Tickled with his invention, Winston decides not to award Comrade Ogilvy the Order of Conspicuous Merit because it will entail too many changes in the record.

NOTE:

It's interesting at this point to look at two alterations in texts in the Soviet Union. In the course of World War II, the Soviets, who had been allied with Hitler, switched alliances to fight with England and the United States. A Small Soviet Encyclopedia, published in 1941, reflects a change in position that took place in the middle of a press run. Early copies describe U.S. President Roosevelt as a capitalist waging war for imperialist gain. By the end of the run, he has become the hope of the Russian people and a foe of fascism.

When the Russian leader Lavrenty Beria fell from favor he became an "unperson." Subscribers to the Large Soviet Encyclopedia, one scholar reports, were sent a set of fresh pages on the Bering Sea and entries on a little-known figure called Bergholz, to replace certain pages in the BER-section. They were to remove the Beria pages with a razor blade and insert the new ones. In 1952, Czechoslovak Communist Evan Loebl, accused of crimes against the state but not executed, underwent a long interrogation process that continued even after he had confessed. "I was quite a normal person," he said, "only I was not a person." Watch what happens to Winston later, in Part Three.

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