Home > Emmanuel Goldstein

In the novel, Goldstein is rumored to be a former top member of the ruling (and sole) Party who had broken away early in the movement and started an organization known as "The Brotherhood", dedicated to the fall of The Party. However, in the course of the novel, we learn that we will never know whether either "The Brotherhood" or Goldstein himself actually ever existed.

Each member of "The Brotherhood" is required to read a book supposedly written by Goldstein, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism (see: Goldstein's book). Each person is said to have 3 or 4 contacts at one time which are replaced as people disappear, so that if a member is captured, he can only give up 3 or 4 others. Goldstein is always the subject of the " Two Minutes Hate," a daily, 2-minute period beginning at 11:00 am at which some image of Goldstein is shown on the telescreen (a one-channel television with surveillance devices in it). It is thought that the presence of an opposition - Goldstein - to Big Brother was a pure construction to ensure that support and devotion towards Big Brother was continuous.

The character of Goldstein is considered by be modeled after Leon Trotsky, whose banishment from the Soviet Union had a similar timeline. Far more significantly, however, he represents the bogeyman used by all regimes to represent the "them" who are against "us". The character's name is likely a reference to religion, which is banned in the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four; "Emmanuel" being a name used for Jesus Christ, and "Goldstein" being a typically Jewish surname.

Emmanuel Goldstein is also the pseudonym of Eric Corley, editor of .

There is also a character in the movie Hackers by the name Emmanuel Goldstein (a.k.a. Cereal Killer). Eric Corley served as a creative advisor for this movie.