Kitabı oku: «Скотный двор / Animal Farm», sayfa 11
Napoleon, with the dogs, now mounted on to deliver his speech. The Sunday-morning Meetings will come to an end. They were unnecessary, he said, and wasted time. In future all questions will be settled by a special committee of pigs, presided over by himself. These will meet in private and afterwards communicate their decisions to the others. The animals will still assemble on Sunday mornings to salute the flag, sing ‘Beasts of England’, and receive their orders for the week; but there will be no more debates.
In spite of the shock that Snowball’s expulsion gave them, the animals were dismayed by this announcement. Several of them even wanted to protest but they could not find the right arguments. Even Boxer was vaguely troubled. He shook his forelock several times, and tried hard to marshal his thoughts; but in the end he could not think of anything to say. Four young porkers in the front row uttered shrill squeals of disapproval, and all four of them sprang to their feet and began to speak at once. But suddenly the dogs round growled, and the pigs sat down again. Then the sheep began to bleat «Four legs good, two legs bad!» and put an end to any discussion.
Afterwards Squealer explained the new arrangement to the others.
«Comrades,» he said, «I trust that every animal here appreciates the sacrifice that Comrade Napoleon has made. Do not imagine, comrades, that leadership is a pleasure! On the contrary, it is a deep and heavy responsibility. No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. But sometimes you make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where will we be? If you followed Snowball – Snowball, who, as we now know, was no better than a criminal…»
«He fought bravely at the Battle of the Cowshed,» said somebody.
«Bravery is not enough,» said Squealer. «Loyalty and obedience are more important. And as to the Battle of the Cowshed, I believe the time will come when we shall find that Snowball’s part in it was much exaggerated. Discipline, comrades, iron discipline! That is the watchword for today. One false step, and our enemies will be upon us. Surely, comrades, you do not want Jones back?»
Once again this argument was unanswerable. Certainly the animals did not want Jones back. Boxer now had time to think things over. He said:
«If Comrade Napoleon says it, it must be right.»
And from then on he adopted the maxim, «Napoleon is always right,» in addition to his private motto of «I will work harder.»
By this time the weather broke and the spring ploughing began. The shed where Snowball was drawing his plans of the windmill was shut up. Every Sunday morning at ten o’clock the animals assembled in the big barn to receive their orders for the week. The skull of old Major was disinterred from the orchard and set up on a stump at the foot of the flagstaff, beside the gun. The animals were required to go past the skull in a reverent manner before entering the barn. Nowadays they did not sit all together. Napoleon, with Squealer and another pig named Minimus, who had a remarkable gift for composing songs and poems, sat on the front of the raised platform. Nine young dogs were forming a semicircle round them. The other pigs were sitting behind. The rest of the animals sat facing them in the main body of the barn. Napoleon read out the orders for the week in a gruff soldierly style, and after a single singing of ‘Beasts of England’, all the animals dispersed.
On the third Sunday after Snowball’s expulsion, the animals were surprised. Napoleon announced that the windmill would be built. He changed his mind and did not explain it. This extra task means very hard work, it will be necessary to reduce their rations. A special committee of pigs will work on it. The building of the windmill, with various other improvements, will take two years.
That evening Squealer explained privately to the other animals that Napoleon was never in reality opposed to the windmill. On the contrary, it was he who advocated it in the beginning. Snowball had actually stolen the plan of the windmill from Napoleon’s papers. The windmill was, in fact, Napoleon’s own creation. Why, then, asked somebody, did he speak so strongly against it? Here Squealer looked very sly. That, he said, was Comrade Napoleon’s cunning. It was a manoeuvre to get rid of Snowball, who was a dangerous character and a bad influence. Now that Snowball is out of the way, the plan can go forward without his interference. This, said Squealer, was tactics. He repeated a number of times, «Tactics, comrades, tactics!»
The animals were not certain what the word meant, but Squealer spoke so persuasively, and the three dogs growled so threateningly, that they accepted his explanation without further questions.
