The Party is in full control of all records and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it.

Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written record and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it.

– George Orwell

1984. Part 2, Chapter 9. Winston reading from Emmanuel Goldstein’s book The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. A reminder of how the Party controls the past.

1984 Quotes