Read Orwell, understand the PLCB

We all know some of the Orwellian things the PLCB does.* One can see Big Brother gone rampant in ideas like wine kiosks, or after 80 years wanting to get the "right people" (by getting out from under those pesky Civil Service rules). The Ministry of Love is all too apparent in the BLCE with anonymous tips to the beer registry control section. Then there is the Ministry of Truth, hard at work trying to put a positive spin on everything no matter how banal or counter-intuitive it is.

Of course, there is the PLCB's greatest fear...rats. People in the system who are not happy with the rewriting of history (Kiosks were innovative!) who talk to people like me. They send the Thought Police out in the guise of Business Managers to stalk them, and when they are found they are "reintegrated" before their release and ultimate execution - or so they wish. Firing is the best they can do. If a person somehow survives, the powers that be know that his heart is now filled with love for the Party PLCB, and will gladly make any statement to protect them.

They even have their own catchy little phrases:

MONOPOLY IS COMPETITION

CONTROL IS FREEDOM

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

LESS CONVENIENCE IS MORE

COMPETITION RAISES PRICES

TAXES ARE PROFIT

It didn't start with Wolf and the Ministry of Truth, of course. Recall Governor " Old Major" Pinchot saying they have to rebel against the evils of the Twenty-first Amendment and run the state their way, making liquor as difficult to procure as possible.** He knows FDR is a drunk and not doing a good job of running things. The three Drys in the state put together a plan where the people live under PLCBism. Where all clerks are equal (except for those that are more equal than others) and they will be looked upon with admiration for the job they do.

One pig man is appointed to lead the people from chronic alcohol use (more than one drink a month), having proclaimed all power over wine and liquor. He uses his private PLCB army to control those who don't believe his power, and crush them. Life at the Pennsylvania Farm gets worse and worse. They don't play well with other states, and punish the animals citizens for wanting better things. They don't want improvement, but control. "Boxer" Newman was a great believer in improving the lot of the citizens, working with great zeal toward the prosperity of the Farm with careful Selections. But the PLCB sees the threat to their control, and sends "Boxer" Newman to his untimely fate as "Napoleon" Conti takes over and begins his plan to build a windmill kiosk at great expense and labor by all. 

When the citizens rebel against this idea, and years of other false promises and schemes, Napoleon aligns himself with powerful forces who like things as they are, to work against the citizens. The citizens notice the free sports outings, strip clubs, booze, golf trips, gifts, bribes, and nepotism at the top. They begin to demand the simple freedoms they see in other states. The PLCB, to counter this new threat to control, puts forth all of its power into "modernizing" its message, saying there will be prosperity for all, not just the "more equal," if they are just given one more chance. Of course, if given that chance, they'll hold onto power for decades to come. Spoiler alert: that's not a happy ending for the animals citizens.

It doesn't have to be that way.
No more lipstick on the PLCB pig!
No more doing things the pig's way!
No more false "modernization"!

END IT, DON'T MEND IT!


*A quick 1984 study guide is here if you need it.
** A quick Animal Farm study guide is here if you need it.