GARETH JONES PROOF DISCUSSION
UPDATE! Journalist Jones exposed Stalin famine (to be honoured by Ukraine posthumously on November 22, 2008). BBC, Nov 10, 2008
The following is an exchange of emails [January 2004] reinforcing the discovery by Nigel Colley and Jackie Jura that Orwell had Gareth Jones in mind when he chose the name "Mr Jones" in Animal Farm. This is an ongoing discussion with latest entries added at the bottom:
To Orwell Today:
Jackie,
Thanks for your reply and I must concur entirely with your rationale regarding the symbolism of Jones, however, do you believe that Orwell would have remembered Gareth’s role in the famine, ten years after the event and would his mysterious murder alone, warrant his specific naming in Animal Farm? Knowing Orwell, how sure are you that Gareth is behind the naming of Farmer Jones?
Regards,
Nigel
Hi Nigel,
I told you how I came to the realization that Orwell had Gareth in mind when he used the name Jones in Animal Farm and you came to the same realization in your own way. You wonder if it is conceivable that Orwell would bestow such an honour on someone who wasn't a friend or whom he didn't know. Well, that didn't matter to Orwell. Orwell cared more about the future of humanity than for any one individual - including himself. Orwell's life was his message and he gave his life to get his message out.
I know - from reading the biographies and Orwell's own writings - that he never got over the shock of Smillie's murder in Spain by the Communists and his future writings were in part to avenge that murder. See SPAIN REMEMBERS ORWELL'S CENTENNIAL.
Orwell would have felt the same about Gareth Jones or any other anti-Communist courageous man , especially a young man with everything to live for. In the most recent biography - INSIDE GEORGE ORWELL, by Gordon Bowker, he mentions on page 385 that one of the influences on Orwell in the writing of 1984 were the writings of Eugene Lyons, whose article ASSIGNMENT IN UTOPIA is on your website and which I linked to on the bottom of my essay WAS FARMER JONES GARETH JONES? I think that more or less clinches that Orwell was aware of Gareth Jones and what had been done to him.
bfn,
Jackie
To Orwell Today,
Jackie,
...I would now like to turn to the subject of (Winston) Smith and Jones - Is there any link between them or did Smith follow logically after Farmer (Gareth) Jones, or no link at all? Some might say that both were just common surnames, nothing more, nothing less... Though, if the first name, Jones, was chosen carefully, what about the second, Smith? From memory, I recollect that symbolism wasn't the order of the day in 1984, so any name would have sufficed, and perhaps the most common British surname is facelessly most appropriate. From your last email, I also agree with your thoughts on Eugene Lyons being a source of information about Gareth and therefore definitely known by Orwell. Your thoughts, please...
Regards,
Nigel
Greetings Nigel,
You ask GOOD questions. Yes, now that we have ascertained that Orwell chose all the names in Animal Farm very carefully - including Mr. Jones - we can logically assume that he also put a great deal of thought into choosing the name of 1984's main character, ie Winston Smith. See WAS WINSTON SMITH GERALD SMITH?
bfn,
Jackie
Hi again Nigel,
I am presently reading all of Gareth's articles...in the order that they are on your webpage. I am presently at what I have numbered article "39" which is in The Western Mail, Apr 5, 1933, entitled MOSCOW SHOW TRIAL OF BRITISH ENGINEERS...and am able to recognize huge sections that Orwell incorporated into Animal Farm and 1984. I hope you re-read 1984 after you've finished Animal Farm because believe me, you'll see even more of Gareth Jones in 1984 than you see in Animal Farm. I have no doubt whatsoever that the "Mr Jones" of Animal Farm is Gareth (actually, did you notice how Duranty, in his New York Times article RUSSIANS HUNGRY BUT NOT STARVING refers to Gareth as "Mr Jones" while he attempts to debunk Gareth? I bet that's when Orwell decided to use "Mr Jones" in Animal Farm (which he started working on in his mind many years before he wrote it). When you get up to speed on 1984 you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.
The reason I am sharing these emails with the webpage is because the idea of the webpage is to broaden peoples' understanding of Orwell and his books so they'll understand their importance. And how he came to name his characters is important - as you well now know, if you didn't already.
bfn,
Jackie
To Orwell Today,
Jackie,
By the way, Gareth's German articles are well worth a read - especially after Hitler got into power - much better written than his 'rushed' Soviet 1933 articles...
Regards,
Nigel
Hi Nigel,
I have read quite a bit of German history, including David Irving's books and so it will be very interesting reading Gareth's "man on the spot" observations of that time period - just as it was fascinating reading his "man on the spot" Soviet reporting. It's unbiased and factual and that's valuable.
I don't know how long ago it was that you read 1984 but I'm sure you'll read it from a different perspective the next time, now that you know that Orwell got some of his knowledge about life under the Five Year Plan (2 + 2 = 5) from readings he did of people who had been there, ie Gareth and Heinz etc. In 1984 Orwell talks about the Lottery and the Youth organizations like the Spies and also about how people pretend to love "Stalin" when in their hearts they hate him. Those things were mentioned in Heinz's diary...
I added a link to EXPERIENCES IN RUSSIA 1931 DIARY, by Jack Heinz at the bottom of my WAS FARMER JONES GARETH JONES article because it was such a revealing description of life in the Soviet Union at that time and again I recognized parts of it in 1984 so Orwell must have read it. I also linked to MY JOURNEY THROUGH FAMINE STRICKEN RUSSIA by Whiting Williams because it was also excellent...
I used to think Orwell got his insights into life in the Soviet Union (which were then put into 1984) from reading GERMAN SOLDIERS LETTERS DESCRIBING CONDITIONS that I assumed was available in England which I found on a university website. But then when I read Gareth's articles I decided that's where he got some of the insights...
Orwell was extremely well read and he threw everything he'd learned in his forty-five years of living into 1984 and that includes all his own experiences and observations and everyone else's too. Snippets of writings and books from many authors are recognizable in 1984. Actually, 1984 was just disguised as a novel and love story - deep down it was a factual account of hell on earth in the past, present and future. The future is now for England and America if we don't come to our senses.
bfn,
Jackie
To Orwell Today,
Jackie:
...The first two words of Animal Farm are: "Mr Jones" ...As to circumstantial evidence of the 'Farmer Jones" link with Gareth, given that I now assume Orwell more than probably read this Duranty article (don't forget Duranty was perceived to be at the time the world's most respected reporter on Soviet matters- let alone the highest paid) then Orwell, who was very well read, would have seen the unusually high number of times the word "Mr. Jones" was used within Duranty's "Russian's Hungry, Not Starving" article:
1. "Its Author is Gareth Jones..."
2. "Mr. Jones is a man of a keen and active mind,"
3. "...but the writer thought Mr. Jones's judgment was somewhat hasty"
4. "But to return to Mr. Jones."
5. "Since I talked to Mr. Jones..."
The reply by Gareth to the NYT editor in their letter's page, on 13th May 1933 was simply entitled: "MR JONES REPLIES"...
Regards,
Nigel
Hi Nigel,
...Last week I finished reading Gareth's German articles and they were extremely interesting too. So descriptive and educational and such a great background or backdrop to help a person put history into perspective.
bfn,
Jackie
To Orwell Today,
Jackie,
... I would really appreciate your thoughts as how to academically argue that Gareth Jones was indeed Farmer Jones...
Kind regards,
Nigel
Hi Nigel,
To answer your question of how to academically argue that Gareth Jones was Farmer Jones I suggest you read Orwell's 1946 essay THE PREVENTION OF LITERATURE where he mentions the cover-up of the Ukraine famine (amongst other things).
This essay contributes to my opinion that Orwell had a truthsayer of the famine in mind when he wrote about it in ANIMAL FARM and for that reason chose the name of Jones. This essay also mentions how the Communist press "barred" journalists from telling the truth about what they saw. That may therefore answer Russ's earlier question about the "five barred gate" which is mentioned in ANIMAL FARM.
bye for now,
Jackie
To Orwell Today,
Jackie,
What an excellent essay THE PREVENTION OF LITERATURE by Orwell in 1945/46. The Gareth/Duranty debate does indeed appear to be at the back of his thoughts:
1. "One ought not to exaggerate the direct influence of the small English Communist Party, but there can be no question about the poisonous effect of the Russian mythos on English intellectual life. Because of it known facts are suppressed and distorted to such an extent as to make it doubtful whether a true history of our times can ever be written."
2. "The fog of lies and misinformation that surrounds such subjects as the Ukraine famine, the Spanish civil war, Russian policy in Poland, and so forth, is not due entirely to conscious dishonesty, but any writer or journalist who is fully sympathetic for the U.S.S.R.-sympathetic, that is, in the way the Russians themselves would want him to be-does have to acquiesce in deliberate falsification on important issues."
3. "Freedom of the intellect means the freedom to report what one has seen, heard, and felt, and not to be obliged to fabricate imaginary facts and feelings."
4. "...in England the immediate enemies of truthfulness, and hence of freedom of thought, are the press lords, the film magnates, and the bureaucrats, but that on a long view the weakening of the desire for liberty among the intellectuals themselves is the most serious symptom of all. It may seem that all this time I have been talking about the effects of censorship, not on literature as a whole, but merely on one department of political journalism. Granted that Soviet Russia constitutes a sort of forbidden area in the British press, granted that issues like Poland, the Spanish civil war, the Russo-German pact, and so forth, are debarred from serious discussion, and that if you possess information that conflicts with the prevailing orthodoxy you are expected to either distort it or keep quiet about it..."
5. "A heretic-political, moral, religious, or aesthetic-was one who refused to outrage his own conscience. His outlook was summed up in the words of the Revivalist hymn:
Dare to be a Daniel
Dare to stand alone
Dare to have a purpose firm
Dare to make it known"
"To bring this hymn up to date one would have to add a 'Don't' at the beginning of each line. For it is the peculiarity of our age that the rebels against the existing order, at any rate the most numerous and characteristic of them, are also rebelling against the idea of individual integrity. 'Daring to stand alone' is ideologically criminal as well as practically dangerous. The independence of the writer and the artist is eaten away by vague economic forces, and at the same time it is undermined by those who should be its defenders."
Jackie, thanks for bringing this piece to my attention, I am glad I have read it; the hymn excellently describes Gareth's role when applied to political journalism - and helps understand why Orwell alluded to him as Mr. Jones in Animal Farm.
Regards,
Nigel
To Orwell Today,
Jackie,
My new page WAS GARETH JONES BEHIND ORWELL'S NAMING OF FARMER JONES IN ANIMAL FARM? is on-line now.
Kind regards,
Nigel
Journalist Jones exposed Stalin famine (to be honoured by Ukraine posthumously). WalesOnLine, Nov 10, 2008
A PIONEERING Welsh journalist who alerted the world to widespread famine in Stalin's Soviet Union is to receive a posthumous award from the Ukrainian government. Gareth Jones, who wrote for the Western Mail, exposed the 1932-33 Ukrainian famine. Millions died, but the Soviet authorities -- and many western journalists -- denied the catastrophe had even happened. Jones and fellow reporter Malcolm Muggeridge are now revered in Ukraine, and both are to be posthumously given the country's Order of Freedom. The award will be bestowed at a ceremony in Westminster on November 22. Discussion of the famine, in which as many as 10 million people died, was strictly suppressed, and Ukrainians themselves have only become fully aware of the events since the fall of communism. When Jones announced at a press conference in Berlin on March 29, 1933, that millions were starving in Ukraine as a result of Stalin's five-year-plan, several foreign correspondents rushed to rubbish the story. The most vocal was Walter Duranty of the New York Times, who had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his own reports on Stalin's Russia. He dismissed Jones' eye-witness account as "a big scare story" and insisted there was "no actual starvation". In May 1932 the New York Times printed Mr Jones' response to the controversy. In a furious attack on the coterie of foreign correspondents, Mr Jones congratulated "the Soviet Foreign Office on its skill in concealing the true situation in the USSR".
Gareth Jones, who was born in Barry in 1905, was regarded as one of the most talented journalists of his generation. He wrote for The Western Mail, The Times and The Manchester Guardian as well as the Berliner Tageblatt and American newspapers. In the 1930s he travelled through Russia and Ukraine -- where his mother had lived -- and was shocked at the famine conditions he encountered. An estimated five to 10 million people died between 1932 and 1933, an event Ukrainians call the Holodomor. His career survived the controversy over the Ukrainian reports but his life was tragically cut short when he was murdered in 1935 while travelling in Inner Mongolia. He was just 29 years old. Mr Jones' niece Dr Siriol Colley has written a book about her campaigning uncle's life, A Manchukuo Incident, and has long sought for his work to be recognised. She said: "The Ukrainian people have taken him to their hearts -- they call him the unsung hero. "He reported on Ukraine but also on the rise of Hitler and the US depression. He did so much in his short life, and it is such a shame that all that knowledge died with him at such a young age". Fedir Kurlak, chief executive of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain, said: "I think for people to have lived for so long, for 70 years, without being able to properly tell others that their little brother, their mother or father died, or half the school died -- for them to live with that for 70 years, indicates the terror that existed in that part of the world. "Look at how Gareth Jones went about the task of reporting in those kind of circumstances, under a ruthless totalitarian regime that was liquidating the population by the hundreds of thousands. "I'm sure Gareth would have known if he had been caught reporting on the famine that he would have faced certain death". He added: "As far as the Ukrainian community is concerned, anyone who has heard of Gareth's exploits will quite simply take his hat off to him, and regard him as an exemplary journalist".
Documentaing Stalin's genocide by starvation. RhodeIslandNews, Nov 9, 2008
WARWICK -- A history professor at the Community College of Rhode Island, who has been honored for helping to document the extent of the Ukrainian genocide and to make it known to Western audiences, will be a principal speaker at the opening of a month-long commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the "unknown genocide". Prof. Cheryl Madden said people in the West know so little about the starvation of an estimated 10 million Ukrainians under the rule of former Soviet leader Josef Stalin that it shows how effective he was in terrorizing the populace and manipulating the flow of information to keep it from the outside world. "Even today, I find older Ukrainians who are afraid to talk about it", says Madden. "Under Stalin, if you even used the word Holodomor -- which means murder by starvation -- a person could be shot and often was".... The policy of mass starvation came about, Madden says, because Stalin was desperate for grain that he could trade on the open markets, since most banks would not recognize the ruble. To answer that need, according to historians, Stalin set out on a policy of confiscating all the available grain in Ukraine and withholding it from the local population. "There was a deliberate campaign of starvation", says Madden. "Anyone over the age of 12 could be shot for the appropriation of Soviet property. Property, as they defined it, could include any food at all, even a dead horse. I read a letter that said, 'We are killing the cat today, because there is nothing else'". Knowing that the people were desperate, she says, the Soviets set up a special store where the populace could "purchase" a loaf of bread in exchange for a painting or a wedding ring. Yet, the most catastrophic aspect of the policy was the sealing of the borders around the region of Ukraine to ensure that no one could get out, and then wait for everyone to starve, says Madden. She says that while some journalists attempted to report what was happening, Stalin was able to discredit their reports with the help of New York Times reporter Walter Duranty, the paper's Moscow correspondent. Duranty had won a Pulitzer Prize for his reports from the Soviet Union, including an interview with the Soviet dictator, who told the world there was no famine....
Jackie Jura
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