In 1948, the English writer George Orwell finished a new book. He wrote the last sentence and put the date under it: 1948. Then he decided to rearrange the last two digits, and the name 1984 appeared. On June 8, 1949, in London, the novel was published in a print run of 25,500 copies. Five days later came another, New York circulation. Since then, the novel has been translated into 60 languages, reprinted many times, and filmed. In 1986 it made its way to Russia. “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four.” This and other similar thoughts people of the Soviet totalitarian state had to learn on their own, the hard way. The book, as well as the freedom, was late for the lifetime of an entire generation.