The active participants of CrimethInc. characterize it as a mindset and a way of life first and foremost, rather than as an organization "per se". Its main goal is to inspire people to take more active control of their own lives, becoming producers of culture and history instead of passive consumers. Those who subscribe to the CrimethInc. philosophy advocate radical ways of living one's life to the end of eliminating the perceived inequities and tyrannies within society. Contributors to publications are generally not credited in respect of an anonymity asserted by participants to be one of the organization's primary values. The name "CrimethInc." itself is a satirical self-criticism about the hypocrisy of revolutionary propaganda and other "margin-walking between contradictions", and a direct reference to the concept of "thoughtcrime" developed in George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four".