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Keeping the wheels of industry turning
without increasing the real wealth of the world
was achieved by continuous warfare.

11. Ministry Of Plenty (Starvation)

From the moment when the machine first made its appearance it was clear to all thinking people that the need for human drudgery, and therefore to a great extent for human inequality, had disappeared. If the machine were used deliberately for that end, hunger, overwork, dirt, illiteracy, and disease could be eliminated within a few generations. The machine, when used for that purpose, did raise the living standards of the average human being very greatly over a period of about fifty years at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries.

The problem was how to keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world. Goods must be produced, but they must not be distributed. And in practice the only way of achieving this was by continuous warfare. The primary aim of modern warfare is to use up the products of the machine without raising the general standard of living. If technical progress were allowed to flourish in directions other than war and surveillance, there would be no more need for human drudgery and human inequality would disappear.

The needs of the population are always underestimated, with the result that there is a chronic shortage of half the necessities of life; but this is looked on as an advantage. It is a deliberate policy to keep even the favoured groups somewhere near the brink of hardship, because a general state of scarcity increases the importance of small privileges and thus magnifies the distinction between one group and another.

The phrase 'our new and happy life' recurred several times. It had been a favourite of late with the Ministry of Plenty. There had even been demonstrations to thank BIG BROTHER for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be reduced to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it. The eyeless creature at the other table swallowed it fanatically, passionately, with a furious desire to track down, denounce, and vaporize anyone who should suggest that last week the ration had been thirty grammes. Was he, then alone in the possession of a memory? The fabulous statistics continued to pour out of the telescreen. Actually, statistics were as much of a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version. A great deal of the time you were expected to make them up out of your head. For example, the Ministry of Plenty's forecast had estimated the output of boots for the quarter at 145 million pairs. The actual output was given as sixty-two millions. At any given moment there was some necessary article which the Party shops were unable to supply. Sometimes it was buttons, sometimes it was darning wool, sometimes it was shoelaces; at present it was razor blades. You could only get hold of them if at all, by scrounging more or less furtively on the 'free' market.

Day and night the telescreens bruised your ears with statistics proving that people today had more food, more clothes, better houses, better recreations - that they lived longer, worked shorter hours, were bigger, healthier, stronger, happier, more intelligent, better educatd than the people of fifty years ago.

Life if you looked about you bore no resemblance not only to the lies that streamed out of the telescreens, but even to the ideals that the Party was trying to achieve. The truly characteristic thing about modern life was not its cruelty and insecurity, but simply its bareness, its dinginess, its listlessness.- a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons - a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting - three hundred million people all with the same face. The reality was decaying, dingy cities where under fed people shuffled to and fro in leaky shoes, in patched-up nineteenth-century houses that smelt always of cabbage and bad lavatories. He seemed to see a vision of London, vast and ruinous, city of a million dust bins.


Billions in Afghan aid money wasted (on foreign salaries-housing-security) & Canada firing GPS bombs on Afghans (each bullet costs $150,000). CBC/AlJazeera, Mar 26, 2008

Canada Afghan war double over budget (cost taxpayers $8-billion since 2001). CTV, Mar 18, 2008

Canada ex-PM admits arms dealer deal ($300,000 cash in 3 envelopes) & How poor really was Mulroney? (bought $1.7 million mansion). AFP/TOStar, Dec 1, 2007. Go to MULRONEY BALONEY FISHY & MULRONEY CASH FLOW WOE & 10.Rulers & 8.Classes People & PIGS AT THE TROUGH

Kagame says Nkunda's grievances legit ("should be viewed differently to FDLR who are guilty of genocide") & UN PEACEKEEPING NOT KEEPINGPEACE ("won't discuss FDLR but when it's about Nkunda they move tanks") & Dallaire at new Shake Hands movie (UN soldiers played bluff with howling mobs of knife-wielding Hutu hooligans bent on butchering every last Tutsi in Rwanda) & Congo's Nkunda asks UN for peace (was told UN "just observing & didn't have any position to take") & Rwanda fears Congo conflict spillover ("If the UN can't keep peace there, then what are they there for?"). NewT/CanCom/VOA, Sep 10, 2007. Go to RWANDA'S SILENT FRIENDS

Dangers await Lebanese returnees (1,000-pound bomb in living room) & Lebanon oil slick disaster plan (a year and $65-million says UN). BBC/WashPost, Aug 21, 2006. Go to MOAB IS A WMD

Israel asks USA for more cluster bombs (against civilians in populated areas). SydneyHerald, Aug 11, 2006. Go to MOSES MENTIONS MOAB

Home foreclosures up in USA (if you're flush there's opportunities). MSNBC, Jun 3, 2006. Go to BANKS FORECLOSE UNIVERSALLY

Stores force farmers to dump food (shop with eyes not mouth). Times, Jul 17, 2005. Go to TAKE NOT OUR DAILY BREAD

R & R ain't what it used to be (babes & booze banned for GIs). "It's like a correctional facility. We sleep in bunk beds 30 to a room. We can't get off base when we want.". Telegraph, Apr 8, 2005. Go to MAMAS DON'T LET YOUR BABIES

Reader invigorates discussion on: EURO ENGLISH MAYHEM which reminds Jackie Jura of: ORWELL RESISTS NU SPELING & ORWELL ON METRIC CONVERSION

MONEY SLAVES (a reader says that's what we are). Feb 13, 2004. Go to CASHLESS SOCIETY

WAR INC (Uncle Sam needs soldiers to protect his corporate pipelines in Iraq). Guardian, Jan 11, 2004. Go to UNCLE SAMUEL WANTS YOU!

Rumsfield says USA needs bigger army (war is sport in Rummyland). Time, Dec 22, 2003. Go to UNCLE SAMUEL WANTS YOU!

Soldiers playing Santa in Afghanistan (hand out shoe boxes of trinkets to destitute of war-ravaged nation). Canoe.com, Dec 20, 2003. Go to FEEDING FREEDOM'S FOES & AFGHANISTAN REMEMBERED & AFGHANISTAN AFTERMATH & WHY ARMY IN AFGHANISTAN?

Hunger & homelessnes increase in USA (unemployment, low paying jobs & high costs for housing, energy & utilities). AP, Dec 18, 2003

Be happy, Mugabe tells starving (gov't tv/radio propaganda campaign full of music, football & sex). Guardian, Dec 13, 2003. Go to 16.Ministry of Truth & 25.Prolefeed

China makes 80% of America's toys (workers get 24 cents an hour; unlike 9 dollars an hour in USA). NewYorkTimes, Dec 7, 2003. Go to 9.Keeping Masses Down

NASA's logo a Martian (out to destroy planet Earth). National Post, Jun 5, 2003. Go to NASA MOONS EARTHLINGS

Iraq's water system destroyed (& Iraqis not allowed to fix). Guradian, May 31, 2003. Go to KYOTO'S WATER WIZARDS

Pentagon missing $1 trillion (& planes, tanks, missiles etc). SanFranChron, May 19, 2003. Go to 11.Ministry of Peace (War) & PENTAGON WARS

Welcome aboard gravy train (greatest rebuilding on earth!). Rense.com, Apr 13, 2003. Go to ZIONISM IN AMERICA

Tobacco shortage for troops (forced nicotine withdrawal at worst possible time). Yahoo!AP, Apr 1, 2003. Go to TOBACCO TORTURE & SMOKING SOLDIER'S LAMENT & DRUG WAR & PEACE

Politicians get fat on war (Bush-Baker-Carlucci-Major-Rumsfield; cashing in on 9-11 too). Observer, Mar 25, 2003. Go to PIGS AT TROUGH

Iraq reconstruction worth billions (mega-corporations will be there). Guardian, Mar 11, 2003. Go to 10.The Rulers

UK troops not ready for war (rice 3x/day & no loo paper). ThisIsLondon, Mar 7, 2003

Boeing relocating in Russia/China (Americans training their workers). Kansas.com, Mar 5, 2003. Go to & CORPORATE COMMUNISM

Home heating costs up 50% (due to war & weather). USA Today, Feb 25, 2003

Canada's military-industrial complex (public knows nothing about). Toronto Star, Feb 9, 2003. Go to 12.Minipax

Castro's dupes (his accomplishments are a hoax). Financial Post, Feb 1, 2003. Go to COMMUNISM CUBAN STYLE

Jobless find little hope (employment outlook bleak in much of USA). Yahoo!AP, Jan 30, 2003. Go to 9.Keeping Masses Down

World jobless hits record high (180-million & rising in Americas-Europe-Africa-Middle East). BBC, Jan 24, 2003. Go to 9.Keeping Masses Down

USA loses 101,000 jobs in December (for total of 2 million in 2002). CBS, Jan 10, 2003

Iraq war = worldwide recession (USA owes $300-B from last one). Arab News, Nov 18, 2002

Home foreclosures soar (high prices defy logic). AP Radio News, Oct 31, 2002

Iraq attack to cost $200 billion (gov't debt already $3.6 trillion). MSNBC, Sep 16, 2002

"Vice-Fund" invests in unethical only (gambling, booze, weapons, tobacco). Financial Times, Aug 29, 2002. Go to Lottery

Despair in once-proud Argentina (globalization, banks & corrupt politicians). Washington Post, Aug 6, 2002. Go to 4.Old World Destruction

Farmers switch from wheat to Asian crops (growing coriander for fireplace logs). National Post, May 15, 2002

$7B loophole: Government cannot track money in private foundations. National Post, Apr 17, 2002
...giving it to 77 private foundations whose spending cannot be scrutinized, Canada's Auditor-General warned. ...Among them are Genome Canada ($300-million), the Foundation for Sustainable Development Technology in Canada ($50-million), Canada Health Infoway Inc ($500-million), Canada Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences ($60-million) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation ($3.15-billion)

RFK-JR blasts huge hog operations (leading to economic/environmental catastrophe). Lincoln Journal, Apr 19, 2002. Go to 9.Keeping Masses Down

Bush will ask for $2-trillion ($38-billion for internal & $380-billion for external terrorism). National Post, Jan 25, 2002.

4,000 Zimbabwe farmers to be evicted (22 million acres will fall out of production). London Times, Nov 13, 2001. Go to 9.Keeping Masses Down

Lumber duties could idle 30,000 in BC (200 BC communities totally forestry-dependent). Vancouver Province, Nov 1, 2001. Go to 9.Keeping Masses Down

Lockheed wins contract for 3,000 fighter jets ($200 billion cost largest in Defense Dep't history). Los Angeles Times, Oct 26, 2001

Bush pledges $3B for 200,000 new layoffs ('worker-relief' would require enrollment in gov't programs). Yahoo!News, Oct 4, 2001

Canada: the worlds' "barnyard" (allows industrial farms to spread their manure). Ottawa Citizen, Aug 4, 2001

Britain on the ropes. National Post, May 7, 2001

Wood dispute threatens 140,000 jobs in Canada. Toronto Star, April 3, 2001

Energy crisis or people control? InfoWars.com, March 15, 2001

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

email: orwelltoday@gmail.com
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