, 'Tis for Thee*. The official currency of Oceania is the dollar; in Airstrip One, the pound sterling has been demonetised.

Oceania is ruled by Ingsoc, a party that solely exists to continuely oppress the masses. They don't follow any specific ideology, instead following English Socialism, despite the fact that bears no resemblance to either Marxist-Leninism, Maoism, Juche or Eurocommunism. The Party, as it is referred to, has around 6 Million members, or around 6% of Oceania's population. This is not even half the size of what the Oceanians claim Ingsoc to be, as Oceania reports fake truths to control people. The Party is divided into four main sections, with over a dozen smaller divisions.

### Leaders

Oceania claims to the world that they are ruled by the Supreme Ruler, known as Big Brother. This is not the case however, as in reality, Eugene Dennis was the first leader of Oceania until 1958, when Gus Hall couped him to become the Supreme Ruler of Oceania. He disguises himself as a typical Inner Party member, but in reality, he is the only person who actually knows what is really happening outside of Oceania, and actually knows what war are they fighting in. He is the only person who geniunely realizes what is truly happening, and the other 102 Million other citizens only knew the false version that he himself spread to the other citizens.

### Ministry of Peace

The Ministry of Peace (Newspeak: Minipax) is the military department. It ensures a state of perpetual war against "Eurasia" or "Eastasia", and to ensure that the war be kept in a state of equilibrium to stir up nationalistic fervor. Minipax controls the Oceanian Navy, and ensures that nobody escapes to either Scandinavia or France, or IRA-Controlled territories. Oceania claims that they fight on the Equitorial Front, and is invading India against Eastasia. In reality, Minipax fights on the American Front against the United States and her allies, and their soldiers are made to believe that they are in Africa, not America. Minipax is named after the opposite meaning of their function, however it could also be said that Minipax is literally protecting the peace to prevent the fall of Oceania. Their headquarters is located at a 300 Meter tall building at where Buckingham Palace is in real life, bordering the Thames River, which has been diverted to literally ensure nobody remembers anything about the past.

### Ministry of Love

The Ministry of Love (Newspeak: Miniluv) is the disciplinary department of Oceania. It serves what it says - Love, althought in a twisted way. It ensures everyone, all 100 Million Oceanians to be loyal and devote their lives to Big Brother via fear. They are notorious due to them having control overt the Thought Police (Newspeak: Thinkpol), an organization similar to the Stasi in Germany. However, instead of rooting out dissent, the Thought Police will arrest anyone who has committed illegal thoughts. They also runs all the prisons and torture chambers in Oceania, including Room 101, located in a former tube tunnel under the Thames River. Their headquarters is at a 300 Meter tall tower in the center of the real-life City of London.

The **Ministry of Love** (Newspeak: **Miniluv**) serves as Oceania's interior ministry. It enforces loyalty to Big Brother through fear, buttressed through a massive apparatus of security and repression, as well as systematic brainwashing. The Ministry of Love building has no windows and is surrounded by barbed wire entanglements, steel doors, hidden machine-gun nests, and guards armed with "jointed truncheons". Referred to as "the place where there is no darkness", its interior lights are never turned off. It is arguably the most powerful ministry, controlling the will of the population. The Thought Police are a part of Miniluv.

The Ministry of Love, like the other ministries, is misnamed, since it is responsible for the practice and infliction of misery, fear, suffering and torture. In a sense, however, the name is apt, since its ultimate purpose is to instill *love* of Big Brother—the only form of love permitted in Oceania—in the minds of thoughtcriminals as part of the process of reverting them to orthodox thought. This is typical of the language of Newspeak, in which words and names frequently contain both an idea and its opposite; the orthodox party member is nonetheless able to resolve these contradictions through the disciplined use of doublethink.

### Room 101

**Room 101**, introduced in the climax of the novel, is the basement torture chamber in the Ministry of Love, in which the Party attempts to subject a prisoner to their own worst nightmare, fear or phobia, with the objective of breaking down their resistance.

> You asked me once, what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.
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Such is the purported omniscience of the state in the society of *Nineteen Eighty-Four* that even a citizen's nightmares are known to the Party. The nightmare, and therefore the threatened punishment, of the protagonist Winston Smith is to be attacked by rats. This is manifested in Room 101 by confronting Smith with a wire cage that contains two large rats. The front of the cage is shaped so that it can fit over a person's face. A trap-door is then opened, allowing the rats to devour the victim's face. This cage is fitted over Smith's face, but he saves himself by begging the authorities to let his lover, Julia, suffer this torture instead of him. The threatened torture, and what Winston is willing to sacrifice to escape it, breaks his last promise to himself and to Julia: never to betray her. (Even though he had confessed to their actions, he still loved her until this point.) The book suggests that Julia is likewise subjected to her own worst fear (although it is not revealed what that fear is), and when she and Winston later meet in a park, he notices a scar on her forehead. The intent of threatening Winston with the rats was to break his spirit by forcing him into betraying the only person he loved, thus eliciting his compliance.

### Ministry of Truth

The **Ministry of Truth** (Newspeak: **Minitrue**) is the ministry of propaganda. As with the other ministries in the novel, the name *Ministry of Truth* is a misnomer because in reality it serves the opposite: it is responsible for any necessary falsification of historical events. However, like the other ministries, the name is also apt because it decides what "truth" is in Oceania.

As well as administering "truth", the ministry spreads a new language amongst the populace called Newspeak, in which, for example, "truth" is understood to mean statements like 2 + 2 = 5 when the situation warrants. In keeping with the concept of doublethink, the ministry is thus aptly named in that it creates/manufactures "truth" in the Newspeak sense of the word. The book describes the doctoring of historical records to show a government-approved version of events.

### Description

Winston Smith, the main character of the novel, works at the Ministry of Truth. It is an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete rising 300 metres (980 ft) into the air, containing over 3000 rooms above ground. On the outside wall are the three slogans of the Party: "WAR IS PEACE," "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY," and "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH." There is also a large part underground, probably containing huge incinerators where documents are destroyed after they are put down memory holes. For his description, Orwell was inspired by the Senate House at the University of London.

### Role in information

The Ministry of Truth is involved with news media, entertainment, the fine arts and educational books. Its purpose is to rewrite history to change the facts to fit Party doctrine for propaganda effect. For example, if Big Brother makes a prediction that turns out to be wrong, the employees of the Ministry of Truth correct the record to make it accurate. This is the "how" of the Ministry of Truth's existence. Within the novel, Orwell elaborates that the deeper reason for its existence, the "why", is to maintain the illusion that the Party is absolute. It cannot ever seem to change its mind (if, for instance, they perform one of their constant changes regarding enemies during war) or make a mistake (firing an official or making a grossly misjudged supply prediction), for that would imply weakness and to maintain power the Party must seem eternally right and strong.

Minitrue plays a role as the news media by changing history, and changing the words in articles about events current and past, so that Big Brother and his government are always seen in a good light and can never do any wrong. The content is more propaganda than actual news.

### Departments

The following are the sections or departments of the ministry mentioned in the text:

* Records Department (Newspeak: **Recdep**)
* Fiction Department (Newspeak: **Ficdep**)
* Tele-programmes Department (Newspeak: **Teledep**)
* Pornography section – for Prole consumption only (Newspeak: **Pornosec**)

### Ministry of Peace

The Ministry of Peace (Newspeak: Minipax) serves as the war ministry of Oceania's government and the vassal governments, and is in charge of the armed forces, mostly the navy and army. The Ministry of Peace may be the most vital organ of Oceania, seeing as the nation is supposedly in an ongoing genocidal war with either Eurasia or Eastasia and requires the right amount of force not to win the war, but keep it in a state of equilibrium.

As explained in Emmanuel Goldstein's book, *The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism*, the Ministry of Peace revolves around the principle of perpetual war. Perpetual war uses up all surplus resources, keeping most citizens in lives of constant hardship—and thus preventing them from learning enough to comprehend the true nature of their society. Perpetual warfare also "helps preserve the special mental atmosphere that a hierarchical society needs." Since that means the balance of the country rests in the war, the Ministry of Peace is in charge of fighting the war (mostly centred around Africa and India), but making sure to never tip the scales, in case the war should become one-sided. Oceanic telescreens usually broadcast news reports about how Oceania is continually winning every battle it fights, though these reports have little to no credibility.

As with all the other *Nineteen Eighty-Four* ministries, the Ministry of Peace is named the exact opposite of what it does, since the Ministry of Peace is in charge of maintaining a state of war. The meaning of *peace* has been equated with the meaning of *war* in the slogan of the party, "War is Peace". Like the names of other ministries, it also has a literal application: Perpetual war is what keeps the "peace" (the status quo) in Oceania and the balance of power in the world, and since the other major powers also use warfare as a means of maintaining the status quo, the two concepts are functionally identical.

### Ministry of Plenty

The Ministry of Plenty or Ministry of Production (Newspeak: Miniplenty and MiniPod) is in control of Oceania's command economy. It oversees rationing of food, supplies, and goods. As told in Goldstein's book, the economy of Oceania is very important, and it is necessary to have the public continually create useless and synthetic supplies or weapons for use in the war, while they have no access to the means of production. This is the central theme of Oceania's idea that a poor, ignorant populace is easier to rule over than a wealthy, well-informed one. Telescreens often make reports on how Big Brother has been able to increase economic production, even when production has actually gone down (see § Ministry of Truth).

Like the other ministries, the Ministry of Plenty seems to be entirely misnamed, since it is, in fact, responsible for maintaining a state of perpetual poverty, scarcity and financial shortages. However, the name is also apt, because, along with the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Plenty's other purpose is to convince the populace that they are living in a state of perpetual prosperity.

The **Ministry of Plenty** (Newspeak: **Miniplenty**) is in control of Oceania's command economy. It oversees rationing of food, supplies, and goods. As told in Goldstein's book, the economy of Oceania is very important, and it is necessary to have the public continually create useless and synthetic supplies or weapons for use in the war, while they have no access to the means of production. This is the central theme of Oceania's idea that a poor, ignorant populace is easier to rule over than a wealthy, well-informed one. Telescreens often make reports on how Big Brother has been able to increase economic production, even when production has actually gone down (see § Ministry of Truth).

The Ministry hands out statistics which are "nonsense". When Winston is adjusting some Ministry of Plenty's figures, he explains this:

> But actually, he thought as he readjusted the Ministry of Plenty's figures, it was not even forgery. It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another. Most of the material that you were dealing with had no connection with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connection that is contained in a direct lie. Statistics were just as much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version. A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head.
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Like the other ministries, the Ministry of Plenty seems to be entirely misnamed, since it is, in fact, responsible for maintaining a state of perpetual poverty, scarcity and financial shortages. However, the name is also apt, because, along with the Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Plenty's other purpose is to convince the populace that they are living in a state of perpetual prosperity. Orwell made a similar reference to the Ministry of Plenty in his allegorical work *Animal Farm* when, in the midst of a blight upon the farm, Napoleon the pig orders the silo to be filled with sand, then to place a thin sprinkling of grain on top, which fools human visitors into being dazzled about Napoleon's boasting of the farm's superior economy.

A department of the Ministry of Plenty is charged with organizing state lotteries. These are very popular among the proles, who buy tickets and hope to win the big prizes—a completely vain hope as the big prizes are in fact not awarded at all, the Ministry of Truth participating in the scam and publishing every week the names of non-existent big winners.

## Oceanian Armed Forces

### Service Branches

•  Army
 •  Navy
 •  Air Force
 •  Thought Police

### Headquarters

Unknown
 London (Possible location)

## Industry

### History

Garden War

Oceania has the largest Military ever known in the World consisting of 1,000,000,000,000,000 active infantry units with the same number of Mechanized infantry units, armoured infantry units, Calvary units and Artllery units. It has the inclusion of it's own vassal armies.

The Navy and Air Force have twice the amount of units as the Army. The Ministry of Peace controls all aspects of the Military even the Vassal Armies.

Despite having a very large military, Oceania's forces are very outdated and obsolete, using weapons and equiptment from WW1, WW2 and the early Cold War only limited to keep a war going but not to win a war.