Just recently while reading George Orwell’s 1984, I was struck
by the similarities between life as described by him in his book and life that
existed in the country of my birth, Ethiopia, post the socialist revolution.
This as they existed in those times and seen through the eyes of a teenager were
certainly different and somewhat strange. For one thing, the slogans that were
raised against the enemies of the state were very strongly voiced, and when they
were shouted in unison with the accompaniment of synchronised pumping of the
right hand, you just couldn’t help beginning to believe that the Capitalists
were truly behind all the problems of the country, whether it was the drought,
or the separatists out there in the North.
Socialism became a Utopia a possibility in the midst of
machinations of all those venture capitalists who were trying to destabilise the
nation, although I did wonder in those times, what there was in the country, one
of the poorest in the region to attract the interest of the Capitalists! In the
meantime, the slogans continued to denounce the depravity of the Capitalists and
the Imperialists. This Utopia however seemed to drift away as the euphoria of
Nationalisation began to fade away. People who owned two or more houses were
allowed to keep only one, big business establishments were nationalised, farms
were turned into cooperatives, and dinner parties with our Russian friends and
the Hoy-Polloi began to take up a different colour.
Dinner Parties began on a serious note with important people in
the administration maintaining a poker face of seriousness. It was as if they
were frightened of each other, and afraid of uttering anything that might be
used against them. This seriousness however dissipated with each gulp of the
vodka that was served by the Russians. Prior to the gulping of the vodka
however, there was always a toast and each toast was addressed to the friendship
between nations, cooperation between nations, and so on. As the count of downed
glasses went up the guests would begin singing in Russian although they did
not know a single word of Russian. The party would end with Russians,
Ethiopians, and Indians claiming to be the best of friends, and they would then
joke with each other and call each other names!
But then this was not what Socialism was all about. The next
day it would be back to normal, ‘speak carefully, big brother can listen to you,
walls have ears,’ and so on.Mischief could be misconstrued, and you had to be
very careful about what you did lest Big Brother might take offence. Then one
day there was mention about George Orwell’s 1984, and Animal Farm. The top
leadership had taken offence to what this person had written in both of his
books, and I wondered as a teenager what could have been so offensive about
these books that the Government had banned them! I realised how offended the
Chairman and his ideologues might have been on reading both of his books later
when I got to read them. To have been compared to Pigs, must have hurt the
members of the Politbureau immensely – George Orwell had surely exposed the
hollowness and the sham that existed within the structure of Socialism
itself,and on a more serious note, the fear, paranoia and sense of being trapped
within a system of structures and protocols would have daunted even the
hard-hearted!
In the meantime, the slogans continued:
DOWN WITH IMPERIALISM!
DOWN WITH CAPITALISM!
DOWN WITH HOARDING!
LONG LIVE SOCIALISM!
LONG LIVE THE PROLETARIAT!
LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!
DOWN WITH THE BOURGEOSIE!
And the litany would continue in the same manner, day in and
day out, and the manner in which these slogans were said, it was as if everyone
had been hypnotised into saying and believing in the same things! It was
literally mass hypnosis leading to mass hysteria when these slogans were shouted
and the hills echoed the sentiment in return!
In the meantime, the role of the secret police became even more
evident. The ideologues, and the protectors of the ‘Faith’ were everywhere,
whether it was at work, or in the locality were you lived, they were everywhere!
When I was in grade twelve, there was this student, his name was Musa, and he
was a a secret spy. He carried a pistol with him and there was something rather
sinister about him. I noticed that the others switched off in his presence and
when they were forced to acknowledge him, then they rarely talked. I was a
mischievous ex-patriot living in another country, so I took liberties with him,
to the consternation of others!
Another thing that I noticed about the new world order was the
role of planning. They were simply so confident that their plans would work, and
the Party Members came up with some of the most ambitious Five Year plans that
were aimed at improving the country’s economy, educational system,
infrastructure, and social structure. I never stayed to see whether these five
year plans ever succeeded. All I do know is that there was a five year plan for
almost everything! These five year plans popped up every now and then! I have
seen echoes of such planners in recent times, especially in people who are
literally slaves to systems and structures, so much so that the structure
threatens to overwhelm the human factor!
A lot of what George Orwell wrote in 1984 and Animal Farm did
take place in the country of my birth post the Socialist revolution in 1975, and
the accuracy with which he has described life under Socialism makes me wonder if
he had indeed happened to have lived and witnessed the craziness of life in a
man made Utopia!
I had heard rumours about the interrogation techniques employed
by the secret police to ferret information deemed sensitive to the state. The
greatest tool in the hands of the interrogators was however not so much as the
torture itself, but rather the fear that one felt on facing them. This feeling
of terror and helplessness had been created mostly by hearsay and rumours that
one tended to hear in such a country. Nevertheless there was one story that did
the rounds amongst the ex-patriot community and that was about how another
ex-patriot lady had been taken to the police station because she had allegedly
committed the crime of shoplifting. Well, the people didn’t do her physical
harm, they only let loose upon her a pack of ferocious dogs. No the dogs did not
maul her, they were called away before they could reach her, but then the mental
trauma that she underwent was enough to turn her into a mental wreck.I have not
as yet reached the point where the character, Winston commits thought crimes by
writing a diary and is taken for interrogation in room 101 where he is supposed
to meet the ultimate horror of all those who are accused of crimes against the
state!
Life under a Socialist setup is based on a very strong degree
of conformism. However, to claim that this happens only in Socialist states
would be a gross mistake! Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible describes a similar
situation. Based on the Salem Witch hunts, and meant to expose the weaknesses in
McCarthyism, the play describes the impact of Mass-Hysteria, and how people are
forced to conform to accepted norms. John Proctor, an important character
becomes the lynchpin because he refuses to conform. The moral of the play is
that in order to survive in what might be a totalitarian state one has to
conform to the ideology of the party in power or else face the consequences.
All the other girls in The Crucible fall in line with what Abigail states
because they are afraid of the consequences of not doing so. They are afraid of
Abigail more so because she is a clever one who knows how to manipulate others,
and yes she is related to an important person in the social hierarchy in the
town.
What is common about The Crucible, 1984, Animal Farm, and what
I experienced as a teenager living in a Socialist state was the need to conform,
and the need to jump on to the bandwagon. A totalitarian regime will force its
people to conform to its accepted rules and regulations. It promotes propaganda
techniques which are meant to hypnotise people into jumping the bandwagon and
conforming in all ways. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World also describes life in a
straight-jacketed society. Huxley’s book brings out the themes of forced
conformism, the idea of jumping on to the bandwagon, and the use of mass
hypnosis as a means of keeping people in line. The kind of slogans that I saw
and heard being chanted in a socialist state remained in my mind for a number of
years and this stands testimony to the effectiveness of slogans as a means for
indoctrinating a whole nation.
Disturbing cues and clues have started emerging all over the
world, what with technology becoming all pervasive. The concept of Big Brother
is Watching has become even more prevalent all over the world what with Big
Brother monitoring our calls and the messages that we send online. The right to
freedom of thought and freedom of expression is getting steadily diluted with
Big Brother claiming the need to eavesdrop into our conversations in the
interests of the security of the state. This attack on the privacy of
individuals is taking place today, even in America, a country that is not even
Socialist in nature! In times when we have begun to live in a ‘Connected
Society’, the internet might prove to be a Pandora’s box that threatens the very
existence of the individual today. The presence of cameras everywhere, the fact
that you are being monitored constantly makes the adage that walls have ears
more frighteningly more true today than ever before! Is life in a ‘Connected
Society’ more horrifyingly Socialistic than ever? – Is a question worth asking.
The growing lack of individual privacy in the modern world is an alarming
reality, and as days go by, one wonders if Democracy and Capitalism are not just
different terms for Totalitarianism today! The film Matrix highlights
the erosion of the individual’s when living in a ‘Connected Society’.
In days to come, the society will gain predominance over the
individual and the individual will become subservient to the society as a whole.
Subservience, conformism, and jumping on to the Bandwagon are becoming a
frightening reality that are threatening to take away the right to dissent and
propose an alternate view as espoused by characters like John Proctor in The
Crucible, or even, Winston in 1984, or even Bernard in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New
World. Orwell’s description of ‘a world of terror where the price of freedom is
betrayal’ looms over us menacingly. The treatment of dissent and the debate on
what constitutes sedition post the Jawaharlal University fiasco in recent times
has forced us to wonder if we are not living in disturbing times which are not
really different from those described by Huxley and Orwell!
References:
1. Orwell George: 1984, Maple Press, 2008
2. Huxley Aldous: Brave New World, Flamingo, 1994
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