ANGSOC Revisionists

Brother O [confirm spelling]: There were, of course, others who preceded us, some of whom came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. 

Ambassadorial Interviewer One: And what are you like then?

Brother O: Much like yourselves, I believe. We both know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.

Ambassadorial Interviewer Two: An excellent observation. Go on...

Brother O: Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power...

His Excellency: On behalf of His Imperial Majesty and as the Head of His forces stationed in this festering hinterland, I wish to welcome you and your people to Wermspittle. I can see that you and I have much to discuss...

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Secret Transcript of ANGSOC Interview (Series Two, Room 101)
Originally transcribed by blind-typists working for the Pruztian Ambassadorial Korps at Wermspittle.
These records were confiscated, deciphered and released to the papers after the end of the First Occupation by undisclosed members of the Resistance.

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Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past

They arrived on the last airship from some obscure island republic that had fallen to revolutionaries. Everyone thought they were another radical fraternal order fleeing persecution in their distant homeland because they always referred to one another as 'brother,' or 'sister.' Most people thought they were a peculiar cult, since they all tended to dress alike and had the same unflattering hair-cuts. A few considered them harmless cranks who squandered their chance to go someplace worth going.

They seemed to be interested in history. Actually, they were fairly obsessed with it. Everyone of their party seemed to possess an inordinately well-developed sense of bureaucracy and a flair for administrative busy-work. Those who lacked such qualifications were left behind. This only served to endear them to the Pruztian Ambassadorial Mission, while it was still called by that particular euphemism.

During the Occupation, the ANGSOC refugees really came into their own. Many took on Pruztian commissions and a special 'Administrative Division' composed entirely of ANGSOC personnel was formed with the mandate to 'Reform the Libraries, Book Depositories and Archives of Wermspittle,' and to 'Update these institutions in the name of efficiency and the cause of truth.'

The book burnings began almost immediately. More than half the Puritans in the city entered into service to the ANGSOC forces as provisional 'Outer Party Members.' The Puritans were used as stormtroopers until casualties escalated too far and Morlock janissaries were hired-on to replenish their numbers. The Ex-Puritans would not serve next to Morlocks, so this proved more of a tactical disaster than any kind of a solution, but eventually the Party Leadership was able to get things adjusted by the liberal application of rat-cages, mezmerism and ruthless executions for cowardice and betrayal of the Party. The Ex-Puritans quickly towed the line, though friction between them and the Morlocks continue to the present and any commander worth their salt knows to always maintain a strict separation of these two forces. To do otherwise is just asking for desertions, murders and worse trouble.

The ANGSOC Administrative Division also served as the exclusive recruiting ground for the Secret Police.

When the Occupation ended, the ANGSOC unit was abandoned by the Ambassadorial Korps in their withdrawal from the city. The ANGSOC forces took extremely heavy losses.

The hared-pressed ANGSOC survivors, branded 'war criminals' by the provisional government, went underground. Their numbers severely depleted, they negotiated a merger with another group of fanatics obsessed with cultural hygiene and censorship--the so-called Scarlet Letter Society--and formed a revised and hybridized composite group that took the name EINSOC.

EINSOC was more than just a way for the two hated and reviled groups to combine forces in order to survive, it was a rebirth of sorts for their respective members who shifted their focus away from the transgressions and over-zealous, but well-intentioned actions of their predecessors to devote themselves to educating the young, caring for the sick and rebuilding some of the worst parts of the Burned Over districts...or so they claim.

The area claimed by EINSOC is well-patrolled by Ex-Puritan mercenaries who are more than a little disgruntled that their previous service to ANGSOC is being counted against them and that their 'probationary period' has been indefinitely extended. Since they were anathematized upon their initial defection, they have nowhere else to go. So they patrol the area and take out their frustrations on anyone that gives them trouble.

Not all the old guard accepted the proposed merger with the SLS, whom many considered crude and prudish and not worthy to join their ranks. These old guard ANGSOC members withdrew from the fellows and chose to set up offices within a bombed and abandoned Print Shop that they have since rebuilt, fortified and turned into a thriving and lively beer hall where all manner of speeches, political discussions, rallies and committee meetings take place at all hours of the day or night. Each and every word is meticulously recorded, printed and stored in the rapidly growing archives. In fact, things are getting so cramped there that the group is looking into seizing acquiring a nearby, larger property and converting it into a much-needed annex to their archives. Unfortunately the location they have chosen seems to be claimed by Voormis...

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War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength.

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Inspiration: 1984 by George Orwell, as adulterated with the mixing-in of  Mr. Hawthorne's infamous Scarlet Letter for the heck of it. The ANGSOC logo above was based on the ubiquitous Ingsoc graphic used throughout the movie with Sir Richard Burton that had the soundtrack by Eurythmics that was actually released in 1984. You can watch the movie online at YouTube...for a small fee. 

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