Orwell, George — Nineteen eighty-four [617]

Again Winston’s heart stirred painfully. It was inconceivable that this was anything other than a reference to Syme. But Syme was not only dead, he was abolished, an unperson. Any identifiable reference to him would have been mortally dangerous. O’Brien’s remark must obviously have been intended as a signal, a code-word. By sharing a small act of thoughtcrime he had turned the two of them into accomplices. — Orwell, George, Nineteen eighty-four, 617

Note

The chilling aside that Syme is not merely dead but ‘abolished, an unperson’ gives the word ‘thoughtcrime’ its weight: a single shared reference to a vanished man is itself a criminal act binding the two speakers.