Chapter 7

Summary

Winston writes in his diary “If there is hope, it lies in the proles.”

85% of the population of Oceania is made up of proles. There is supposed to be an underground movement known as The Brotherhood, and it would be from this quarter than any rebellion would arise.  However, it appears that they are not aware of the power they could have, and until they become conscious of this they will never rebel. So writes Winston in his diary. 

The current propaganda from the Party is that life now is far better than what it was.  This view rests uneasily with Winston. 

Winston tries to remember back “everything faded into mist.  The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, and the lie became truth.”

Back in the middle 1960’s there was a period of great purges, where the leaders of the original revolution were wiped out for once and for all.  Among the last survivors were Big Brother himself and three other men named, Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford. These three had been arrested and dropped out of the limelight for a number of years. They were then brought back into the public eye, confessing their sins and pledging allegiance to Big Brother.  Winston recalls actually seeing these three men when they had been released. They appeared like relics from an ancient world. They were soon re-arrested on fresh charges and executed.

However, Winston recalls seeing a photograph of delegates at a Party function in New York where the three were in the middle of a group, so they had an alibi for the crimes they had supposedly committed at the same time in London.  Winston wonders if he is the only one who suspects that people killed in the purges were innocent.

Interpretation

The reader now knows that the main theme of the first part of this book is Winston’s unraveling of the intricate web woven by the Party.  He has been harboring these thoughts for years, but they are now coming to the fore because he is writing them down in his diary.  His loyalty to the Party is, therefore, being undermined.

He is committing more and more Thought Crimes.

Winston questions himself about why he is writing this diary. 

Is it for future generations?  No. These are doomed. 

Is it a confessional, a means of release for Winston? 

Suddenly he realizes that he is writing this diary for O’Brien, an important figure in the Party who he thinks is on his side.