Orwell & Huxley’s Chilling Dystopian Prophecies Are Now Here

We retrace history to some great dystopian novels warning about a decline into a grim future; and how they predicted today's creeping control and oppression by government

(Picture taken in Beijing, China)

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—forever."

These are the chilling words of George Orwell in 1984 - one of his best-known novels alongside Animal Farm (‘all animals are equal but some are more equal than others’) – both books are about the dangers of totalitarian government. The stark image of big brother’s boot exemplifies the dystopian literature from the early to mid-20th century. This was a period dominated by world wars, totalitarian regimes, and rapid technological advancements. Novels like Orwell's 1984 (pub 1949), Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (pub 1932), Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (pub 1953), Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged (pub 1957), and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We (pub 1924) serve as prophecies; warning humanity against the perils of totalitarian rule, conformity (‘just following orders’), and the erosion of individuality.

These works, emerging from the grim realities (and experiences of) fascism, communism, and rapid industrialization, are all warnings: societies that allow the normalisation of control over freedom, short term pleasure over truth, and collectivism over personal achievement, risk a descent into a living hell (‘Give me liberty or give me death’ – Patrick Henry). We revisit the messages from the many great works from this period of rising repression to understand their warnings. Adding to the above great books we can include these novels; Rand's Anthem (Pub 1938), and Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon (Pub 1940), both narrate themes of ideological oppression and crushing of the human spirit. Their message is clear: These novels urge us to understand their lessons as we navigate the creeping collectivism and oppression from pervasive surveillance, government misinformation & secrecy, and cultural degeneration.

This post revisits these dystopian visions as warnings against society’s real-time decline into tyranny and control. Through the themes of surveillance, hedonistic control, censorship, and economic collectivism, we once again see revealed the clear message: we must resist the ever so subtle but insidious encroachments that are leading to society’s total subjugation where freedom becomes a forgotten dream. It is hoped that readers of this post re-interpret the warnings in the context of today’s attempts at collectivism by the UK and US governments, the EU, Iran, and other collectivist governments and supra-government organisations such as the WHO, WEF (You will own nothing and be happy).

1984: "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery," and "Ignorance is Strength"

The spectre of constant surveillance, the loss of privacy, and enforced behavioural norms, features throughout these novels; all of them painting a portrait of societies where every thought and action is monitored - eroding the human spirit and individuality. In 1984, Orwell introduces the omnipresent Big Brother, whose telescreens watch citizens relentlessly. As Winston Smith reflects, "Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull." This invasion extends beyond physical observation to the manipulation of reality itself, with the Party's slogan "Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." Orwell (who puzzlingly claimed to be a socialist), drawing from his observations of Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany, warns that totalitarian regimes thrive by rewriting history and enforcing orthodoxy, turning individuals into mere extensions of the state.

We: "There is no final one; revolutions are infinite"

Zamyatin's We anticipates this theme in its depiction of the ‘One State’, a glass-enclosed society where citizens live in transparent apartments, their lives regimented by the ‘Table of Hours’. The protagonist, an individual called D-503, initially embraces this transparency, declaring, "We are the happiest of animals—when we are nothing but a part of the whole." Yet, as he encounters forbidden emotions, he questions the cost: "There is no final one; revolutions are infinite." Zamyatin, writing in post-revolutionary Russia, critiques the Bolshevik vision of a mechanized utopia, where individuality is sacrificed for collective harmony. The Green Wall separates the rational One State from the chaotic wilderness beyond, symbolizing the barrier between controlled existence and untamed freedom.

Darkness at Noon: "The Party is always right, but only in the sense that it is always stronger than the individual"

In Koestler's Darkness at Noon the protagonist Rubashov, a former revolutionary, faces interrogation in an apparently Soviet-like prison. The novel explores the psychological toll of surveillance, with Rubashov realizing, "The Party is always right," even as it devours its own. From the message in these novels we see a clear warning: in this digital age, with algorithms ad big data tracking every click, CCTV being ubiquitous, and government controlling a narrative and censoring what it determines as ‘disinformation’ or true but uncomfortable ‘malinformation’; we have normalised the surveillance state that monitors all and attempts to stifle dissent early on. As Orwell notes, "The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better." But this "happiness" is illusory, a facade masking the boot's descent.

Brave New World: "I don't want comfort. … I want real danger, I want freedom… ."

Huxley, who was friends and former teacher/student at Eton with Orwell wrote not of from overt oppression; but subtle seduction in his dystopian novel Brave New World. The plot illustrates control through pleasure and consumerism in a dystopia where citizens are engineered for contentment, thus rendering rebellion obsolete. In this World State (the ultimate Globalist dream), stability is achieved via genetic predestination, and a legalised drug called soma that numbs discontent. The Director Mustafa Mond (deliberate choice of an Islamic name plus ‘world’…?) boasts, "All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny." Huxley contrasts this with John the Savage (whose mother was from the new world), who insists on wanting all the good and bad in life: "But I don't want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin." Here, the message is clear: a society addicted to instant gratification forfeits its soul, having exchanged real depth and meaning for superficial and ephemeral pleasure.

Fahrenheit 451: “We need to be really bothered once in a while. How long is it since you were really bothered? About something important, about something real?"

This hedonistic control echoes in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, where books are banned, not just by force and burnings, but by an immersive culture of distraction. Montag's wife Mildred embodies this and is shown as a character totally lost in her parlour walls of interactive TV. Beatty explains the rationale: "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs... Don't give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with." Bradbury warns that society’s descent into anti-intellectualism does not originate from top-down censorship but from bottom-up apathy, where "We need not to be let alone. We need to be really bothered once in a while." Synthesizing Huxley and Bradbury, we confront a modern parallel: social media's dopamine loops and endless unlimited entertainment that destroy attention spans and dull our critical thinking, much like the soma haze in Brave New World.

Anthem: "The word 'We' is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it”

In Rand's Anthem, a precursor to Atlas Shrugged, the writer amplifies this by depicting a collectivist world where "I" is forbidden, replaced by "We." The protagonist, named Equality 7-2521, discovers the word "I" and declares, "I am. I think. I will." This rejection of enforced equality by our main character (similar to John the savage in Brave New World) is to remind us of the danger to us from societies that prioritise group harmony over individual sovereignty.

Synthesising Warnings About Totalitarianism:

Censorship and the war on knowledge form another pillar of these warnings, where truth is the first casualty in the march toward dystopia.

In Fahrenheit 451, firemen burn books to prevent unrest, as Beatty asserts, "A book is a loaded gun in the house next door... Who knows who might be the target of the well-read man?" Bradbury, inspired by McCarthyism and Nazi book burnings, illustrates how suppressing ideas fosters conformity: "Stuff your eyes with wonder... live as if you'd drop dead in ten seconds. See the world. It's more fantastic than any dream made or paid for in factories." Yet, in this world, wonder is replaced by spectacle.

Orwell's 1984 takes this theme further with ‘Newspeak’, designed to limit thought. Syme explains, "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible." This linguistic control synthesizes with Zamyatin's We, where imagination is a disease: "The imagination is a pestilence... a plague upon humanity." In both, censorship isn't just about banning words but reshaping minds.

Koestler's Darkness at Noon adds a communist inspired dimension of ideological purity, where confessions are extracted to preserve the Party's infallibility. Rubashov ponders, "History knows no scruples and no hesitation." Today, as misinformation spreads and "fake news" erodes trust, these novels caution against echo chambers that censor dissent, echoing Bradbury's fear: "The television is 'real'. It is immediate, it has dimension."

The perils of collectivism and government overreach are vividly dissected in Rand's Anthem and Atlas Shrugged, where individual creators are sacrificed on the altar of equality and enforced fairness (e.g. the anti dog-eat-dog rule). In Atlas Shrugged, the world's innovators "shrug" by withdrawing, accelerating the societal collapse already in motion from collectivist and incompetent totalitarian government. As Hank Reardon reminded us in his trial: “their power is derived through the barrel of a gun, not through any intrinsic validity of their own”. The other key character John Galt proclaims, "I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine." Rand critiques socialism's moral inversion: "The man who damns money has obtained it dishonourably; the man who respects it has earned it." This echoes the One State in Zamyatin’s We, where personal desires are subordinated: "Happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative."

Summing up; in Rand’s Anthem the Council forbids innovation because it fears this disrupts equality. Equality 7-2521's invention is rejected: "What is not thought by all men cannot be true." In the writing of both Rand and Zamyatin we see the warning: when governments redistribute not just wealth but virtue, innovation dies, leading to decay. In Lord of the Flies (Pub 1954), a group of stranded boys descend into savagery without any overarching structure or rules. Here the writer is making the point that unchecked collectivism breeds chaos. In our era of rising populism and regulatory overreach, all of these great novels warn us to maintain our vigilance against policies that punish achievement. Pulling the message of all the books together reveals a multifaceted dystopia: one where surveillance ensures compliance, pleasure distracts, censorship silences, and that collectivism levels everyone down to mediocrity. Orwell's boot, Huxley's soma, Bradbury's flames, Rand's shrug, and Zamyatin's walls converge on a truth: dystopias arise gradually, through complacency.

A Final Note & Call For Our Collective Awakening Before It Is Too Late:

As Huxley warns, "Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the over-compensations for misery." Modern parallels abound as noted above. Yet, these novels offer hope through resistance. Winston's diary, the Savage's defiance, Montag's memorization, Galt's strike, D-503's rebellion—all affirm the indomitable human spirit. In Darkness at Noon, Rubashov's final thoughts preserve dignity: "One cannot build a new world without first destroying the old." By heeding these warnings, we can avert the decline. These dystopian masterpieces compel us to be the authors of our own existence and our ending, to ensure it is one of freedom and vitality. This is an appeal to watch for a gradual succumbing to Orwell’s boot, Bradbury’s immersion in the trivial, Huxley’s pill, Rand’s enforced equality, Zamyatin’s wall, or Koestler’s Basement. The future is not predetermined; it is ours to shape—or lose. In conclusion, as Zamyatin poignantly states in We:

"A man is like a novel: until the very last page you don't know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn't be worth reading."