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1984 by George Orwell, Part two, Chapter 9 (3)

Part two, Chapter 9 (3)

Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labour power without producing anything that can be consumed. A Floating Fortress, for example, has locked up in it the labour that would build several hundred cargo-ships. Ultimately it is scrapped as obsolete, never having brought any material benefit to anybody, and with further enormous labours another Floating Fortress is built. In principle the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. In practice 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 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. By the standards of the early twentieth century, even a member of the Inner Party lives an austere, laborious kind of life. Nevertheless, the few luxuries that he does enjoy his large, well-appointed flat, the better texture of his clothes, the better quality of his food and drink and tobacco, his two or three servants, his private motor-car or helicopter — set him in a different world from a member of the Outer Party, and the members of the Outer Party have a similar advantage in comparison with the submerged masses whom we call ‘the proles'. The social atmosphere is that of a besieged city, where the possession of a lump of horseflesh makes the difference between wealth and poverty. And at the same time the consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival.

War, it will be seen, accomplishes the necessary destruction, but accomplishes it in a psychologically acceptable way. In principle it would be quite simple to waste the surplus labour of the world by building temples and pyramids, by digging holes and filling them up again, or even by producing vast quantities of goods and then setting fire to them. But this would provide only the economic and not the emotional basis for a hierarchical society. What is concerned here is not the morale of masses, whose attitude is unimportant so long as they are kept steadily at work, but the morale of the Party itself. Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph. In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality appropriate to a state of war. It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist. The splitting of the intelligence which the Party requires of its members, and which is more easily achieved in an atmosphere of war, is now almost universal, but the higher up the ranks one goes, the more marked it becomes. It is precisely in the Inner Party that war hysteria and hatred of the enemy are strongest. In his capacity as an administrator, it is often necessary for a member of the Inner Party to know that this or that item of war news is untruthful, and he may often be aware that the entire war is spurious and is either not happening or is being waged for purposes quite other than the declared ones: but such knowledge is easily neutralized by the technique of DOUBLETHINK. Meanwhile no Inner Party member wavers for an instant in his mystical belief that the war is real, and that it is bound to end victoriously, with Oceania the undisputed master of the entire world.

All members of the Inner Party believe in this coming conquest as an article of faith. It is to be achieved either by gradually acquiring more and more territory and so building up an overwhelming preponderance of power, or by the discovery of some new and unanswerable weapon. The search for new weapons continues unceasingly, and is one of the very few remaining activities in which the inventive or speculative type of mind can find any outlet. In Oceania at the present day, Science, in the old sense,has almost ceased to exist. In Newspeak there is no word for ‘Science'. The empirical method of thought, on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc. And even technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty. In all the useful arts the world is either standing still or going backwards. The fields are cultivated with horse-ploughs while books are written by machinery. But in matters of vital importance — meaning, in effect, war and police espionage — the empirical approach is still encouraged, or at least tolerated. The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought. There are therefore two great problems which the Party is concerned to solve. One is how to discover, against his will, what another human being is thinking, and the other is how to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand. In so far as scientific research still continues, this is its subject matter. The scientist of today is either a mixture of psychologist and inquisitor, studying with real ordinary minuteness the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, and tones of voice, and testing the truth-producing effects of drugs, shock therapy, hypnosis, and physical torture; or he is chemist, physicist, or biologist concerned only with such branches of his special subject as are relevant to the taking of life. In the vast laboratories of the Ministry of Peace, and in the experimental stations hidden in the Brazilian forests, or in the Australian desert, or on lost islands of the Antarctic, the teams of experts are indefatigably at work. Some are concerned simply with planning the logistics of future wars; others devise larger and larger rocket bombs, more and more powerful explosives, and more and more impenetrable armour-plating; others search for new and deadlier gases, or for soluble poisons capable of being produced in such quantities as to destroy the vegetation of whole continents, or for breeds of disease germs immunized against all possible antibodies; others strive to produce a vehicle that shall bore its way under the soil like a submarine under the water, or an aeroplane as independent of its base as a sailing-ship; others explore even remoter possibilities such as focusing the sun's rays through lenses suspended thousands of kilometres away in space, or producing artificial earthquakes and tidal waves by tapping the heat at the earth's centre.

But none of these projects ever comes anywhere near realization, and none of the three super-states ever gains a significant lead on the others. What is more remarkable is that all three powers already possess, in the atomic bomb, a weapon far more powerful than any that their present researches are likely to discover. Although the Party, according to its habit, claims the invention for itself, atomic bombs first appeared as early as the nineteen-forties, and were first used on a large scale about ten years later. At that time some hundreds of bombs were dropped on industrial centres, chiefly in European Russia, Western Europe, and North America. The effect was to convince the ruling groups of all countries that a few more atomic bombs would mean the end of organized society, and hence of their own power. Thereafter, although no formal agreement was ever made or hinted at, no more bombs were dropped. All three powers merely continue to produce atomic bombs and store them up against the decisive opportunity which they all believe will come sooner or later. And meanwhile the art of war has remained almost stationary for thirty or forty years. Helicopters are more used than they were formerly, bombing planes have been largely superseded by self-propelled projectiles, and the fragile movable battleship has given way to the almost unsinkable Floating Fortress; but otherwise there has been little development. The tank, the submarine, the torpedo, the machine gun, even the rifle and the hand grenade are still in use. And in spite of the endless slaughters reported in the Press and on the telescreens, the desperate battles of earlier wars, in which hundreds of thousands or even millions of men were often killed in a few weeks, have never been repeated.

None of the three super-states ever attempts any manoeuvre which involves the risk of serious defeat. When any large operation is undertaken, it is usually a surprise attack against an ally. The strategy that all three powers are following, or pretend to themselves that they are following, is the same. The plan is, by a combination of fighting, bargaining, and well-timed strokes of treachery, to acquire a ring of bases completely encircling one or other of the rival states, and then to sign a pact of friendship with that rival and remain on peaceful terms for so many years as to lull suspicion to sleep. During this time rockets loaded with atomic bombs can be assembled at all the strategic spots; finally they will all be fired simultaneously, with effects so devastating as to make retaliation impossible. It will then be time to sign a pact of friendship with the remaining world-power, in preparation for another attack. This scheme, it is hardly necessary to say, is a mere daydream, impossible of realization. Moreover, no fighting ever occurs except in the disputed areas round the Equator and the Pole: no invasion of enemy territory is ever undertaken. This explains the fact that in some places the frontiers between the super-states are arbitrary. Eurasia, for example, could easily conquer the British Isles, which are geographically part of Europe, or on the other hand it would be possible for Oceania to push its frontiers to the Rhine or even to the Vistula. But this would violate the principle, followed on all sides though never formulated, of cultural integrity. If Oceania were to conquer the areas that used once to be known as France and Germany, it would be necessary either to exterminate the inhabitants, a task of great physical difficulty, or to assimilate a population of about a hundred million people, who, so far as technical development goes, are roughly on the Oceanic level. The problem is the same for all three super-states. It is absolutely necessary to their structure that there should be no contact with foreigners, except, to a limited extent, with war prisoners and coloured slaves. Even the official ally of the moment is always regarded with the darkest suspicion. War prisoners apart, the average citizen of Oceania never sets eyes on a citizen of either Eurasia or Eastasia, and he is forbidden the knowledge of foreign languages. If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self- righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate. It is therefore realized on all sides that however often Persia, or Egypt, or Java, or Ceylon may change hands, the main frontiers must never be crossed by anything except bombs.

Under this lies a fact never mentioned aloud, but tacitly understood and acted upon: namely, that the conditions of life in all three super-states are very much the same.

Part two, Chapter 9 (3) Zweiter Teil, Kapitel 9 (3)

Even when weapons of war are not actually destroyed, their manufacture is still a convenient way of expending labour power without producing anything that can be consumed. A Floating Fortress, for example, has locked up in it the labour that would build several hundred cargo-ships. Плавуча фортеця, наприклад, замкнула в ній робочу силу, яка могла б побудувати кілька сотень вантажних кораблів. Ultimately it is scrapped as obsolete, never having brought any material benefit to anybody, and with further enormous labours another Floating Fortress is built. En última instancia, se desecha como obsoleta, sin haber aportado ningún beneficio material a nadie, y con enormes trabajos adicionales se construye otra Fortaleza Flotante. Зрештою її здають на металобрухт як застарілу, яка ніколи нікому не приносила жодної матеріальної користі, і подальшою величезною працею будують іншу Плавучу фортецю. In principle the war effort is always so planned as to eat up any surplus that might exist after meeting the bare needs of the population. En principio, el esfuerzo bélico siempre está planeado de tal modo que se acabe con cualquier excedente que pudiera existir después de satisfacer las necesidades básicas de la población. В принципі, військові зусилля завжди плануються таким чином, щоб з’їсти будь-який надлишок, який може залишитися після задоволення голих потреб населення. In practice 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. На практиці потреби населення завжди недооцінюються, в результаті чого виникає хронічна нестача половини життєво необхідних товарів; але це розглядається як перевага. It is 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. Es una política deliberada mantener incluso a los grupos favorecidos al borde de las dificultades, porque un estado general de escasez aumenta la importancia de los pequeños privilegios y, por lo tanto, magnifica la distinción entre un grupo y otro. Це свідома політика, спрямована на те, щоб утримувати навіть привілейовані групи десь на межі труднощів, тому що загальний стан дефіциту підвищує важливість невеликих привілеїв і, таким чином, посилює різницю між однією групою та іншою. By the standards of the early twentieth century, even a member of the Inner Party lives an austere, laborious kind of life. За стандартами початку двадцятого століття навіть член Внутрішньої партії живе суворим, трудомістким життям. Nevertheless, the few luxuries that he does enjoy his large, well-appointed flat, the better texture of his clothes, the better quality of his food and drink and tobacco, his two or three servants, his private motor-car or helicopter — set him in a different world from a member of the Outer Party, and the members of the Outer Party have a similar advantage in comparison with the submerged masses whom we call ‘the proles'. Тим не менш, ті нечисленні предмети розкоші, якими він насолоджується: його велика, добре обладнана квартира, краща текстура його одягу, краща якість його їжі, напоїв і тютюну, його двоє-троє слуг, його приватний автомобіль чи гелікоптер — безліч. він у світі, відмінному від члена Зовнішньої Партії, і члени Зовнішньої Партії мають подібну перевагу порівняно із зануреними масами, яких ми називаємо «пролами». The social atmosphere is that of a besieged city, where the possession of a lump of horseflesh makes the difference between wealth and poverty. Соціальна атмосфера нагадує обложене місто, де володіння шматочком конини робить різницю між багатством і бідністю. And at the same time the consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival. Y al mismo tiempo, la conciencia de estar en guerra, y por tanto en peligro, hace que la entrega de todo el poder a una pequeña casta parezca la condición natural e ineludible de supervivencia.

War, it will be seen, accomplishes the necessary destruction, but accomplishes it in a psychologically acceptable way. La guerra, se verá, logra la destrucción necesaria, pero la logra de una manera psicológicamente aceptable. In principle it would be quite simple to waste the surplus labour of the world by building temples and pyramids, by digging holes and filling them up again, or even by producing vast quantities of goods and then setting fire to them. But this would provide only the economic and not the emotional basis for a hierarchical society. Pero esto proporcionaría solo la base económica y no emocional para una sociedad jerárquica. What is concerned here is not the morale of masses, whose attitude is unimportant so long as they are kept steadily at work, but the morale of the Party itself. Lo que se trata aquí no es la moral de las masas, cuya actitud carece de importancia mientras se mantengan firmemente en el trabajo, sino la moral del propio Partido. Тут йдеться не про мораль мас, чиє ставлення неважливе, доки вони постійно працюють, а про мораль самої партії. Even the humblest Party member is expected to be competent, industrious, and even intelligent within narrow limits, but it is also necessary that he should be a credulous and ignorant fanatic whose prevailing moods are fear, hatred, adulation, and orgiastic triumph. Se espera que incluso el miembro más humilde del Partido sea competente, trabajador e incluso inteligente dentro de límites estrechos, pero también es necesario que sea un fanático crédulo e ignorante cuyos estados de ánimo predominantes son el miedo, el odio, la adulación y el triunfo orgiástico. In other words it is necessary that he should have the mentality appropriate to a state of war. It does not matter whether the war is actually happening, and, since no decisive victory is possible, it does not matter whether the war is going well or badly. No importa si la guerra está ocurriendo realmente y, dado que no es posible una victoria decisiva, no importa si la guerra va bien o mal. All that is needed is that a state of war should exist. Todo lo que se necesita es que exista un estado de guerra. The splitting of the intelligence which the Party requires of its members, and which is more easily achieved in an atmosphere of war, is now almost universal, but the higher up the ranks one goes, the more marked it becomes. La división de la inteligencia que el Partido requiere de sus miembros, y que se logra más fácilmente en un clima de guerra, es ahora casi universal, pero cuanto más se asciende en las filas, más marcada se vuelve. Розкол інтелекту, якого партія вимагає від своїх членів і якого легше досягти в атмосфері війни, зараз є майже загальним, але чим вище хто піднімається, тим помітнішим він стає. It is precisely in the Inner Party that war hysteria and hatred of the enemy are strongest. In his capacity as an administrator, it is often necessary for a member of the Inner Party to know that this or that item of war news is untruthful, and he may often be aware that the entire war is spurious and is either not happening or is being waged for purposes quite other than the declared ones: but such knowledge is easily neutralized by the technique of DOUBLETHINK. En su calidad de administrador, a menudo es necesario que un miembro del Partido Interior sepa que esta o aquella noticia de guerra no es veraz, y a menudo puede ser consciente de que toda la guerra es falsa y que no está sucediendo o está sucediendo. siendo librado para fines completamente distintos a los declarados: pero tal conocimiento es fácilmente neutralizado por la técnica del DOBLE PENSAMIENTO. Meanwhile no Inner Party member wavers for an instant in his mystical belief that the war is real, and that it is bound to end victoriously, with Oceania the undisputed master of the entire world. Mientras tanto, ningún miembro del Partido Interior vacila ni por un instante en su creencia mística de que la guerra es real y que está destinada a terminar victoriosamente, siendo Oceanía el amo indiscutible del mundo entero. Тим часом жоден член Внутрішньої партії ні на мить не похитується у своїй містичній вірі в те, що війна справжня і що вона неодмінно закінчиться переможно, а Океанія стане беззаперечним господарем усього світу.

All members of the Inner Party believe in this coming conquest as an article of faith. Todos los miembros del Partido Interior creen en esta conquista venidera como un artículo de fe. It is to be achieved either by gradually acquiring more and more territory and so building up an overwhelming preponderance of power, or by the discovery of some new and unanswerable weapon. Це має бути досягнуто шляхом поступового загарбання все більшої та більшої території і, таким чином, створення переважної переваги влади, або шляхом відкриття якоїсь нової зброї, яка не підлягає відповіді. The search for new weapons continues unceasingly, and is one of the very few remaining activities in which the inventive or speculative type of mind can find any outlet. Пошуки нової зброї тривають безперервно, і це одна з небагатьох видів діяльності, в яких винахідливий або спекулятивний тип розуму може знайти вихід. In Oceania at the present day, Science, in the old sense,has almost ceased to exist. У наш час в Океанії наука в старому розумінні майже припинила своє існування. In Newspeak there is no word for ‘Science'. The empirical method of thought, on which all the scientific achievements of the past were founded, is opposed to the most fundamental principles of Ingsoc. Емпіричний метод мислення, на якому засновані всі наукові досягнення минулого, протистоїть найбільш фундаментальним принципам Ingsoc. And even technological progress only happens when its products can in some way be used for the diminution of human liberty. In all the useful arts the world is either standing still or going backwards. En todas las artes útiles, el mundo está parado o retrocediendo. У всіх корисних мистецтвах світ або стоїть на місці, або повертається назад. The fields are cultivated with horse-ploughs while books are written by machinery. Los campos se cultivan con arados para caballos, mientras que los libros se escriben con maquinaria. But in matters of vital importance — meaning, in effect, war and police espionage — the empirical approach is still encouraged, or at least tolerated. Pero en asuntos de vital importancia, es decir, en efecto, la guerra y el espionaje policial, el enfoque empírico todavía se fomenta, o al menos se tolera. The two aims of the Party are to conquer the whole surface of the earth and to extinguish once and for all the possibility of independent thought. Дві цілі партії - завоювати всю поверхню землі і раз і назавжди знищити можливість незалежної думки. There are therefore two great problems which the Party is concerned to solve. One is how to discover, against his will, what another human being is thinking, and the other is how to kill several hundred million people in a few seconds without giving warning beforehand. Один полягає в тому, як дізнатися, проти його волі, що думає інша людина, а інший полягає в тому, як убити кілька сотень мільйонів людей за кілька секунд без попереднього попередження. In so far as scientific research still continues, this is its subject matter. En la medida en que la investigación científica aún continúa, este es su tema. The scientist of today is either a mixture of psychologist and inquisitor, studying with real ordinary minuteness the meaning of facial expressions, gestures, and tones of voice, and testing the truth-producing effects of drugs, shock therapy, hypnosis, and physical torture; or he is chemist, physicist, or biologist concerned only with such branches of his special subject as are relevant to the taking of life. In the vast laboratories of the Ministry of Peace, and in the experimental stations hidden in the Brazilian forests, or in the Australian desert, or on lost islands of the Antarctic, the teams of experts are indefatigably at work. Some are concerned simply with planning the logistics of future wars; others devise larger and larger rocket bombs, more and more powerful explosives, and more and more impenetrable armour-plating; others search for new and deadlier gases, or for soluble poisons capable of being produced in such quantities as to destroy the vegetation of whole continents, or for breeds of disease germs immunized against all possible antibodies; others strive to produce a vehicle that shall bore its way under the soil like a submarine under the water, or an aeroplane as independent of its base as a sailing-ship; others explore even remoter possibilities such as focusing the sun's rays through lenses suspended thousands of kilometres away in space, or producing artificial earthquakes and tidal waves by tapping the heat at the earth's centre. Algunos se preocupan simplemente por planificar la logística de guerras futuras; otros idean bombas cohete cada vez más grandes, explosivos cada vez más poderosos y blindajes cada vez más impenetrables; otros buscan gases nuevos y más mortíferos, o venenos solubles capaces de producirse en cantidades tales que destruyan la vegetación de continentes enteros, o razas de gérmenes patógenos inmunizados contra todos los posibles anticuerpos; otros se esfuerzan por producir un vehículo que se abra paso bajo el suelo como un submarino bajo el agua, o un avión tan independiente de su base como un barco de vela; otros exploran posibilidades aún más remotas, como enfocar los rayos del sol a través de lentes suspendidos a miles de kilómetros de distancia en el espacio, o producir terremotos artificiales y maremotos aprovechando el calor en el centro de la tierra. Деякі стурбовані просто плануванням логістики майбутніх воєн; інші створюють все більші і більші ракетні бомби, все більш потужну вибухівку і все більш непробивну броню; інші шукають нові та смертельніші гази, або розчинні отрути, здатні вироблятися в таких кількостях, щоб знищити рослинність цілих континентів, або породи мікробів хвороб, імунізованих проти всіх можливих антитіл; інші прагнуть створити транспортний засіб, який би проривався під землею, як підводний човен під водою, або літак, незалежний від своєї бази, як вітрильний корабель; інші досліджують ще більш віддалені можливості, такі як фокусування сонячних променів через лінзи, підвішені за тисячі кілометрів у космосі, або створення штучних землетрусів і припливних хвиль шляхом відведення тепла в центр землі.

But none of these projects ever comes anywhere near realization, and none of the three super-states ever gains a significant lead on the others. What is more remarkable is that all three powers already possess, in the atomic bomb, a weapon far more powerful than any that their present researches are likely to discover. Lo que es más notable es que los tres poderes ya poseen, en la bomba atómica, un arma mucho más poderosa que cualquiera que sus investigaciones actuales puedan descubrir. Що більш примітно, так це те, що всі три сили вже мають у атомній бомбі зброю, набагато потужнішу за будь-яку, яку їхні теперішні дослідження, ймовірно, виявлять. Although the Party, according to its habit, claims the invention for itself, atomic bombs first appeared as early as the nineteen-forties, and were first used on a large scale about ten years later. Aunque el Partido, según su costumbre, reivindica la invención para sí mismo, las bombas atómicas aparecieron por primera vez en los años cuarenta y se utilizaron por primera vez a gran escala unos diez años después. Хоча партія за своєю звичкою приписує винахід собі, атомні бомби вперше з'явилися ще в 1940-х роках, а вперше були використані у великих масштабах приблизно через десять років. At that time some hundreds of bombs were dropped on industrial centres, chiefly in European Russia, Western Europe, and North America. The effect was to convince the ruling groups of all countries that a few more atomic bombs would mean the end of organized society, and hence of their own power. El efecto fue convencer a los grupos gobernantes de todos los países de que unas pocas bombas atómicas más significarían el fin de la sociedad organizada y, por lo tanto, de su propio poder. Thereafter, although no formal agreement was ever made or hinted at, no more bombs were dropped. A partir de entonces, aunque nunca se llegó a un acuerdo formal ni se insinuó, no se lanzaron más bombas. Після цього, хоча жодної офіційної угоди не було укладено чи натяків на неї, бомби більше не скидалися. All three powers merely continue to produce atomic bombs and store them up against the decisive opportunity which they all believe will come sooner or later. And meanwhile the art of war has remained almost stationary for thirty or forty years. Y mientras tanto, el arte de la guerra ha permanecido casi estacionario durante treinta o cuarenta años. А тим часом військове мистецтво вже тридцять-сорок років майже не стоїть на місці. Helicopters are more used than they were formerly, bombing planes have been largely superseded by self-propelled projectiles, and the fragile movable battleship has given way to the almost unsinkable Floating Fortress; but otherwise there has been little development. Los helicópteros se utilizan más que antes, los aviones bombarderos han sido reemplazados en gran medida por proyectiles autopropulsados, y el frágil acorazado móvil ha dado paso a la casi insumergible Fortaleza Flotante; pero por lo demás ha habido poco desarrollo. The tank, the submarine, the torpedo, the machine gun, even the rifle and the hand grenade are still in use. El tanque, el submarino, el torpedo, la ametralladora, incluso el rifle y la granada de mano todavía están en uso. And in spite of the endless slaughters reported in the Press and on the telescreens, the desperate battles of earlier wars, in which hundreds of thousands or even millions of men were often killed in a few weeks, have never been repeated. Y a pesar de las interminables matanzas que se informan en la prensa y en las telepantallas, las desesperadas batallas de guerras anteriores, en las que cientos de miles o incluso millones de hombres fueron asesinados a menudo en unas pocas semanas, nunca se han repetido.

None of the three super-states ever attempts any manoeuvre which involves the risk of serious defeat. Ninguno de los tres superestados intenta jamás una maniobra que implique el riesgo de una derrota grave. When any large operation is undertaken, it is usually a surprise attack against an ally. Cuando se lleva a cabo una gran operación, suele ser un ataque sorpresa contra un aliado. Коли проводиться будь-яка велика операція, це зазвичай раптова атака на союзника. The strategy that all three powers are following, or pretend to themselves that they are following, is the same. La estrategia que siguen las tres potencias, o pretenden seguir, es la misma. The plan is, by a combination of fighting, bargaining, and well-timed strokes of treachery, to acquire a ring of bases completely encircling one or other of the rival states, and then to sign a pact of friendship with that rival and remain on peaceful terms for so many years as to lull suspicion to sleep. El plan es, mediante una combinación de lucha, regateo y trazos oportunos de traición, adquirir un anillo de bases que rodee por completo a uno u otro de los estados rivales, y luego firmar un pacto de amistad con ese rival y permanecer en él. términos pacíficos durante tantos años como para adormecer las sospechas. План полягає в тому, щоб шляхом поєднання бойових дій, угод і своєчасних зрадницьких дій отримати кільце баз, які повністю оточують ту чи іншу державу-суперницю, а потім підписати договір про дружбу з цим суперником і залишитися мирні умови на стільки років, щоб приспати підозру. During this time rockets loaded with atomic bombs can be assembled at all the strategic spots; finally they will all be fired simultaneously, with effects so devastating as to make retaliation impossible. Durante este tiempo, se pueden montar cohetes cargados con bombas atómicas en todos los puntos estratégicos; finalmente todos serán despedidos simultáneamente, con efectos tan devastadores que imposibilitarán las represalias. За цей час ракети, заряджені атомними бомбами, можуть бути зібрані в усіх стратегічних точках; нарешті їх усіх звільнять одночасно, що призведе до настільки руйнівних наслідків, що унеможливить відплату. It will then be time to sign a pact of friendship with the remaining world-power, in preparation for another attack. This scheme, it is hardly necessary to say, is a mere daydream, impossible of realization. Este esquema, no es necesario decirlo, es un mero sueño, imposible de realizar. Moreover, no fighting ever occurs except in the disputed areas round the Equator and the Pole: no invasion of enemy territory is ever undertaken. Además, no se producen combates excepto en las áreas en disputa alrededor del Ecuador y el Polo: nunca se lleva a cabo ninguna invasión del territorio enemigo. This explains the fact that in some places the frontiers between the super-states are arbitrary. Eurasia, for example, could easily conquer the British Isles, which are geographically part of Europe, or on the other hand it would be possible for Oceania to push its frontiers to the Rhine or even to the Vistula. But this would violate the principle, followed on all sides though never formulated, of cultural integrity. If Oceania were to conquer the areas that used once to be known as France and Germany, it would be necessary either to exterminate the inhabitants, a task of great physical difficulty, or to assimilate a population of about a hundred million people, who, so far as technical development goes, are roughly on the Oceanic level. Si Oceanía conquistara las áreas que antaño se conocieron como Francia y Alemania, sería necesario o exterminar a los habitantes, una tarea de gran dificultad física, o asimilar una población de unos cien millones de personas, que, por lo tanto, en lo que respecta al desarrollo técnico, se encuentran aproximadamente a nivel oceánico. Якби Океанія мала завоювати території, які колись називалися Францією та Німеччиною, необхідно було б або винищити їх мешканців, що було б важко фізично, або асимілювати населення приблизно в сто мільйонів людей, які, отже, що стосується технічного розвитку, то вони приблизно на рівні океану. The problem is the same for all three super-states. It is absolutely necessary to their structure that there should be no contact with foreigners, except, to a limited extent, with war prisoners and coloured slaves. Even the official ally of the moment is always regarded with the darkest suspicion. Навіть до офіційного союзника в даний момент завжди ставляться з найчорнішою підозрою. War prisoners apart, the average citizen of Oceania never sets eyes on a citizen of either Eurasia or Eastasia, and he is forbidden the knowledge of foreign languages. If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self- righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate. El mundo sellado en el que vive se rompería y el miedo, el odio y la justicia propia de los que depende su moral podrían evaporarse. It is therefore realized on all sides that however often Persia, or Egypt, or Java, or Ceylon may change hands, the main frontiers must never be crossed by anything except bombs. Por lo tanto, todos se dan cuenta de que, por mucho que Persia, Egipto, Java o Ceilán cambien de manos, las principales fronteras nunca deben ser cruzadas por nada más que bombas. Тому всі сторони усвідомлюють, що як би часто Персія, або Єгипет, або Ява, або Цейлон не переходили з рук в руки, головні кордони ніколи не повинні перетинатися нічим, крім бомб.

Under this lies a fact never mentioned aloud, but tacitly understood and acted upon: namely, that the conditions of life in all three super-states are very much the same. Debajo de esto se encuentra un hecho que nunca se menciona en voz alta, sino que se comprende tácitamente y se actúa sobre él: a saber, que las condiciones de vida en los tres superestados son muy similares.