1984 - Planet eBook

The clock’s hands said six, meaning eighteen. They hadthree or four hours ahead of them. He propped the bookagainst his knees and began reading:Chapter I Ignorance is StrengthThroughout recorded time, and probably since the endof the Neolithic Age, there have been three kinds of peoplein the world, the High, the Middle, and the Low. They havebeen subdivided in many ways, they have borne countlessdifferent names, and their relative numbers, as well astheir attitude towards one another, have varied from age toage: but the essential structure of society has never altered.Even after enormous upheavals and seemingly irrevocablechanges, the same pattern has always reasserted itself, justas a gyroscope will always return to equilibnum, howeverfar it is pushed one way or the other‘Julia, are you awake?’ said Winston.‘Yes, my love, I’m listening. Go on. It’s marvellous.’He continued reading:The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable.The aim of the High is to remain where they are. Theaim of the Middle is to change places with the High. Theaim of the Low, when they have an aim—for it is an abidingcharacteristic of the Low that they are too much crushedby drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious ofanything outside their daily lives—is to abolish all distinctionsand create a society in which all men shall be equal.Thus throughout history a struggle which is the same in itsmain outlines recurs over and over again. For long periodsthe High seem to be securely in power, but sooner or later