Inner Party

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Inner Party - The stratum below Big Brother in the hierarchy of Ingsoc and thus the ruling class of Oceania. Its numbers limited to six millions or less than two per cent of the population, the Inner Party is the absolute and exclusive ideological elite. They are easily recognisable in their black overalls. By the standard of the early 20th century, Inner Party members don't live in luxury, but they certainly do in comparison to other citizens of Oceania, including Outer Party members. They have larger apartments, better clothes, better food, better tobacco, two or three servants, and a motor-car or helicopter. Outer Party members seldom - if ever - have access to the Inner Party sectors and dwellings. It's indicated in the novel that this higher standard of living might be a strong motivation to maintain the system especially for Inner Party members. They are the most fanatic and loyal members of Ingsoc, and obviously very skilled in rhetoric and doublethink. The most notable Inner party member in Nineteen Eighty-Four is O'Brien. The speaker in Victory square is also an Inner Party member and Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford were most probably Inner Party members as well.

[edit] Background

As a comparison, the NSDAP had about two million members when it seized power in 1933, and 8.5 members before the collapse of the Third Reich. [source needed] To quote Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, p. 531: "Organisations, in other words, membership figures, which grow beyond a certain level gradually loose their fighting power and are no longer capable of supporting or utilising the propaganda of an idea resolutely and aggressively."