The Origins of the Term “Thoughtcrime”
Many individuals, when confronted with the question of where the term thoughtcrime originated, might simply shrug, uncertain of the answer. Among those who venture a response, a significant number would likely point to George Orwell’s iconic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Indeed, Orwell does employ the term thoughtcrime, but did he truly coin it? Let us delve deeper into the fascinating origins of this thought-provoking word.
George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair in 1903, was one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. His essays are celebrated for their incisive clarity and thoughtfulness. Notably, Orwell penned an essay on the importance of clear political language, a concept that resonates strongly in today’s world. In addition to his essays, he authored several novels, among which Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four continue to be widely read and studied across educational institutions.
Orwell’s final novel, completed in 1948 and published in 1949, was Nineteen Eighty-Four. This work is often regarded as the quintessential example of dystopian fiction and stands as one of the most recognized novels exploring totalitarianism. Set in a reimagined Britain named Airstrip One, the narrative unfolds in the year 1984, within the vast totalitarian superstate known as Oceania, governed by a regime referred to as ‘the Party.’ The Party’s ideology, termed Ingsoc (or ‘English Socialism’), is enforced by the omnipresent figure of Big Brother, who maintains control through fear and oppressive measures.
The protagonist, Winston Smith, works at the Ministry of Truth, where he alters historical records to align with the Party’s ever-changing narrative. Despite his role in perpetuating the Party’s control, Winston yearns for freedom from the regime’s suffocating grasp and dreams of rebellion.
Nineteen Eighty-Four stands as a monumental exploration of the hazards posed by a one-party state, where democracy, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, and even the freedom to think are severely restricted. A pivotal mechanism of the Party’s control is Newspeak, a manipulated version of English designed to eradicate precise thought and dissent. The premise is simple: if a word for a particular idea does not exist, then the corresponding thought cannot exist either.
In this context, we encounter the term thoughtcrime, a key entry in the Newspeak lexicon, alongside terms such as thought police, sexcrime, and doublethink. Among these, thoughtcrime and its counterpart, thought police, have perhaps become the most widely recognized outside the confines of Orwell’s text.
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) defines thought crime (notably presented as a two-word phrase, whereas Orwell’s version is a single word) as “unorthodox thinking considered as a criminal offence, typically within a totalitarian regime” or “an instance of this.” It further notes that thoughtcrime represents “the offence of failing in absolute loyalty to the ruling power.”
Early in Orwell’s narrative, we witness the introduction of thoughtcrime as Winston engages in a fleeting and, crucially, subconscious act of rebellion by inscribing “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” in his diary:
“Whether he wrote DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER, or whether he refrained from writing it, made no difference. Whether he went on with the diary, or whether he did not go on with it, made no difference. The Thought Police would get him just the same. He had committed – would still have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper – the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you.”
Thus, thoughtcrime signifies precisely what it implies: simply harboring an illicit thought constitutes a crime. This concept isn’t novel; historically, it has often been deemed a transgression to entertain thoughts of harming a monarch or emperor. Merely thinking about such scenarios can lead to dire consequences.
Interestingly, the OED reveals that Orwell did not originate the term thoughtcrime but rather popularized it. So, who was its true creator? The OED uncovers several instances of the term predating Orwell, some by over a decade. The term initially arose from the Japanese shisō-hanzai, which has been in use since 1928 and translates to “thought crime” or “thought offence.” This term was applied to leftist ideologies perceived as threats to imperial Japan.
In 1934, the Japan Year Book referenced a “Special institution for the prevention of thought crime” established by the Department of Justice. The following year, a 1935 translation of Meditations on the Cross by Japanese author T. Kagawa described Jesus as “a thought-criminal, but there is nothing to touch his thought-crime in Roman law.”
Thus, thoughtcrime began as “thought crime” (or “thought-crime,” hyphenated) in the 1930s, originating from a Japanese term in use since the late 1920s. However, it was only in 1949, with the publication of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, that the term gained widespread recognition and prominence.