Calgary, April 2020
What would George Orwell (1903 – 1950) say if he lived until now, to a ripe age of 117 years? It is impossible to know, but I would like to guess. His famous novel, 1984, was published in 1949 and reflected the darkest period of the cold war between the USA and the Soviet Union. It was the beginning of the nuclear arms race and the threat of another war was real. Orwell’s vision of the future was based on the idea that the Soviet style of communism would conquer the world. His description of the Ministry of Love, thoughtcrime, doublethink, falsifying history, the disappearance of people and denying reality are obvious references to the Soviet Union and its secret service. However, we do not have a Soviet Union anymore, it dissolved in 1991. Therefore, I would like to move Orwell’s book to the year 1990, when the Soviet Communist Party lost the monopoly on power due to the democratisation process started by Mikhail Gorbachev. The protagonists of my version of the novel are the same as in 1984, but circumstances mirror the changes the Soviet Union experienced during that time period.
Therefore, how was Oceania in 1990, one of the three super-states of the world? It was still governed by the Inner Party; the two lower classes, Outer Party and Proletariat, existed as before. The four Ministries were still trying to terrorize the population, but the situation was different from 1984. The war with Eurasia (or was it Eastasia? nobody knew) was consuming more and more resources and had to be phased out. The economic situation got so bad that there was a famine, and no lies from the Ministry of Truth could cover it up. Even the Inner Party officials realized that something had to be done and that the most wasteful components of the system had to be terminated. The first one that came to mind was the Thought Police, not only because they did nothing useful, but also they were arresting and torturing people who could have been productive. Moreover, they operated thousands of telescreens which were a real drain on the system. However, they were powerful and opposed any changes. Another variable in the crumbling structure of Oceania was the return of the soldiers from the war. They had weapons and they definitely would not tolerate the hunger and deprivation suffered by the Proletariat. Therefore, the Inner Party officials had a problem. Some thought that the old days would come back and that Big Brother would fix it, but others accepted that the old system was over, despite what the Party manuals said. But there was one thing most agreed on: The Thought Police powers had to be restricted, at least temporarily, and their telescreens shut down.
This was the situation in Oceania when the two characters from Orwell’s 1984, Winston Smith and Julia, appeared in my 1990 version of the novel. Just like before, they both worked for the Ministry of Truth in London. Winston’s job was to publish articles in Times, rewriting history according to the current political thinking and Julia worked as a technician in the Fiction Department, where machines wrote cheap novels in accordance with simple algorithms, similar to the current Hollywood productions. But, unlike Orwell’s novel, Julia did not have to pass a secret love note to Winston. All the telescreens were off, and she simply talked to him in the cafeteria while they had lunch. At first Winston was bit scared, just a short time ago a similar chat would have resulted in a trip to the torture chambers of the Ministry of Love, but then he realized that things had changed.
He had few more dates with Julia, they started to like and then love each other, but they were reluctant to live openly together. Such relationships were strictly prohibited and even though the Thought Police were not what they used to be, who knows what they could still do. Therefore, to be on the safe side, they rented a room above the bookstore of Mr. Charrington, just like 1984. Mr. Charrington was still a member of the Thought Police, but this time he kept a low profile. The power struggle between the old guard and the reformers was still going on and nobody knew which way the wind would blow. Therefore, he kept renting the room to the two lowers and maintained his cover as a bookseller.
Winston and Julia were happy to have their own private place. By now they were deeply in love and the room allowed them to follow a pleasant daily routine. After work they met there, had dinner, made love and later on in the evening went to their own apartments. Julia’s work did not change much. She was still maintaining the machines for writing cheap novels, but for Winston it was a different story. In the bad old days, he would get news messages from the Inner Party officials which he rewrote into articles for Times. It was routine work and he was good at it, but now it changed. The power struggle within the Inner Party continued and as a result the messages he received were confused and contradicting. That meant that Winston had to make sure his articles offended nobody and that he was not taking sides with any faction within the Inner Party. This strategy worked well until one day, when an old photograph appeared on his desk.
In 1984 there was a scene when three Inner Party members, Jones, Anderson, and Rutherford were sentenced to death for treason. They confessed that on a specific date they were in enemy territory (Eurasia or Eastasia? The charges did not say), selling military secrets to foreign agents. Those confessions were fairly common, but sometime later on Winston saw a photograph of those three men at a meeting in New York, on the same day they admitted dealing with the enemy. In 1984 Winston saw that photo for only a few seconds and then he destroyed it, but now the same photo appeared on his desk again.
He looked at it for a long time, there was no telescreen to spy on him, and he realized that the reason he got it was to force him to reveal where his sympathy lies. It was sent by somebody from the Inner Party, but by whom? If it was sent by the reformers, they would expect him to accuse the old guard of forcing false confessions and murdering innocent people. But if the reformers lost the fight, this article would be a death sentence not only for him, but also for Julia. If, on the other hand, it was sent by the old guard, they would want him to write something about the reformers distributing false evidence in order to discredit the old-time heroes. But again, if the old guard were to lose, the article would result in a trip to a reformer’s torture chamber, and Winston had no doubt that those chambers existed. The other option was to ignore the photo altogether and write nothing, but that would annoy both camps and would definitely cost him his job, and to be unemployed in the current situation meant dying of starvation. There was no way around it; Winston had to decide. Old guard or reformers? The fact was the economy could not continue as before. The soldiers returning from the war were demanding reforms; they would not accept the Proletariat type of poverty. But the most important factor in Winston’s decision was his dislike of the Party and its brutality. He always hated it, in 1984 and in 1990. Therefore, he bet his life on the reformers victory and wrote the article accordingly. It appeared the next day in the morning issue of Times and during lunch in the cafeteria, Winston’s presence caused an adverse reaction from his colleagues. Some considered him to be a hero and praised his article, some thought he was crazy, and a few showed outright hostility.
"What is going on?" asked Julia during lunch.
"I will tell you later."
In the evening, during dinner in their room, Winston told Julia all about the three men falsely accused, about the photo proving their innocence, and about the article he wrote.
"You should not have written it that way. They might kill us both," said Julia, her voice trembling with fear.
"I had no choice. I could not ignore it, I had to take a side and I think that the reformers will win. The old system cannot continue as before, the economy is collapsing, and the old guard has nothing to offer. If I am right, there will be big changes in the whole Ministry of Truth and the article will improve my position in the department. It would benefit both of us."
"I hope you are right, but I am scared, I do not want to end up with a bullet in my head. You know, I am only twenty-five, I do not want to die. You are twenty years older, you have already experienced life, perhaps you see things differently."
"OK, what do you suggest?"
"We should stop seeing each other until the situation works itself out. I love you, but I cannot overcome my fear."
Winston was surprised, he did not expect such a reaction from her. He hoped that they would face the danger together, but then he admitted that she had a point. The danger was real. With soldiers returning from war there were weapons everywhere, and just one fanatic with a machine gun could kill them both.
"I will be lonely without you," replied Winston, "but you are right. There is no point of both of us ending up with a bullet in the head."
So, they separated, and it was hard. A hundred times a day Winston wanted to tell her how much he would love to see her, to hold her in his arms, and he was waiting and hoping that she would come back. Julia felt the same, but she was too scared to call him. Time passed, and it was becoming obvious that Winston was right, the reformers were winning. The heads of the old guard were executed, and the Thought Police was dissolved. Some of the members were brought into the regular police force, others retired, and the few smart ones, those who knew how to play the game, became directors of the new secret service. The Ministry of Truth was reorganised, the name changed to the Ministry of Information, Winston was promoted to the chief editor of Times, and one evening Julia appeared at the door of his apartment. He opened it, they looked at each other for a few seconds and then embraced, their hearts pounding.
"I missed you so much!" said Winston
"Me too. I did not realise how much I love you."
Winston invited her inside, made real coffee, with his new position he could afford it, and Julia stayed overnight, and the next night, and the night after. There was no Thought Police any more to harass them. All looked good, except that it was not all good. Winston never blamed Julia for abandoning him when he needed her most, but he could not forget it either. Julia was ashamed of herself and Winston was her daily reminder of her cowardice. They both tried to leave the past behind, but it was not the same as before. The age difference also started to show. Winston, as a new chief editor of Times, spent a lot of time at work and Julia started to feel abandoned. Their love was slowly evaporating. One evening, when Winston called again to tell her that he would be late, Julia packed up her suitcase and left a note:
"Dear Winston, it does not seem to be working. I am returning to my apartment. I still love you."
Winston did not call here back, he also felt that it was not working, and I can finish my 1990 version of the novel the same way as Orwell finished the story of Winston and Julia in 1984:
"Actually, it was a chance that they met. It was in the Park, on a vile biting day of March. He did not attempt to kiss her, nor did they speak. As they walked back across the grass, she looked directly at him for the first time. It was only a momentary glance, full of contempt and dislike. They sat down on two iron chairs, side by side, but not too close. He saw that she was about to speak, [but] there did not seem to be anything to say."
Poor Winston and Julia, I feel sorry for them. I wanted to make them happy, but I think that George Orwell would disapprove.