1984 Journal #1

On page 70 Winston writes in his diary “Until they[the proles] become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”  The Party, which is the society in 1984, is trying to destroy or suppress the human conscious as much as possible.  Winston is right in this passage, he has realized what it would take for The Party to be overthrown.  Winston is not a prole, but he has rebelled by starting up a diary and has awakened his conscious enough to realize that in order for The Party to be overthrown, the proles must “awaken”, to rise up and rebel.  The proles are the only hope because they make up 85% of the population, and because they are not as closely monitored as The Party members are.  Any Party member who rebels, is quickly taken from society and “vaporized”, almost always never seen again.  Anything that the rebel has said would then be altered in history so that it would appeal to what The Party wants.  These alterations of the past are seen as fact by The Party members, and that is another reason why members of The Party would not be able to overthrow it on their own.  They are constantly watched, and this makes it so only 2 to 3 members would be able to rise in rebellion before being caught in the action, only to be vaporized.