The Theory and Practice of Oligarchial Collectivism, commonly referred to as The Book, describes our world in an intellectual and informed manner. It looks at the past, present, and future, all with regard to Ingsoc, explaining the invention, practice, and future thereof. Authored by Emmanuel Goldstein, with assistance from Mr. Miles O'Brien, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchial Collectivism is a must-read for any educated person or rising revolutionary in Oceania.
An Uninformed Populace Make a Powerful State
The Rights of the Collective Trump Those of the Individual
Never-Ending War Brings Stability
The Necessity of Surveillance
The Neccesary Redirection of Love
The 'Wartime' Economy
The Mutability of the Past
The Language of Scientists and Mathematicians
The State and Fate of the Proletariat
The Possibility and Logistics of Revolution
Emmanuel Goldstein was once the head of the Ministerial Regulation Committee, which granted him considerable power and leeway in his personal life. He became very interested in the origins of Ingsoc, and while researching it, he began contemplating the possible vices and future of the Party. Coming to the realization that Ingsoc was shockingly unstable, he wrote The Theory and Practice of Oligarchial Collectivism as the culmination of his work. Because of this, Goldstein was forced into exile by the Party. His present location is unknown, but it is believed that he leads the Brotherhood: a revolutionary group dedicated to overthrowing the government of Oceania and the destruction of Ingsoc.
"Throughout recorded time, and probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They have been subdivided in many ways, they have borne countless different names, and their relative numbers, as well as their attitude towards one another, have varied from age to age: but the essential structure of society has never altered. Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocable changes, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, just as a gyroscope will always return to equilibrium, however far it is pushed one way or the other.
The aims of these groups are entirely irreconcilable."
- Chapter 1 Ignorance is Strength
"The splitting up of the world into three great super-states was an event which could be and indeed was foreseen before the middle of the twentieth century... In one combination or another, these three super-states are permanently at war, and have been so for the past twenty-five years. War, however, is no longer the desperate, annihilating struggle that it was in the early decades of the twentieth century. It is a warfare of limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference."
- Chapter III War is Peace
"The Ministry of Truth is inevitable: if the people had access to true records of the past, they would be given something to compare to, and therefore something for which to strive. If there exists no record of the past, some select individuals will invariably complain and might, perhaps, pose a threat to the government. However, with a false history, tailor-made to glorify the Party and Big Brother, potential dissidents are assured of the Party's total competence."
- Chapter VII Who Controls the Past