POLITICS
Nineteen ninety-four (second edition, revised)
NOEL MALCOLM
Winston Smith leaned further forward into the alcove in the corner of his sitting- room. He had discovered that if he sat like this he could block out every single tele- screen in the room. Was it really necessary, he wondered, to have so many of them? He was not even sure how many there were. A vague memory suggested that the official quota was 43 per household.
It had all begun harmlessly enough with free satellite dishes. Only later, when it was found that a small percentage of households actually refused to accept them, had the policy changed. The case was taken to Eurocourt, where a decision was made on the basis of the Freedom Charter, which guaranteed the free flow of information. Impeding this flow (by, for example, switching off a telescreen once it had been installed) was declared a criminal offence. A few show-trials of leaders of the resistance movement had been sufficient. One of them, indeed, had •been completely rehabilitated after a full confession, and was now a popular game-show host, known to his adoring public as Big Bron.
The thing that puzzled Winston was why the broadcasting of 43 non-stop game- shows should be described as a flow of `information'. Officially it was called `documentation', which was even more strange. The correct name for a telescreen was a `max-doch', of course, which was defined by the Dictionary of Newspeak (11th edition) as 'maximum documenta- tion'. Once, however, in one of the few remaining `junk-shops'. Winston thought he had seen a very early telescreen with the original label on the back, and the words on the label were 'Rupert Max-Doch'. That was puzzling, too.
Winston leaned further forward, and ran his finger lovingly over the notebook he had bought. He had taken a silly risk buying such a thing. 'Foolscap,' the junk- shop owner had whispered. 'Non-metric. I could get five years for selling you this.' He took up his pen. Slowly he wrote: I understand HOW: I do not understand WHY.
Everyone understood how. The principles of Eurofed were common knowledge indeed, they were the only thing that people were now allowed to know, thanks to the Federal Curriculum. Only that morning he had been looking at a new series of history textbooks in his office at the Truth Commission. One of them, entitled Jean Monnet, a Grand Design for Europa, explained that 'the process of European unification stemmed essentially from the search for a new brand of humanism. With this aim in mind, the "Father of Europa" set out to promote a new moral base for Europa....'
Another textbook described how one petty, backward-looking politician in the North-West Eurosector had briefly inter- fered with the development of Eurofed. They had done a professional job on this one, he thought. Why, they had even invented some damning news reports and commentaries, which they quoted as if they came from a real old newspaper (cleverly entitled The Independent). Only the politi- cian's name, of course, had been elimin- ated from these records. She had not held power for more than a few months, any- way, before being swept aside and crushed under the heel of history by that great world statesman whose name was now commemorated in every city in the sector. From his office window Winston could see as far as Meyer Square, and on a clear day he could even see the sunlight glinting on the equestrian statue in the middle.
He understood how, of course he did. But why? Why, for example, had he felt such a surge of genuine emotion during the Two Minutes Hate session that morning? No sooner had the picture flashed up of the Enemy of the People, the man they nick- named 'the Prof , with his mad staring eyes and his ridiculous homburg hat, than Win- ston Smith had found himself chanting `racist! racist!' with the best of them. And why was it that whenever he looked at the picture of Big Michael over his desk, he felt such a lifting of the spirits? Was it that lion's mane of hair, now more white than golden, or was it those piercing blue eyes which watched over the people as they slept, either gazing into the future or glancing cursorily at the proofs of yet another volume of his collected works? Furtively, Winston took his copy of the Book out of the desk-drawer, and read:
The official textbooks of Eurofed describe Doublethink as the final product of its historical development. The truth, however, is quite the opposite. Doublethink was the source, the logical condition. Without it, Eurofed could never have begun to develop. `Doublethink' means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. To take an elementary example: 'the de- velopment of Eurofed is a) impossible and b) inevitable,' If people had been unable to perform this simple piece of Doublethink, Eurofed could never have developed at all.
A more advanced example involves the use of the comparative. You ask someone to sign a document committing him to 'closer union'. You tell him that this does not commit him to union itself, merely to some- thing a little bit closer. When he has signed, you tell him that he is also logically commit- ted to every step on the way to complete union.
Other textbook examples of Doublethink include a famous scheme which paid farmers for not growing food and taxed consumers for not eating it. Indeed, the whole argument that Europa must unite as a 'trading bloc' was a specimen of Doublethink, since the external trade barrier deemed necessary to bring this about eventually led to the com- plete cessation of trade with the other great blocs — America, Moscovia and Nipponia.
Winston broke off from his reading. He had never been good at geopolitics. It was too confusing. He knew that Nipponia was our ally. That much was obvious. Only an ally would be allowed to own all the factories in Europa. But what about Mos- covia? Ever since those negotiations over our annexation of the Eastern Eurosector, the attitude of Moscovia had been hard to judge. While it was wracked by civil war this hardly mattered. But now, reformed, unified and strengthened, Moscovia was in the news again.
At this point a fanfare of trumpets on all the telescreens at once made Winston jump out of his chair. 'Citizens!' cried an announcer's voice. 'I bring you great news! Moscovia no longer exists! Under our new Treaty of Union, Moscovia has been absorbed into Europa. To celebrate this momentous event, Europa will change its name. Henceforth it will be known as . „ Common European Moscovia, or Mosco- via for short. Long live Big Michael!'
And there, on screen, was Big Michael himself. Strange, the tricks of memory, Winston thought. Why had he ever im- agined that Big Michael had golden-white hair? Why had he never noticed that raspberry birth-mark on his head? But such thoughts could not detain him long, as he joined in the frantic cheering. Tears rol- led down his face. He loved Big Michael,
Previous page
