1984 - I'll give you a brief history of pain with the back of my hand

"The first thing for you to understand is that in this place there are no martyrdoms." p. 253

O'Brien uses this line to preface a quick history lesson, which ultimately is just one long allusion to the events from the past, everything from The Inquisition to Russian Communists and German Nazis. So what is the purpose of this quick allusion? It essentially shows how the Party learned from the mistakes of the past. In The Inquisition, people who went against the Catholic Church, the major world power at the time, were considered heretics and were put to death. However, they were made into martyrs by their followers and their teachings were actually spread even further through their death than by their life. This is ultimately because even though a confession was made, the heretic was still dragged to the stake screaming his ideals even as he was burned to death. The Party learned from this and thus knows not to ever kill a person until they have actually abandoned their ideals and accepted their own wrongness. The Party also learned a valuable lesson from the totalitarian governments of the early twentieth century. It is not enough simply to get a heretic to confess, because in the end, nobody actually believes that their confession was true. Everyone just believes that they only confessed in order to avoid the torture, and that the heretic still held true to their beliefs deep down. The Party thus is not content simply with a verbal confession. Rather, The Party seeks to convert the heretic to their ways, actually to have them willingly reject their own heresies and accept the doctrines of the Party. And then they kill them. But quietly. By doing all of this, they are able to ensure that the people who try to rise up against the Party do not gain followers through their martyrdom but rather are viewed as insane people who are cured by the Party's benevolence.