War Is Peace: Conscription and Mobilisation in the Modern Utopia

Abstract

One of the defining features of Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is its portrayal of a future engulfed in perpetual warfare. Oceania, we are told, is at war with Eurasia (or is it Eastasia)? There are newsflashes reporting ‘glorious victories’ on remote fronts, while rocket bombs fall regularly on London and enemy prisoners of war are hanged in the city’s parks. The people are weary, shabbily dressed and undernourished. Constant war propaganda is needed to justify the universal mobilisation that the ruling Party imposes on its members and, to a lesser extent, the whole workforce. Winston Smith is a civilian, but his day begins with compulsory physical jerks in front of the telescreen, with a female instructor resembling the traditional sergeant major bawling out recruits on a military parade ground. Later Winston will attend the daily ritual of the Two Minutes Hate. His peaceful, apparently humdrum existence as a civil servant is completely circumscribed by the atmosphere of war.

‘Smith!’ screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen.

‘6097 Smith W.! Yes, you!’

(George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four)¹