Orwellistan

Like every day, the host of the eight o’clock evening news opens the broadcast by proclaiming the motto of the State, as he has done for five decades now.

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.

He continues…

Good evening, citizens of Orwellistan. Today, as every day, we celebrate the efficiency and order that our beloved State has established to guarantee the well-being of all. In our top story tonight, we are pleased to report that food production has reached a new record under the expert guidance of the Central Committee for Agricultural Planning. Thanks to the fair control and distribution of resources, each citizen will receive their weekly rations according to their specific needs, ensuring that everyone enjoys the fruits of collective effort. The Benefactor today reaffirmed his commitment to the people during a moving speech at the Forum of Fraternity and Equality, reminding us that the expropriation of the means of production forever eliminated the individualistic greed that caused so much harm in the past. The efforts of the People’s Socialist Party have once again proven that only in collectivity can we prosper.

— Orwellistan State Television News Service

— Grandpa, in history class today they explained how the State saved society from the chaos of the free market. They say that people used to compete with each other and that everything was very unfair. You lived through that time, didn’t you? - asked Carlos.

— Yes, I lived for a number of years during the time of the free market. Though I wouldn’t say the State exactly “saved” us.

— I knew you were going to say something like that.

— Why? - asked the grandfather

— Sometimes I’ve noticed that you talk about the old days with nostalgia. As if you don’t miss them only because you were young, but because you actually believe they were better times.

— Ah, is that what you think? And you --- what do you make of what they tell you?

— They told us the free market only benefited the rich, that everything was chaotic, that a few people were very wealthy while others went hungry. Wasn’t that so?

— It’s not as simple as they tell it. There was inequality, of course, but there was also freedom. People could choose how to live their lives, what to study, what work to do, where to live. If you had a family you could decide how many children to have, what to buy, where to visit. There were holidays --- a month of time each year when you didn’t have to work. Most people had a car and could go wherever they wanted. There was uncertainty, yes, but there was also freedom. Each person could choose how to live their own life.

— You talk as if you preferred those times…

The grandfather paused to think about how to continue. The sensible thing would be to leave the conversation there, but he felt an urge to go on, even though he knew continuing could bring trouble to both of them.

— I miss those times, it’s true. I look at today’s reality with sadness. Not so much for myself --- I’m already old --- but for your mother and for you. Freedom was something we took for granted, as though we could never lose it. And we couldn’t see how we were giving it away little by little in exchange for promises of security, equality, and social justice that sounded very good to most people.

— But how did you lose it? If you valued freedom so much, why did you let the State take control of everything?

— Little by little…

— But how? - Carlos pressed.

— If you put a frog into a pot of very hot water, the frog jumps straight out. But if you put it in warm water and slowly raise the temperature, you can boil the frog without it ever leaving the pot.

— What does that have to do with the question, Grandpa?

— A lot. Society’s nervous system is like the frog’s.

— I don’t understand what you mean, Grandpa.

— Replace the water temperature with the loss of individual freedom in society and there you have it.

— Ah, I see --- they took your freedom away little by little and you never did anything about it.

— That’s right. Half a century ago, society began to embrace collectivist thinking through promises of welfare, equality, and social justice. At first, nobody said the free market was an oppressive system that only served the powerful, the way they teach you in school today. People simply talked about supposed “market failures” that the State had to correct for everyone’s good. But gradually the market was blamed for more and more problems.

— But there were different political options, weren’t there? Not everyone thought the same.

— Yes, but as collectivist ideas spread through society, more and more political leaders called for more interventionist, more socialist solutions --- that is, greater State control of production. More government subsidies and more taxes.

— But there were political parties that advocated the free market, and in fact there was a free market, wasn’t there?

— There was never a fully free market since many activities were regulated, but there was a pseudo-free market.

— But even if an activity is regulated, it can still have a free market, can’t it?

— What does it mean for it to be regulated? - asked the grandfather

— That you have to comply with certain rules or laws in order to produce or trade certain goods. That’s what regulation is, isn’t it?

— Exactly. And therefore that market is no longer free --- not entirely. The more regulation, the less free the market.

— I see…

— The deterioration, as I say, was gradual. A critical moment was a viral epidemic that led virtually all States to confine their own populations to their homes for months. Since most businesses could not produce and therefore could not pay wages, the State decided to print the money needed to pay people’s salaries even though nothing was being produced. This, along with a war in Europe, caused prices to rise rapidly, especially energy prices.

— Why energy prices especially?

— Energy prices rose for two reasons: the war and the increase in the money supply. They were the first to rise sharply, but all other prices soon followed.

— Because of all the new money that had been created…

— That’s right. But it didn’t stop there. To “solve” the problem they themselves had caused, they decided to cap the price of electricity and gas so that lower-income families would not be affected, with the State paying the difference to the electricity companies --- for which it printed even more money.

— Looking after the poorest doesn’t seem like a bad idea, does it?

— In fact most people thought it was fine, since all they could see was the immediate benefit of not having to pay more for energy. But they couldn’t see the future harm. The vast majority of the population was not aware then --- just as it isn’t now --- that creating money out of nothing is synonymous with stealing.

— But how did energy price controls lead to the control of all production?

— With all the new money created, within a couple of years inflation began to rise rapidly and many people also started struggling to afford food or pay rent. The State announced it would ensure that no one would go without a home or food, which was also very well received by the public. State television and pro-government media spread the message that the blame for inflation lay with “greedy” companies raising their prices, and rent prices and a “basic shopping basket” were capped.

— It doesn’t seem like such a bad idea for the State to guarantee everyone a roof and food, does it? In fact it’s a basic right written into our constitution.

— That is precisely the problem! - exclaimed the grandfather, placing heavy emphasis on precisely

— What do you mean? What’s the problem?

— The problem is precisely that it does not seem like a bad idea. But even though it doesn’t seem like a bad idea, it is one. The effect was the same as every other time prices were capped: the opposite of what was intended. The more the government regulated certain goods, the more their production fell and the more their scarcity worsened. Price controls caused many producing companies to close and the supply of goods and services to shrink. With scarcity of goods and the vast quantity of new money created by the State, prices that were still unregulated rose even further, destroying citizens’ purchasing power. Inflation reached over 100% per month, which made it nearly impossible to keep any business alive.

— And then the nationalizations began?

— That’s right. After the first bankruptcies came the nationalizations of companies critical to the country: energy companies, banking, and rail transport. All of it, always under the pretext that the State was guaranteeing the supply of basic services to all citizens, of course.

The grandfather paused. For a moment he hesitated whether to go on or not, and then continued…

— Carlos, I hope you understand that what I’m telling you is a forbidden thought and that you can’t mention it to anyone, if you don’t want to risk a visit to a reeducation camp.

— I understand, Grandpa. But tell me more. I want to understand how you see the world.

— As the situation deteriorated, independent media became increasingly critical of the government…

The grandfather continued telling Carlos how some media outlets had become a nuisance to the State and how the State began accusing them of spreading fake news and disinformation. How they became so troublesome for the Government that it had created the Law for the Protection of Truth, through which all media outlets and telecommunications providers had been nationalized, under the supposed goal of fighting disinformation. From that point on, only state television and the public telecommunications service existed. Shortly afterwards, cryptography was declared illegal on security grounds and most internet content became completely inaccessible to us. We could only access state propaganda and a few trivial things that managed to pass through the censorship. Just as had happened with price controls, the Law for the Protection of Truth also had the opposite effect: a fatal wound to the truth.

— Did they nationalize Somaflix, then? - asked Carlos

— No, Somaflix didn’t exist before. It was created shortly after the prohibition on encrypted traffic, which had blocked access to all content providers. They created Somaflix as the sole entertainment production platform.

Carlos was listening attentively. There were things that didn’t quite fit in his mind, but in general the alternative story his grandfather was telling him made sense. He kept asking questions.

— Were there private schools and universities before?

— Of course. It is essential if you want a prosperous and free society.

— Why is it so important to have private schools? Everyone has the right to education, so it stands to reason that since it’s a basic right, the State should provide it.

— That is another error they plant in your head from a very young age, Carlos. It’s natural that you think that way with all the conditioning you’ve received, but the fact that something is basic does not mean the State must provide it. That is simply false. Food is the most basic thing for life, far more so than education, and even that was still provided by the free market back then.

— When did they nationalize education?

— Shortly after nationalizing the media. It was an extension of the same Law for the Protection of Truth, in fact.

— And what was the reason for nationalizing schools and universities? To guarantee the service?

— Well, what do you want to know --- the real reason or the excuse they gave?

— Both - Carlos replied quickly.

— The excuse is easy to identify --- the same as always: guaranteeing education for all citizens. The real reason was obviously not that. With different educational options available, they couldn’t control the thinking of the entire population. Through the nationalization of education, the State took control of children’s minds from birth to adulthood, shaping them to create obedient citizens and staunch defenders of the State.

— It doesn’t sound very good put that way.

— It can’t sound good. I’m telling you a tragedy. It’s impossible to overstate the negative impact that had. From that moment on, everything was lost.

— Why do you say that? Couldn’t you go back if it wasn’t working?

— No - he answered firmly.

An uncomfortable silence followed. The grandfather’s face reflected a deep sadness, as if he had no energy to continue. Carlos wanted the moment to end quickly, but he didn’t want to upset his grandfather. He waited.

Shortly afterwards the grandfather continued explaining to Carlos why he believed that had been the point of no return. He told him how from that moment onwards nothing could be studied that was not approved by the State, that the State used public education to condition children from an early age to be docile, obedient citizens. The sheepification did not end at school or university but permeated all of social life --- from childhood they were taught to show no initiative, to not be different, to not stray from the flock, to obey without questioning. Obedience to authority was rewarded and disobedience or the mere questioning of the official position was punished.

— In History we haven’t studied any of this…- Carlos interrupted.

— Of course. The history of the country you learn from a very young age is the history approved by the Ministry of Truth --- a history of great achievements that has produced the best State in the world, with the lowest rates of violence and inequality.

— That’s what they’ve taught us…

— I know. They’ve never told you anything the State has done wrong.

— How did you go from nationalizing education, television, and telecommunications to nationalizing everything?

— As I’ve told you, the government fixed everything by printing money, and that caused inflation. When prices rose they blamed the companies raising them. They regulated prices and the companies went bankrupt one after another.

— Did that happen in every sector?

— The inflation was general, and every sector the government regulated ended up destroyed.

— Didn’t they realize it wasn’t working?

— Ha, ha, ha - the grandfather burst out laughing.

— What’s so funny?

— The Fatal Conceit --- remember? - the grandfather replied with a half smile.

— That’s the title of one of the banned books, isn’t it? --- It’s never the fault of central planning, always the fault of the free market…Haven’t they taught you that? - the grandfather replied mockingly.

— I see, they didn’t realize - Carlos replied, somewhat downcast.

— They kept creating more money and more regulation. And after several years of hyperinflation and the destruction of the free market, the situation became unsustainable. Of course they blamed the free market. On the streets, some posters showed the face of the Benefactor --- the nickname by which the leader of the People’s Socialist Party was coming to be known --- promising that no one would ever again be at the mercy of greed. “The State is the only protector”, “Market selfishness ruined us”, “only the unity of the State will save us” the slogans read. And then they passed the Law of Economic Unification.

— What did that law say?

— In other circles it’s called the Great Expropriation.

— Did they nationalize more companies?

— All of them. The passage of the Law of Economic Unification forced all owners of the means of production to transfer ownership of their companies to the State at a price set by the State. Then the Ministry of Production was created --- the bureaucratic structure where more than four million people work today, responsible for planning all production.

— At least that way they’d correct the imbalances of the free market, wouldn’t they?

— Quite the opposite, Carlos. Don’t you see that it’s impossible to match the supply of each good to demand if there are no prices?

— I don’t understand that, Grandpa.

— Let me give you a very simplified example: suppose the food market has only two products --- meat and potatoes. What quantity of meat and what quantity of potatoes must be produced? Producing meat is far more costly than producing potatoes. In freedom, each citizen decides how much meat and how many potatoes they want to consume based on their income, their preferences, and the relative prices of meat and potatoes. One citizen might prefer to eat well and not buy much clothing, while another, with the same purchasing power, prefers to spend more on clothing and eat more potatoes than meat. It’s a very simple example, but I think it can help you understand.

— Yes, I understand. Go on, go on…

The grandfather was a cultured man who had read Mises in his youth. He understood perfectly well the reasons why socialism is impossible, and continued explaining how the actions of each individual, based on their preferences, allow the free market to discover the price of each good and service. Producers use those prices to determine what to produce, so that available resources are directed toward producing the quantity that maximizes the utility perceived by all citizens together. If a good is very scarce, its price rises, and the price rise is a signal to producers to increase production of that good or for more producers to begin producing it. And conversely, if there is too much of a good that is not highly valued by the market, its price will fall, discouraging producers from producing it. The free market is the only way to allocate scarce resources toward the production of the goods most valued by society as a whole. Centralized planning is impossible because the planner cannot perform the economic calculation --- they do not have the information needed for it. There is no way to transfer that information — all the preferences of all citizens --- to the planner, for many reasons: it is a nearly infinite quantity of information, it is dispersed, and moreover it is tacit, not explicit, knowledge. As if those difficulties were not enough, to make decisions today the planner would need to know future preferences, not today’s. It is a completely impossible mission. And worst of all: central planning eliminates at the root the entrepreneurial impulse of man, the business initiative that is the source of all wealth. The grandfather went through with his grandson the four reasons why economic calculation is impossible under socialism. When he was nearly finished, Carlos interrupted him.

— I understand, Grandpa. Now I see it! It’s an impossible task, because no matter how good the planners are --- even infinitely wise and infinitely intelligent --- they are blind, they have no information to base their decisions on.

— Exactly.

— And what did they do?

— The only way out to match supply with demand in the absence of prices was to determine demand as well.

— But how do you determine every citizen’s preferences?

— Through total control of their lives. By radically eliminating their freedom. This was the change that provoked the most unrest. There was widespread discontent, riots, and many demonstrations by people who were not willing to live this way. But there were also people who didn’t protest because they thought it was all so absurd that it couldn’t last. Although it had already happened in other countries in the twentieth century, many thought it couldn’t happen here. To suppress the unrest and maintain power, the Government invented a new threat, declared a state of emergency, and began implementing a mass surveillance system.

— Was that when the Eyes of the State were created?

— That’s right. After the Great Expropriation they began installing facial recognition systems across all cities and major rural areas. They said it was for security --- a tool to fight crime. Today it is also used to identify people who attend the few “wrong” demonstrations that still exist, however peaceful they may be. Or to keep track of people who get together to discuss the lack of privacy and freedom. And population control didn’t stop at facial recognition.

— What else did they do?

— They created a special police unit: the Thought Police. It was very dangerous to speak even in private gatherings aimed at discussing the loss of freedom, even if held in places not covered by cameras, since no one could be sure there were no Thought Police agents infiltrated into them.

Carlos fell into thought. In his mind arose the image of a slippery slope down which there was no stopping. He thought that the great problem with the State cutting freedoms was not the freedoms being cut at that moment, but that the situation evolved in such a way that those in power were compelled to cut them more and more still, in an endless liberty-destroying loop that kept feeding back on itself. He shared the image with his grandfather.

— Grandpa, this process seems like a kind of slippery slope, doesn’t it?

— It seems like one and it is one. And we’re still sliding down it. While the Benefactor proclaimed that the collectivist dream lived on, the State grew increasingly oppressive, curtailing freedom of speech and freedom of assembly further and further. Any criticism of the system was a forbidden thought. Citizens began to live in a permanent state of fear. As you know, today the Ministry of Truth controls all information, adjusting the news so that it fits the official narrative. Reality doesn’t matter --- the Party always has the truth. All of it, always in the name of equality, social justice, and the common good.

— Did the GCR exist during the free market era?

— No, not at all! The Good Citizen Rating is another system they also created in the wake of the protests after the Great Expropriation. Although at first it didn’t cover everything the way it does today.

— What kinds of things are you referring to?

— At first it only tracked things that bothered them greatly, such as attending certain demonstrations or publicly protesting against the State. But many things that are monitored today were not tracked then — such as whether you cross a red traffic light as a pedestrian, or whether you watch less than one hour a day of the television news. Or whether you write something online that doesn’t pass the censorship filter.

— What happens if you lose all your GCR points?

— If a citizen runs out of points they are sent for a year to a Social Reeducation Center, where they are taught once again how to be a good citizen.

— Can you recover points?

— Yes, there are some ways to recover points. You can watch the television news every day and gradually earn them back. Some people have to do it. It’s torture.

— Well, it’s not that much of a torture, is it?

— You just saw it. State information continuously hammers home the idea that all of society’s ills are due to the free market and that’s why the State had to take over all production. They repeat the State’s motto over and over: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”. It’s a kind of permanent brainwashing. And you can’t turn the volume down if your intention is to recover points.

— Why do you think the motto is so bad? I like freedom and I understand that the free market manages resources better than central planning, but what’s wrong with giving to each according to their need and demanding from each according to their ability? Isn’t that the fairest thing?

The grandfather lowered his gaze to the floor, as if he might find the answers there. The questions kept echoing in his mind, each one heavier than the last. He felt how they dragged him further down into that sea of frustration in which he had been floundering for years, fighting to stay afloat, desperately clinging to the scraps of sanity he had left. For a moment, the feeling of defeat seemed to engulf him entirely. Carlos pulled him out of the spiral he was caught in with the next question.

— What’s wrong, Grandpa?

— Nothing, Carlos. It’s just that it saddens me to see how well public education does its job.

— Is it because of what I said? I didn’t mean to make you sad.

— It doesn’t matter, you don’t need to worry about me. You need to worry about yourself.

— But what made you feel this way?

— The State’s motto. Well, not the motto itself, but the fact that you think it’s a good motto --- a kind of moral compass to guide us.

— Well, I don’t think it’s so bad.

— Then look at the world around you. Look at where it has brought us.

— The motto?

— Yes, the motto. It perfectly summarizes the collectivist ideology. Under this motto the capable man is penalized, so everyone tries to hide their abilities and appear as useless as possible. At the same time, the smart thing is to appear needy. You must highlight every problem and maximize your victimhood so as to appear among the most needy and thus receive more. And this is not just a theory --- it’s what happens in reality: in our society, nobody shows any capability for anything and everyone competes to have the greatest needs.

— I understand. Those aren’t the best incentives…

— Of course not. It’s a poison for society. A poison they feed us every day. They brainwash us into thinking it’s the fairest thing without questioning it.

— But, Grandpa, the country is a democracy: the “Democratic Republic of Orwellistan”. We have elections every four years.

— There are only two political parties, and for the past 35 years the elections have always been won by the People’s Socialist Party, with more than 95% of the votes.

— Well, maybe our generation will start voting for the Democratic Party. In two years, I’ll vote for them.

— It’s no use. It too is controlled by the State apparatus, and they also use it as a simple tool for identifying dissident citizens who don’t vote for the People’s Socialist Party.

— Do you really think it’s like that?

— Nobody says it openly, but many people think it and that’s why almost nobody votes for them. Voting for the Democratic Party is putting a target on your head. People who dare to vote for the Democratic Party are subject to special surveillance by the State, their citizen rating suffers, and some even end up losing all their points and being assigned to a reeducation camp.

— But the vote is secret.

— That’s what they teach you in school, isn’t it?

— Yes.

— Tell me, Carlos: how do you vote?

— Through the Citizen Application.

— And who developed that application?

— The State does everything. That application too, of course.

— Do you need more information to know that the vote is not private?

— But they guarantee it’s private, and in fact there’s an Electoral Assurance Committee that monitors that the process follows the law.

— Carlos, with the price control measures they managed to make prices rise, the Law for the Protection of Truth served them to lie, and the Law of Economic Unification served them to steal. What do you think the Electoral Assurance Committee does?

— I’ve never heard anyone say they’re rigged.

— Nobody says it openly, of course, because it’s in fact a forbidden thought that means losing good citizen rating points. But don’t confuse that with nobody thinking it.

— So there’s no solution?

The grandfather fell silent. He didn’t know what to say. He knew the answer but couldn’t find the courage to turn those thoughts into words. A society that had eradicated the concept of private property, where privacy had been excised like a tumor, a society in which individual freedom had died was doomed to slavery and extreme poverty. Although the statistics of the Ministry of Social Welfare said that nobody went hungry, the slippery slope continued, rationing was growing ever stricter, and he knew that hunger would come. Although everyone was assigned a home and a job with a salary, the houses were falling apart and at any moment the State could decide, “for the common good”, to move you to a different house or assign a room in your house to another person. On that salary, you could barely afford to eat and buy a minimum of clothing. There were no cars, except for high-ranking State officials and the official taxi service.

With a distant gaze, all those books he had read in his youth passed through his mind --- books that were now banned and could only be obtained on the black market: “We”, “1984”, “Animal Farm”, “Brave New World”, “Fahrenheit 451”, “Anthem”, “Atlas Shrugged”… Why had it fallen to him to live through the stories those books had told?