“Comrades！” cried an eager youthful voice. “Attention， comrades！ We have glorious news for you. We have won the battle for production！ Returns now completed of the output of all classes of consumption goods show that the standard of living has risen by no less than 20 per cent over the past year. All over Oceania this morning there were irrepressible spontaneous demonstrations when workers marched out of factories and offices and paraded through the streets with banners voicing their gratitude to Big Brother for the new， happy life which his wise leadership has bestowed upon us. Here are some of the completed figures. Foodstuffs—”
The phrase “our new， happy life” recurred several times. It had been a favourite of late with the Ministry of Plenty. Parsons， his attention caught by the trumpet call， sat listening with a sort of gaping solemnity， a sort of edified boredom. He could not follow the figures， but he was aware that they were in some way a cause for satisfaction. He had lugged out a huge and filthy pipe which was already half full of charred tobacco. With the tobacco ration at 100 grammes a week it was seldom possible to fill a pipe to the top. Winston was smoking a Victory Cigarette which he held carefully horizontal. The new ration did not start till tomorrow and he had only four cigarettes left. For the moment he had shut his ears to the remoter noises and was listening to the stuff that streamed out of the telescreen. It appeared that 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. Parsons swallowed it easily， with the stupidity of an animal. 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. Syme， too-in some more complex way， involving doublethink， Syme swallowed it. Was he， then， alone in the possession of a memory？
The fabulous statistics continued to pour out of the telescreen. As compared with last year there was more food， more clothes， more houses， more furniture， more cooking-pots， more fuel， more ships， more helicopters， more books， more babies — more of everything except disease， crime， and insanity. Year by year and minute by minute， everybody and everything was whizzing rapidly upwards. As Syme had done earlier Winston had taken up his spoon and was dabbling in the pale-coloured gravy that dribbled across the table， drawing a long streak of it out into a pattern. He meditated resentfully on the physical texture of life. Had it always been like this？ Had food always tasted like this？ He looked round the canteen. A low-ceilinged， crowded room， its walls grimy from the contact of innumerable bodies； battered metal tables and chairs， placed so close together that you sat with elbows touching； bent spoons， dented trays， coarse white mugs； all surfaces greasy， grime in every crack； and a sourish， composite smell of bad gin and bad coffee and metallic stew and dirty clothes. Always in your stomach and in your skin there was a sort of protest， a feeling that you had been cheated of something that you had a right to. It was true that he had no memories of anything greatly different. In any time that he could accurately remember， there had never been quite enough to eat， one had never had socks or underclothes that were not full of holes， furniture had always been battered and rickety， rooms underheated， tube trains crowded， houses falling to pieces， bread dark-coloured， tea a rarity， coffee filthy-tasting， cigarettes insufficient — nothing cheap and plentiful except synthetic gin. And though， of course， it grew worse as one’s body aged， was it not a sign that this was not the natural order of things， if one’s heart sickened at the discomfort and dirt and scarcity， the interminable winters， the stickiness of one’s socks， the lifts that never worked， the cold water， the gritty soap， the cigarettes that came to pieces， the food with its strange evil tastes？ Why should one feel it to be intolerable unless one had some kind of ancestral memory that things had once been different？
He looked round the canteen again. Nearly everyone was ugly， and would still have been ugly even if dressed otherwise than in the uniform blue overalls. On the far side of the room， sitting at a table alone， a small， curiously beetle-like man was drinking a cup of coffee， his little eyes darting suspicious glances from side to side. How easy it was， thought Winston， if you did not look about you， to believe that the physical type set up by the Party as an ideal-tall muscular youths and deep-bosomed maidens， blond-haired， vital， sunburnt， carefree — existed and even predominated. Actually， so far as he could judge， the majority of people in Airstrip One were small， dark， and ill-favoured. It was curious how that beetle-like type proliferated in the Ministries： little dumpy men， growing stout very early in life， with short legs， swift scuttling movements， and fat inscrutable faces with very small eyes. It was the type that seemed to flourish best under the dominion of the Party.
The announcement from the Ministry of Plenty ended on another trumpet call and gave way to tinny music. Parsons， stirred to vague enthusiasm by the bombardment of figures， took his pipe out of his mouth.
“The Ministry of Plenty’s certainly done a good job this year，” he said with a knowing shake of his head. “By the way， Smith old boy， I suppose you haven’t got any razor blades you can let me have？”
“Not one，” said Winston. “I’ve been using the same blade for six weeks myself.”
“Ah， well — just thought I’d ask you， old boy.”
“Sorry，” said Winston.