Chapter 7 9.1

Nine Winston had turned to jelly with exhaustion.Jelly--that's the right word, it just popped into his head.His body is as soft as jelly, and translucent like jelly.He just felt that if he raised his hand, the sun could shine through his hand.The mountains of work had drained his body fluids, leaving only an empty frame composed of nerves, bones and skin, which would shatter at the touch of a touch.Nervous as hell--shoulders ache from work clothes, feet itch from pavement, joints rattling with clenched hands. In five days, he actually worked more than 90 hours.All the people in the Ministry are like this.It was all over now, and by tomorrow morning he would have nothing to do, no Party work of any kind.He could stay in that hiding place for six hours and return to his bed for nine hours.The afternoon sun was warm, and he walked slowly up a dirty street to Mr. Charrington's shop.He kept an eye on the patrolmen along the way, and felt for no reason that there would be no danger to bother him this afternoon.The briefcase in his hand was heavy, and he bumped into his knee with a step, causing the skin of his thigh to ache.There was the book in the bag, and he had had it for six days, but he didn't even have time to open it, let alone take a look at it.

Hate Week is in its sixth day.During this period, every day is parades, speeches, shouts, songs, flags, posters, movies, wax figures, drums, trumpets, and marches.The tracks of the tanks creaked, the planes lined up buzzed, and the gunshots rang out.After six days in this way, the frenzy of the crowd was driven to a climax, and the hatred of Eurasia was driven to madness. If the two thousand Eurasian prisoners of war who were publicly hanged on the last day fell into the hands of the people, they would surely be torn apart. The powder was crushed—but at this moment, the higher-ups suddenly announced that Oceania had never been at war with Eurasia.Oceania is at war with Eastasia!Eurasia is our ally!

Of course, no one would admit that anything had changed.It happened so suddenly that it quickly spread everywhere—Eurasia is not the enemy, Eastasia is!At the time Winston was taking part in a demonstration in the central square of London.At night, the pale face and the bright red flag are as red as blood under the floodlights.There were thousands of people crowded into the square, and there was also a group of elementary school students, a thousand people, all dressed in the uniform of the reconnaissance team.A red cloth was hung on the podium, and a speaker from the Inner Party was talking to everyone.The fellow was thin and small, with disproportionately long arms, and thinning hair on his big bald head.He looks like a gnome in the legend, burned out of hatred, holding the microphone with one hand, and dancing with the other hand on the top of the head, and the hand grows on the thin and thin arm, which makes him look bigger Surprisingly.His voice, amplified by a loudspeaker until it pierces the ears, endlessly recounts the crimes of Eurasia: massacres, deportations, looting, rape, torture of prisoners, bombing of civilians, lying and spreading rumors, unreasonable aggression, tearing up treaties, etc. .It was almost impossible not to believe what he said at first, almost impossible not to go mad.After a while, the crowd will be angry once, thousands of voices can't help shouting like wild animals, and the speaker's voice is also drowned in this roar.The screams of the top students are the most savage.The speech went on for twenty minutes, when a correspondent rushed to the podium and handed a note to the speaker.He unfolded the note and glanced at it, but he didn't even stop speaking.The manner of his voice hadn't changed at all, the content of his speech hadn't changed at all--and then suddenly he changed his name.Without a word of nonsense, a wave of understanding swept everyone.Oceania is at war with Eastasia!Immediately there was a great chaos.The flag posters on the square are all wrong!Half of them don't look right.This is someone sabotage!Goldstein's agents did it!There was a pause in the speech, and the posters were ripped off, the flags were torn apart and trampled underfoot.The scouts, in particular, put on a fantastic show, climbing onto rooftops and cutting banners waving from chimneys.In just two or three minutes, everything was calm.Still clutching the microphone, the speaker hunched his shoulders forward, waved his arms, and continued.After another minute, everyone was roaring with anger again.The hatred continued as before, only with a different target.

In hindsight, Winston remembered very clearly that the speaker had switched from one sentence to another, without pausing, or even in disordering the structure of the sentences.But at this moment, something distracted him.It was the chaos of tearing up posters at that time. Someone patted him on the shoulder and said to him, "I'm sorry, your briefcase seems to have been lost." He didn't speak, and took the briefcase in a daze. Didn't see clearly.He knew that there must be a few days when he didn't have time to look at the contents of the bag.As soon as the demonstration was over, he went straight to the Ministry of Truth. It was almost twenty-three o'clock.All the staff in the Ministry are in their positions.The instructions from the telescreen to return to their posts were purely superfluous.

Oceania is at war with Eastasia—Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia.Most of the political books in the past five years will be completely outdated.All reports, all records, newspapers, books, photographs, pamphlets, films, audiotapes—all corrected with lightning speed.There were no instructions, but everyone knew that the head of the General Administration demanded that within a week, all writings that were at war with Eurasia, and all writings that were allied with Eastasia, should not exist.This job is more important than anything else, and what's more terrible is that all the steps have to be described under different names.Everyone in the headquarters worked eighteen hours a day, and slept three hours in two shifts.Mattresses had been brought out of the basement and spread all over the corridors.The waiters in the cafeteria brought the meals in carts, and they ate sandwiches and Victory coffee.Whenever Winston stopped work to take his nap, he tried to clear the desk away as best he could; but when he returned, aching from sleepiness, he was sure to find another pile of papers piled up on the desk, covering the dictator. , rolled onto the floor, so the first job was to stack them up to make room for work.Worst of all, this is not purely mechanical work.It is true that most of them just want you to change your name, but those detailed reports need to be cautious and rich in imagination.It's about moving warfare from one part of the globe to another, and the geography involved is frightening.

By the third day, his eyes were so sore that he had to wipe his glasses in minutes.It's like desperately rushing for some heavy physical work, although he has the right to shirk it, but he is nervous and anxious to finish it.In fact, everything he said into the script, everything he wrote with ink and pencil was a deliberate lie; but even if he had time to remember it, he didn't feel uncomfortable.Like everyone in the Bureau, he was anxious to get the lie right.It was not until the morning of the sixth day that the falling speed of the scroll slowed down.For half an hour there was nothing in the pneumatic tube; then a roll fell and it stopped again.Almost at the same time, everywhere the work was done.In the entire General Administration, everyone secretly let out a deep breath.The marvelous work is finally done, although no one will mention it.Today, no one can produce any real evidence to prove that there was a war with Eurasia!Unexpectedly, at twelve o'clock, it was announced that all staff in the ministry would be on vacation until tomorrow morning.Winston still packed the book in the briefcase, working between his feet and sleeping under his body; now he went home with the briefcase.He shaved and took a shower, and although the bath water was lukewarm, he almost fell asleep in the tub.

He climbed Mr. Charrington's stairs with a creaking and creaking of his joints.He was very tired, but he didn't want to sleep anymore.He opened the window, lit the dirty kerosene stove, and boiled a pot of water for coffee.Julia will be here in a moment; he still has the book in his hand.He sat down in the scruffy armchair and unfastened the strap of his briefcase. It was a thick black book, bound by hand, with no title or author on the cover.The font also looks irregular.The pages of the book are curled and are prone to falling off. It seems that many people have passed through the hands.Printed on the title page is:

Theory and Practice of Oligarchic Collectivism by Immanuel Goldstein Winston began to read: Chapter 1 Ignorance is Power Throughout history, probably since the end of the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of people in the world: the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class.They have many further differences, have countless names, and their relative numbers and attitudes toward each other vary from time to time, but the fundamental structure of society never changes.Even after some big upheavals, some seemingly irreversible changes, the same pattern will come back again, like a gyroscope, no matter how far we push it, it will always return to the equilibrium point in the end.

These three groups, their goals are totally irreconcilable... Winston paused, mainly to enjoy the fact.He is reading, surrounded by comfort and safety.He was alone: ​​no telescreen on the wall to watch him, no peeping eyes at the keyhole, no nervous glances behind him, no haste to cover the book with your hands.The sweet summer air played with his face.The children's cries could be faintly heard in the distance; everything in the room was completely silent, except for the murmur of the clock.He reclined a little further in the armchair and put his feet on the railing.This is truly a heavenly blessing, this is truly an eternal blessing.When he got such a book, he knew that he would have to read every word over and over again, and would often turn to a page at random and read on like this--he opened the book like this, and it happened to be the third chapter.He read on from here:

Chapter 3 War is Peace Long before the middle of the twentieth century we could, and did, foresee that the world would split into three superpowers.With the annexation of Europe by Russia and the annexation of the British Kingdom by the United States, two of the existing three superpowers have actually emerged, namely Eurasia and Oceania; forming.The delineation of borders between the three superpowers, some arbitrarily designated, others depending on the outcome of wars, but generally follow geographical lines.Eurasia includes the entire northern part of Eurasia, from Portugal to the Bering Strait; Oceania occupies the Americas, the Atlantic islands (including the British Isles), Australia and southern Africa; Eastasia includes China and its southern countries, the Japanese islands, And Manchuria, Mongolia and most of Tibet whose exact extent is uncertain.Among the three Middle East Asian countries, the area is the smallest, and in the west, its boundary is not yet clear.

The alliance relationship of the three countries has changed from time to time, but they have always been in a state of war and have remained unchanged for 25 years.But now, war is no longer the deadly struggle of the early twentieth century, with limited goals: neither side has the power to destroy the other, there is no material reason for the war, no ideological reason. Antagonisms arising from substantive differences.But this does not mean that the conduct of war, or the prevailing attitude towards war, has become less cruel and more chivalrous than before;Rape, robbery, infanticide, and enslavement are not uncommon, and revenge on captives has even developed to the point of burning and burying alive; and as long as all these are done by one's own side instead of the enemy's, it is a great achievement.There are actually only a small number of people who actually participate in wars, and most of them are well-trained and professionals; casualties caused by wars are now relatively small.The battle took place either in a place where the boundary was unclear, and people could only speculate on its specific location by imagination; or it was near a floating fort guarding a strategic location on the sea.In the heart of civilization, war simply means a period of scarcity, with occasional bombs and casualties.The character of war has actually changed, and more precisely, the priorities of the various reasons for waging war have changed.The lesser motives that had existed in the great wars of the early twentieth century now became the major motives, the conscious sanction, the grounds for action. To understand the nature of modern warfare—which remains unchanged despite the reshuffle of relations between nations every few years—we must first realize that it is not final.Even if two of the three superpowers join hands, they cannot completely conquer the third.They are equal in strength to each other, and they all have insurmountable natural barriers: Eurasia is covered by a vast landmass, Oceania is blocked by the vast Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the residents of Eastasia are fertile and hard-working, this is the first.Second, from a material point of view, war is no longer necessary.These countries have built self-sufficient economies with coordinated production and consumption, and competition for markets, a major cause of war before, no longer plays a role; competition for raw materials is no longer a matter of life and death: the size of the three superpowers It is vast, and it can obtain almost all the raw materials it needs within its own territory at any time.If war had an immediate economic purpose, it was to compete for labor.We draw a quadrilateral with Tangier, Brazzaville, Darwin, and Hong Kong as vertices, and one-fifth of the world's population lives in this area: it crosses all countries, and no country has ever been able to keep it for itself for a long time.And the constant conflicts among the three countries are precisely to compete for this densely populated area, in addition to the Arctic region.In fact, the entire disputed area has not yet fallen into the hands of any country, and parts of it have been constantly changing owners.The reason why the alliance relations of various countries will be in turmoil is precisely because the sudden tearing up of the agreement is often an opportunity for the country to occupy an additional territory. These disputed areas all contain valuable minerals, and some areas also produce important plants such as rubber, which would be much more expensive to synthesize artificially in cold regions.More importantly, however, it has an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor.No matter who controls equatorial Africa, countries in the Middle East, southern India, or the Indonesian archipelago, they control tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of cheap coolies.The residents of these areas have been openly reduced to the level of slaves; although the rulers change like a lantern, the role of these residents is no different from that of coal and oil. Re-expansion as a victim in this never-ending competition.It's worth noting that the fighting never really went beyond these contested areas.Although the boundaries of Eurasia have always stretched between the Congo Basin and the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the islands of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean have been occupied alternately by Oceania and Eastasia; The vast area belongs to itself (in fact, it is almost uninhabited and has not been developed at all), but the power of all countries has generally maintained a balance of power, and the core area can always be inviolable.Moreover, the oppressed peoples around the equator, whose labor power actually contributes nothing to the world economy, does not add to the world's wealth, because the goods they produce have only one use in war, and the purpose of war is nothing more than to be able to advantageous position in the war.The role of enslaved peoples is merely to hasten the course of this continuous war by their own labor power; and without them the structure of world society, and the steps by which it is maintained, would not be substantially different. The basic aim of modern warfare--an aim which, according to the principles of doublethink, neither admitted nor denied by the Inner Party thinkers--is to avoid a general decline in the standard of living while exhausting the products of machine manufacture. improve.Since the end of the last century, how to deal with surplus consumer goods has always been a potential problem in industrial society.As far as the present is concerned, there are only a handful of people who can feed their stomachs, so the question does not appear to be urgent; even if we assume that the various artificial processes of destruction that have taken place are actually ineffective.Compared with before 1914, the world today is full of poverty, hunger and ruin; if it is compared with the future that people expected and imagined at that time, it is even worse.In the early twentieth century, almost every educated person had a vision of the future society in his consciousness, whether it was wealth, leisure, order, or efficiency, which had reached an unimaginable level--it was a shining A never-rusting world built of glass, steel and snow-white concrete.Science and technology advance at a rapid pace, and it seems no surprise to assume that they will continue to do so.But this did not happen, partly because of the poverty caused by long wars and revolutions, and partly because the progress of science and technology depended on an empirical habit of mind that could not be developed due to the strict regulation of society. .Generally speaking, today's society is more primitive and elementary than fifty years ago.Although some backward areas have been developed, and various equipment--all related to war and police surveillance activities--have been further improved, various experiments and inventions have largely stopped. In the 1950s, atomic weapons The wounds left behind have not fully healed, while the inherent shortcomings of the machine remain.From the moment machines first appeared, all thinking beings have seen that the necessity of human labor, and thus to a great extent the necessity of human inequality, no longer exists.Hunger, coolies, filth, illiteracy, and disease can all be eradicated within a few generations if we use machines consciously for this purpose.And in fact, although machines were not used to serve these purposes, but by some spontaneous process--due to the continuous creation of wealth, which sometimes could not have been distributed--at the end of the last century and the beginning of this century For fifty years, machines have indeed greatly improved the standard of living of ordinary people. But it is clear that the general rise in wealth levels threatens the very existence of a hierarchical society, and indeed in some sense does damage it.Inequality is most pronounced, and perhaps most acute, in a world where everyone works no more than a few hours a day, where eating is no longer a problem, and where everyone has their own housing, bathrooms, refrigerators, cars and even airplanes. An important one is gone.Once wealth is in everyone's hands, it treats everyone equally.A society whose distribution of wealth follows the principle of equality as regards individual property and luxuries, while power remains in the hands of a privileged few, is undoubtedly conceivable in imagination, but in practice it is However, it cannot remain stable for a long time.For if leisure and security were available to all, large masses of the people, often kept ignorant by poverty, could be educated and learn to think for themselves.And once they do, sooner or later they will realize that the privileged minority is not really useful; they will drive them away.In the long run, a hierarchical society must be based on poverty and ignorance.Some thinkers at the beginning of the twentieth century dreamed of returning to the agricultural society of the past. This is not a feasible solution.It doesn't fit the mechanized tide that has become an almost instinctive pursuit around the world.Moreover, any industrially backward country is hopeless from a military point of view, and its more advanced opponents are bound to conquer it in various direct and indirect ways. However, restricting the output of products and keeping the masses of the people in poverty is not a satisfactory solution either.In the last phase of capitalism, roughly between 1920 and 1940, this happened to a large extent: many countries allowed the economy to stagnate, the land was not cultivated, capital equipment was invested No longer increasing, a large number of people are unemployed, barely living on state relief.But it also entailed a weakening of military power, and the impoverishment it brought was clearly unnecessary, so opposition was bound to arise.The real question is how to keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing actual wealth.Production must continue as usual, but products cannot be distributed.The only way to do this in practice is to constantly provoke wars. The most essential act in war is destruction. This kind of destruction does not necessarily target human life, but the product of human labor.In fact, war is to crush all kinds of material materials that would have allowed the masses of the people to live a comfortable life and, in the long run, to improve their intellectual level, and make them disappear without a trace.Although the weapons used in war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is an easy way of expending labor power without producing anything consumable.For example, if you build a floating fortress on the water, the labor force tied up in it can build hundreds of merchant ships, and it will not bring anyone the slightest material benefit until it is finally abandoned; Build another floating fort.In principle, every time a war is planned, it is necessary to consume all the surplus items beyond meeting people's basic needs, but in practice people's needs are often underestimated, so that in the end half of the necessities of life will not be supplied for a long time .But this is often considered a plus.It is a deliberate policy to keep even the most favored classes living on the fringes of hardship, for only this general state of deprivation makes the importance of a privileged few and divides different groups into The difference between them is amplified.Even by the standards of the early twentieth century, even a member of the Inner Party lived a very austere life with heavy work.However, the few luxuries that he can enjoy, such as a spacious and well-equipped house, good quality clothing, good food, drink, tobacco and alcohol, two or three servants, a private car or an airplane, can make him feel better. He lives in a world completely different from that of the outlying party members.And if the members of the peripheral party are compared with the bottom-level masses we call "proletarians", they also have the same convenient conditions.The whole social atmosphere is like a besieged city, and whether you can get a piece of horse meat becomes a sign of the difference between poverty and wealth.At the same time, because of the awareness of war and of the dangers that exist, the monopoly of all power by a small group appears to be a very natural and unavoidable condition of the search for survival. As we shall see, war accomplishes the necessary destruction and does so in a psychologically acceptable way.In principle, to consume the surplus labor of the world, build temples, pyramids, drill holes and fill them in, or just create a whole lot of goods and burn them, are all very simple and easy ways.But this method can only provide an economic basis for a hierarchical society, and cannot provide an emotional basis.What needs to be considered here is not the morale of the people, as long as they are allowed to work safely, it doesn't matter what their attitude is; what needs to be considered here is the morale of the party itself.Although the party expects even the lowest-ranking member of the party to be qualified, diligent, and to a limited extent intelligent, he should also be a gullible, ignorant fanatic, filled with fear, hatred, and praise. Emotional dominance of praise and joy.In other words, he should possess a level of mind appropriate to a state of war.It doesn't matter whether war actually takes place, and since neither side is likely to win decisively, it doesn't matter how it goes. What is really needed is a state of war.Intellectual division is now commonplace, a requirement of the party, and it is most easily achieved in the atmosphere of war.The higher a person's level, the more obvious this is.It was within the Inner Party that a war hysteria and hatred of the enemy was strongest.It was always inevitable that an Inner Party member in an administrative position would know whether a battle report was fabricated or not, and he would often realize that the whole war was a hoax: it either did not happen at all, or its actual purpose was very different from that of the propaganda.But all this he knew could easily pass through the technique of doublethink without affecting him in any way.At the same time, all Inner Party members harbored a mystical belief that the war had actually taken place and that it would end with the victory of Oceania as the undisputed hegemony of the whole world.At this point, they did not hesitate for a moment. The entire membership of the Inner Party accepted this imminent victory as a belief.The way to achieve it is to gradually expand the territory and finally have an overwhelming advantage in strength, or to invent some kind of unrivaled new weapon.The development of new weapons has never stopped.The development of weapons is one of the very few activities today that give the creative, thinking mind the opportunity to express itself.What was once called science no longer exists in Oceania today, and there is no word for "science" in Newspeak.The empirical way of thinking on which previous scientific achievements have been made is in direct opposition to the fundamental principles of Ingsoc; and technological progress is only possible if its achievements reduce human freedom in some way.All the fields of the applied arts have either stagnated or made strides backwards.The land was tilled by the horse-drawn plow, and the books were written by machines.But in some matters of extreme importance, namely, war and police surveillance, the empirical method is still encouraged, or at least tolerated.The party has only two goals, one is to completely conquer the entire earth, and the other is to eliminate independent thought once and for all.Therefore, the party is most concerned about two issues, one is how to find out what a person thinks against his will, and the other is how to execute millions of people in seconds without warning.This is the only subject of scientific research, if it still exists.Today's scientist, who is either a psychologist or a prosecutor, studies with extraordinary care the true meaning of various facial expressions, movements, and intonations, and tests the effects of various drugs, shock therapy, hypnotism, and torture to extract confessions; , he is one of those chemists, physicists, or biologists who, in his profession, focus only on those subfields that study how to kill life.In the large laboratories of the Ministry of Peace, in the experimental stations in the Brazilian jungle, in the deserts of Australia, and on unnamed islands in Antarctica, numerous expert teams are working tirelessly.Some of them are just considering the logistics plan of future wars; some are engaged in design, hoping to invent larger rockets, more powerful explosives, and stronger armor plates; Some kind of soluble drug, whose yield is enough to destroy the vegetation of the whole continent, or seek out certain kinds of disease-causing bacteria, which are immune to all antibodies; Shuttle through the ground, or build an aircraft that can move independently from the base like a ship; some are doing some more obscure research, such as whether it is possible to use a prism suspended at an altitude of several thousand meters to focus the sun's rays, Can the thermal energy of the earth's core be used to artificially create earthquakes and sea tides, and so on. But none of these projects are close to completion, and none of the three superpowers has a substantial lead.Even more striking is the fact that all three countries possess a weapon more powerful than any of their current research institutes could possibly invent, and that is the atomic bomb.Although the atomic bomb first appeared in the 1940s and was used on a large scale for the first time ten years later, the party still listed this invention under its own name, which is its consistent style.In that large-scale use, hundreds of bombs fell on many industrial centers, mostly in European Russia, Western Europe and North America.As a consequence of this event, the ruling groups in all these countries believed that a few more atomic bombs would make it impossible for a well-organized society to exist, and their power would come to an end.Since then, neither party has dropped an atomic bomb, although no agreement has been formally reached or hinted at.The Three Kingdoms just kept making them, stockpiling them in case of the decisive moment they believed would come sooner or later.Meanwhile, the art of war has remained virtually unchanged for thirty or forty years.While helicopters are used more often than ever, bombers have mostly been replaced by self-propelled bombers, and sunk warships have given way to nearly unsinkable floating forts, nothing else has progressed.Tanks, submarines, torpedoes, machine guns, even rifles and grenades are still in use.Although news of massacres are constantly being reported in newspapers and on television, the desperate battles in which hundreds of thousands or even millions of casualties occurred in the early days can no longer be seen. The three superpowers are unwilling to try any strategy with great risk.If there was a big move, it was often a surprise attack on the allies.The strategies actually adopted by the three countries, or the strategies they claim to adopt, are all exactly the same.Their wishful thinking is to seize a number of bases surrounding the enemy country through combat, negotiation, and timely deception, and then sign a treaty of friendship with the country to maintain a peaceful relationship for a period of time in order to completely dispel the opponent's intentions. doubt.During this period, the rockets loaded with atomic bombs were concentrated at all the strategic fortresses, and finally launched together. Its destructive power is so great that it is impossible to give the enemy a chance to fight back; Treaty, prepare for the next attack.Needless to say, everyone knows that this kind of plan is a daydream and has no possibility of realization.Furthermore, fighting actually took place only in those contested areas around the equator and the North Pole, and no invasion of an enemy state ever took place.This explains why the borders between the superpowers are drawn so arbitrarily in some places.Eurasia, for example, can easily capture the British Isles, which are geographically part of Europe; and Oceania can push its frontiers as far as the Rhine, or even the Vistula.But to do so would violate a principle that, if not explicitly stated, has been adhered to by countries, that is, the principle of cultural unity.If Oceania were to take over what was formerly known as France and Germany, it would either have to exterminate the local population altogether--which is very difficult in practice--or it would need to decimate as many as a hundred million or so. The population is completely assimilated, and this part of the population is at the same level as Oceania in terms of technical development.This is a problem faced by all three superpowers.From their structure it is absolutely necessary that there should be no contact with foreigners except in a limited sense with captives or colored slaves.Even current allies view them with suspicion.A citizen of Eurasia or Eastasia is seen by the common people of Oceania only as a prisoner of war; he cannot yet learn any foreign language.If he were allowed contact with foreigners, he would discover that they were creatures of his own kind, and that all his previous knowledge of them was a lie.The sealed world he lived in would be broken, and all the fears, hatreds, and paranoias that fueled his fighting spirit would evaporate.All sides learned from it that, however often Persia, Egypt, Java, Ceylon may change masters, on the main frontiers nothing but bombs can cross them. Hidden behind this is a fact that, although not announced aloud, is tacit to each other and has become a principle of action, that is, the living conditions in these three superpowers are almost exactly the same.The prevailing philosophy in Oceania is called Ingsoc, in Eurasia it is called Neo-Bolshevism, and in Eastasia it is called a Chinese name, which is usually translated as Death Worship, or it might be better called Mieji.大洋国的公民从来不能知道其它两种哲学教义，他所受到的教育只是让他去憎恨这两种教义，把它们看作对道德与常识的野蛮的践踏。实际上三种哲学几乎难以分辨，而它们所支持的社会制度也根本没有区别：无论哪里，只要有相同的金字塔式结构，就会有相同的对半具神性的领导人的崇拜，相同的靠战争维持和为战争服务的经济。由此可以推出，三个超级大国不仅不具备征服对方的能力，而且这么做它们也无利可图。相反，只要它们始终处于冲突之中，它们实际就在相互支持，就像三捆靠在一起的玉米棒。而三国的统治集团也和往常一样，对自己正在做什么是既了解又不了解。他们把自己的一生献给征服的事业，但他们也知道战争的久拖不决是无可避免的事情。同时，既然不用担心有被敌国征服的危险，闭眼不看现实也就没有什么发现，而这正是英社、也包括它敌对的思想体系的一个特征。这里有必要重复一句上面提到的观点，那就是，战争一旦变成持久战，它就改变了自己的本质特征。 在以往，战争从定义上看，就是某种迟早会结束、往往会决出胜负的事情。在以往，战争还是一种使人类社会与现实保持联系的主要手段。任何时代统治者都会想把一套错误的世界观强加给追随者，但他们绝不可能鼓励一种会损害军事效能的幻景。只要军事的失败意味着丧失独立地位或者其它一些一般认为不好的结果，那就必须采取严肃认真的防范措施。实实在在的事实是不能视而不见的：哲学、宗教、伦理、或者政治上固然可以说二加二等于五，但设计枪炮飞机的时候它们就只能等于四。不讲求效率的民族迟早总会被征服，而要追求效率就要把一切不真实的幻想抛开。此外，追求效率就必须能够学习以往的经验，这意味着对历史上发生的事件要有较为准确的看法。报纸、历史读物当然都免不了经过涂改、带了偏见，但今天人们所做的那种伪造工作却是不可能在从前找到的。战争是使人们保持头脑清醒的一种安全保障，对统治者而论，这也许是一切保障中最重要的一种。战争非胜即败，统治阶级不能全然不负责任。 但当战争确实变成持久战以后，它的危险也就消除了。战争一旦成为持久战，也就不存在所谓军事的需要了。技术进步可以停止，对最明显的事实也可以矢口否认，或者视而不见。正如我们已经看到，可以算是科学的研究仍然在进行，目的还是为了战争，但究其本质不过是一种白日梦。它们毫无收获，但这丝毫没有影响。效率不再需要了，哪怕是军事的效率。在大洋国，除了思想警察没有什么是有效率的。既然三个超级大国都不能被征服，它们就都可以算是一个独立的世界，在里面无论怎样对思想歪曲篡改，都可以畅通无阻。现实只是在人们日常生活的各种需要中才表现自己的力量，这包括衣食住行的需要，避免误服毒药或者从高楼失足落下的需要，等等。生与死，肉体的快乐与痛苦，它们的差别依然存在，但仅此而已。现在，大洋国的公民与外部世界、与历史都失去了联系，他们好像星际的旅行者，无从判断上下左右的方向。在这样的国家，统治者可以掌握连法老和沙皇都望尘莫及的绝对权力。当然，他们也要避免由于追随者大批饿死而带来不便，要保持与敌人相当的低度的军事技术，但只要满足了这些最低条件，他们就可以随心所欲，歪曲现实。 因此，如果我们用从前的标准来判断，现在的战争不过是一种假象。这就像有些反刍动物，它们打架的时候头上的角故意竖向一个不可能伤害到对方的角度。但战争不够真实不等于说没有意义，它消耗了所有的剩余消费品，有助于维持等级社会所必需的那种特殊的心理状态。以后我们会看到，战争现在纯粹是内部事务。在历史上，虽然各国的统治集团都意识到他们之间存在共同的利益，都限制战争造成的破坏，但他们之间的战争还是实实在在的，胜利者一般都把战败者劫掠一空。但在我们的时代，他们根本不交战，战争是统治集团用来对付它的臣民的，战争的目的也不再是疆土的攻防，而是保持社会结构的原封不动。因此，现在"战争"一词越来越让人产生误解。如果说战争在变成持久战之后就不再存在，倒可能是更为准确的说法。人类从新石器时代以来到二十世纪一直承受的这种特殊的压力已经不复存在，现在有截然不同的东西取代了它的位置。即使三个超级大国都同意放弃战争，永远和平共处，每一方在自己的边界内都不受侵犯，结果也不会有什么不同。因为在这种情形下每个国家仍然是一个自给自足的世界，永远不会受到外部威胁的刺激。事实上永久的战争就等于是永久的和平。这一点，虽然党的大多数成员都理解得极为肤浅，却是党的那句口号"战争就是和平"的本质含义所在。 温斯顿停了一下，没有接着读。远处什么地方，炸了一颗火箭弹。在没有电幕的房里，独自一人读禁书，这天堂般的感觉还没有消逝。这种与世隔绝，这种安全无虞，都是实在的感觉呀；其中还夹杂着身体的倦意，椅子的松软，窗外吹来的微风轻拂在脸上。这本书叫他着迷，更准确地说，它叫他安心。在某种意义上，它未曾说出什么新东西，然而这一点同样吸引着他。它说的是他想说的话，若把他那些零碎的思想整理成形，大抵上也便是这样。写这书的人，思想与他很相像，只是远比他有力，远比他系统，远比他无所畏惧。他觉得，最好的书，便是说出了你已经知道的东西。他刚刚把书翻回第一章，就听见朱莉亚咚咚地上楼梯。他站起身来迎接她，她把棕色工具袋丢在地上，便投进了他的怀抱。他们已经一个星期没有见面啦。 待他们松开后，他便说： "我搞到了那本书。" "是么，搞到了？好啊，"她显得没什么兴趣，马上跪在煤油炉前，开始煮咖啡。 他们在床上耽了半个小时，才又说起了这件事。夜晚凉得很，得用床罩盖在身上。楼下传过来熟悉的歌声，和鞋子在石板地上的拖拉声。温斯顿第一次来时见的那红胳膊壮女人，简直成了院里一个固定的部分。白天里不管什么时候，她老是在洗衣盆跟晾衣绳之间来来去去，嘴里要么咬着衣服夹，要么就开始唱小调。朱莉亚躺在她那边，看上去已经昏昏欲睡。他把放在地板上的书拿起来，靠着床头坐好。 "我们得读读这本书，"他说。"你也得读。兄弟会的会员都得读。" "你读罢，"她眼睛都没睁开。"大点声。这样最好啦。你还能给我讲。" 时钟指着六点，这是十八点啦。他们还有三四个小时耽在一起。他把书放在膝头，开始读起来： 第一章无知就是力量 有史以来，大概从新石器时代的结束开始，世界上就一直存在着三种人：上等人、中等人和下等人。他们还有许多进一步的差别，有不计其数的各种名字，他们相对的数量、彼此的态度也会因时代而不同，但社会的根本结构从来不会改变。即使是在一些大动荡、一些看来不可逆转的变化以后，同样的模式又会卷土重来，就像陀螺仪，无论我们把它推得多远，最后总会回到平衡点。 "朱莉亚，没睡罢？"温斯顿问。 "没，亲爱的，我听着哩。读罢。写得真好。" 他便接着读下去： 这三个团体，他们的目标全然是不可调和的。上等人的目标是维护自己的地位，中等人的目标是和上等人交换位置；下等人，当他们有一个目标的时候，--下等人长期以来一直有一个特点，那就是他们过多地受到繁重工作的摧残，对日常生活以外的任何东西都只有一些断断续续的意识，--那就是取消所有差别，创造一个人人平等的社会。因此贯穿整个历史的，始终是一场主要轮廓大体相似的战争，它周而复始，一遍遍地发生。有很长时期上等人看来一直是高枕无忧的，但迟早都会有那么一天，他们或者失去了对自己的信心，或者失去了有效统治的能力，或者两者兼而有之。于是，中等人就假装告诉下等人说他们是在为自由、正义而战，把他们拉到自己一边，推翻上等人。中等人一旦目的达到，就把下等人推回到原来的奴役状态，自己做了上等人。不久，这两派人中有一派（或者两派同时）分裂出一个新的中等人派别，斗争重新开始。三派中，只有下等人的目标哪怕是暂时地实现都从来没有过。如果说整个历史没有任何物质方面的进步，那可能是夸大，即使在今天这么一个衰退的时代，一般人在物质上也比几百年前要好。但是任何财富的增加，行为方式的文雅，改良，或者革命，都没有使人的平等往前迈进哪怕一小步。在下等人看来，一切的历史变革，改动的无非是主人的姓名。 到十九世纪末，许多观察家都注意到这一反复出现的模式。于是就有各种学派的思想家把历史看成循环的过程，声称不平等是人类生活不可更改的法则。当然这种学说在过去就一直有自己的支持者，但现在它的表述方式发生了重大的变化。在过去，一直只有上等人才宣称我们需要一个等级制社会，它的鼓吹者包括国王、贵族，以及依附他们的教士、律师等等。一般它还会许诺在死后的想象的世界里一切会得到补偿，以使自己更加动听一些。至于中等人，以往只要他还在为权力斗争，就一直会利用自由、正义、博爱这类字眼；但现在，那些还没有掌权但在觊觎权力的人们开始攻击人类友爱的概念了。在过去，中等人以平等为旗帜发动革命，旧专制一推翻马上就建立新的专制；而现在新的一派中等人实际不等到那时候就宣布了自己的专制。社会主义是十九世纪早期出现的理论，是从古代奴隶起义以来一直延伸到现在的思想之链上的最后一环，它没有摆脱历史上乌托邦思想的深刻影响；但大约从一九○○年以后，各种社会主义的变形都公开放弃了建立自由平等的目标。大洋国的英社运动，欧亚国的新布尔什维主义运动，东亚国中一般所称的死亡崇拜运动，这些都是本世纪中叶新兴的运动，它们都有意地把实现不自由、不平等作为目标。这些新兴的运动当然都是从以前的运动中脱胎出来，往往保留了原来的名字，以原来的意识形态为幌子，但它们的目的都是要在一个选定的时刻把进步阻挡，把历史凝固。我们常常看到的钟摆现象又要发生、然后停止。与以往一样，上等人被将要作上等人的中等人推翻，但这一次，由于有意识地运用了某种策略，上等人能够保持自己的地位永远不变。 这种新学说的出现，部分是由于历史知识的累积和历史意识的增强，这些在十九世纪之前都几乎是没有的：历史的循环运动在这时已经是可以分辨的了，至少表面如此；同时，既然能够分辨，它也就能够改变了。但更主要、更基本的一个原因是，从二十世纪初开始，人类的平等就在技术上有了实现的可能。确实，每个人仍然天赋不等，专长不同，有的比别人更占了便宜，但阶级的划分，财富的悬殊，已经没有任何实际必要了。在早先，阶级划分不仅不可避免，而且也是人心所愿，不平等是文明必须付出的代价；但是，随着机器生产的发展，情况发生了变化。即使现在还需要人们从事不同的工作，但使人们生活在不同的社会和经济水平上，已经完全没有必要了。因此，从意在攫取权力的这一派的观点来看，人类平等不再是需要为之奋斗的理想，而是要加以克服的危险。在更为原始的时代，那时事实上还不可能有一个公正合理的社会，以它为信仰相对就较为容易。一种现世的天堂观念，那里人人都生活在友爱之中，没有法律，没有繁重的工作，它萦绕在人们的脑海长达数千年之久。甚至那些在每一次历史变革中都获得实际利益的群体，都受到它的某些影响。法国革命、英国革命和美国革命的继承者们，也部分相信他们那套人权、言论自由、法律平等一类的说法，一定程度上还使自己的行为受到这些观念的影响。但到了二十世纪四十年代，各种主要的政治思潮都倾向了专制。早先的天堂，就在它可以实现的那一刻起，不再为人相信了。每一种新的政治理论，无论它冠以什么名字，都退回到等级制度和严酷控制之中。到了一九三○年左右，各种观点开始普遍地变得冷酷了，一些长期不再使用的做法，包括不加审讯地投入监狱、将战俘用作奴隶、公开处决、严刑逼供、扣押人质、强制人民迁徙这么一些已经有好几百年停止使用的做法，再度变得流行；更有甚者，它得到了那些自视为开明进步的人士的容忍、甚至辩护。 以后全世界都卷入了一场长达十年的国际国内战争、革命和反革命运动，在经历这十年之后，才有了体系完备的英社（及其对手）的政治理论。但它们的出现，早在世纪之初的各种统称为极权主义的体制中就有了预兆。从这种普遍的混乱中将要诞生的世界，它的主要轮廓其实在很早以前就显现了出来；哪一类人将控制世界，这同样已经变得很清楚：新贵族的主要组成包括科学家、行政官僚、技术人员、工会领导、宣传专家、社会学家、教师记者和职业政客。这些人员论出身是在中产阶级中拿工资的那一部分和工人阶级的上层，他们所以能够形成、并聚集在一起，则是得益于垄断工业和集权政府所造成的一个单调机械的世界。论贪婪，论奢侈，他们都比不上以往的贵族；但他们却更加渴求权力，尤其是，更加清楚地意识到自己在做什么，更加热衷于消灭反对的势力。最后这个区别非常重要，与今天的暴政相比，历史上的所有暴政都显得心慈手软，效率不高；统治集团一定程度上总会受到开明思想的影响，凡事乐得留下余地，只注重公开的行为，对臣民的思想毫不关心。即使中世纪的天主教会，用现代的标准来看也还是宽容大度的。所以这样，原因部分是在于，过去任何一个政府，它的能力都不足以把它的人民置于频繁的监视之下。但印刷术的发明使得操纵舆论变得容易了，电影广播就走得更远。以后又有了电视，技术的进步使得在同一台机器上就可以接受和发送，这时候，私人生活就到此为止了。每一个公民，或者至少每一个值得监视的公民，会一天二十四小时处在警察的监视之下，官方宣传的包围之中，其它的通讯渠道对他都是关闭的。现在，人类历史上第一次可以做到不仅强迫全体人民完全服从国家意志，而且在观点上也没有任何分歧。 经过五六十年代的革命时期之后，社会又和以前一样，重新分成上等、中等和下等三种人。这些新的上等人不同于从前，他们不再根据本能行动，知道用什么办法保护自己的地位。人们早已认识到，集体主义是寡头统治惟一安全可靠的基础；财富和特权一旦携手，最容易得到保护。本世纪中期进行的所谓"废除私有制"运动，实际只是把财产集中在比以往任何时候都更少的人手里，但与以往不同的是，现在拥有财产的是一个团体而不是个人。从个人来看，党的成员除了一些微不足道的个人财物外一无所有；从集体来看，党拥有了大洋国的一切，因为它控制了一切，可以以它自己认为适当的方式支配生产出来的一切。在革命结束以后的那些年里，党几乎没有遇到任何反对就占据了这种居高临下的地位，因为整个过程都是在集体化的名义下进行的。一般人们都设想，在资产阶级被剥夺之后社会主义就会到来。毫无疑问资本家确实被剥夺了；工厂、矿山、土地、楼房、交通，这一切都从资本家那里夺走了。既然这些已不再是私有财产，那就应该是公有财产。从早期社会主义运动中脱胎出来，并沿袭了它的语汇的英社，事实上实行了社会主义方案中的一个主要内容，而结果是人们事先就预见到并盼望的：经济不平等成为永久的现象。