The novel called Nineteen Eighty-Four (first published in 1949) by George Orwell talks about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of "the Party". 1984 describes a world of perpetual war, pervasive government surveillance, and incessant public mind control, accomplished with a political system euphemistically named English Socialism (Ingsoc). The Inner Party elite are the privileged class, followed by the Outer Party and then the Proles, all of them subordinated to the totalitarian cult of personality of Big Brother, the deified Party leader who rules with a philosophy that decries individuality and reason as thoughtcrimes; thus the people of Oceania are subordinated to a supposed collective greater good.

The protagonist, Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party who works for the Ministry of Truth (Minitrue), which is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism. His job is to re-write past newspaper articles so that the historical record is congruent with the current party doctrine. Because of a childhood trauma of the destruction of his family, Winston Smith secretly hates the Party, and dreams of rebellion against Big Brother.