1984 blog #4

"Until they have become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious" (Orwell 70).

This is similar to the chicken and the egg scenario. The people will not rebel until they gain some sort of power within themselves, and they will not gain that power within themselves until they have rebelled. One cannot happen without the other. This is another example of how the party has trapped the people into and endless cycle. They perform the same tasks every day, without risk of interruption because the Party controls and prevents every one possible. The party is blocking the fuel to the proles' fire. Without that initial spark, they can never become "conscious" of the potential power they hold as a majority. Perhaps the knowledge of just how many there are is being kept from them. Certainly any revolutionary literature is long gone, because you would have to be blind to not see that this is the perfect stage for a Victor Hugo novel.