"Images of 1984" - Stories from Oceania
- Thread starter Will Ritson
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7th May 1957
The shop steward at the offices of The Times on Fleet Street sat weeping in the corner as he held $200 in one hand and a brown envelope in the other. Behind him were armed police escorting his comrades back into the print shop and getting them to work on a somewhat strange process. It wasn't today's newspaper they were producing. It was one dated 1946, and other dated from 1951 and one from as far back as 1937.
Later that afternoon an armed convoy left with a number of copies. One lorry with escort went to the British Library and another one went to the Bodelian in Oxford. Other went to the libraries of other provincial cities under Chilterns control.
As the convoy sped out of west London along the deserted M40 thirty-nine printers were taken into an alleyway off Fleet Street and gunned down.
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Airey Neave thought that "the colonial upstart" was getting to big for his boots. "You'll dig a hole that we cannot get out of, Rupert old chap." he shook his head. "Where will it all stop? You cannot manufacture a lie forever."
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The Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, stepped out into the garden at Stowe, and looked at the glorious spring day around him. His hands shook nervously as he reached for his pipe. He hadn't authorised Colchester, yet he had the blood of 100,000 on his hands.
John Boyd-Carpernter joined him.
"Prime Minister" he spoke softly. "You must sign the legislation today. We have to return the country to stability as soon as possible."
Salisbury turned sharply, and sniped at his colleague. "But I do not have the authority to act alone. We have to receive Royal ascent for the bill to become law, even in these troubled times. I don't even know where the Queen is half the bloody time. Where is she this week?"
"Osborne House." muttered Boyd-Carpenter. "Where she has been for the last nine months, along with Prince's Michael and George. I'm sure that Louis could act in her absence for such vital legislation, if it were passed by the whole cabinet?"
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The British Newspapers (Nationalisation) Act was passed on 10th May 1957 following a full sitting of the "Chilterns" cabinet at Stowe School. The appropriate paperwork was signed off by Louis Mountbatten, acting on behalf of the Crown.
The legislation immediately set in process the occupation of several national newspaper offices on and around Fleet Street, by a group of police officers. These officers were armed and dressed in the dark black uniform of the "Chilterns" Military Police, instead of the regulation blue of the civilian police.
They marched into the print shops, ushering out the staff. Of course the journalists themselves were fine. Any that had criticised these special police - police which considered even a subversive thought to be a threat - had been rounded up and sent to Epping Forest in the early days of the war.
There was little opposition.
The process began of amalgamating the British, or in the main, the London press. The Times was to be the figurehead to this process, with all other publications little more than rags for the proliteriate, who would see their content shift from factual news to that of purveyors of smut, pornography and, of course, the football results.
By 1961 The Times, under government control, had become the de-facto state newspaper of the country. In the deposit libraries of the Chilterns controlled country other publications were destroyed as their content became increasingly irrelevant.
Around Murdoch a whole new department sprang up within the Ministry of Truth, correcting old editions and building the mythology of Oswald Mosley, our Big Brother, protector of our Oceanic Empire.
The shop steward at the offices of The Times on Fleet Street sat weeping in the corner as he held $200 in one hand and a brown envelope in the other. Behind him were armed police escorting his comrades back into the print shop and getting them to work on a somewhat strange process. It wasn't today's newspaper they were producing. It was one dated 1946, and other dated from 1951 and one from as far back as 1937.
Later that afternoon an armed convoy left with a number of copies. One lorry with escort went to the British Library and another one went to the Bodelian in Oxford. Other went to the libraries of other provincial cities under Chilterns control.
As the convoy sped out of west London along the deserted M40 thirty-nine printers were taken into an alleyway off Fleet Street and gunned down.
-----
Airey Neave thought that "the colonial upstart" was getting to big for his boots. "You'll dig a hole that we cannot get out of, Rupert old chap." he shook his head. "Where will it all stop? You cannot manufacture a lie forever."
-----
The Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, stepped out into the garden at Stowe, and looked at the glorious spring day around him. His hands shook nervously as he reached for his pipe. He hadn't authorised Colchester, yet he had the blood of 100,000 on his hands.
John Boyd-Carpernter joined him.
"Prime Minister" he spoke softly. "You must sign the legislation today. We have to return the country to stability as soon as possible."
Salisbury turned sharply, and sniped at his colleague. "But I do not have the authority to act alone. We have to receive Royal ascent for the bill to become law, even in these troubled times. I don't even know where the Queen is half the bloody time. Where is she this week?"
"Osborne House." muttered Boyd-Carpenter. "Where she has been for the last nine months, along with Prince's Michael and George. I'm sure that Louis could act in her absence for such vital legislation, if it were passed by the whole cabinet?"
-----
The British Newspapers (Nationalisation) Act was passed on 10th May 1957 following a full sitting of the "Chilterns" cabinet at Stowe School. The appropriate paperwork was signed off by Louis Mountbatten, acting on behalf of the Crown.
The legislation immediately set in process the occupation of several national newspaper offices on and around Fleet Street, by a group of police officers. These officers were armed and dressed in the dark black uniform of the "Chilterns" Military Police, instead of the regulation blue of the civilian police.
They marched into the print shops, ushering out the staff. Of course the journalists themselves were fine. Any that had criticised these special police - police which considered even a subversive thought to be a threat - had been rounded up and sent to Epping Forest in the early days of the war.
There was little opposition.
The process began of amalgamating the British, or in the main, the London press. The Times was to be the figurehead to this process, with all other publications little more than rags for the proliteriate, who would see their content shift from factual news to that of purveyors of smut, pornography and, of course, the football results.
By 1961 The Times, under government control, had become the de-facto state newspaper of the country. In the deposit libraries of the Chilterns controlled country other publications were destroyed as their content became increasingly irrelevant.
Around Murdoch a whole new department sprang up within the Ministry of Truth, correcting old editions and building the mythology of Oswald Mosley, our Big Brother, protector of our Oceanic Empire.
Tony Benn, speaking in 1993:
"I was in the United States when I first began to appreciate the truth. There had been a ceasefire in the pointless guerilla conflict in the West Country, and myself, Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford had been approached by an envoy of President Stevenson to help broker a more lasting truce. We believed that the government could still be reasoned with. There had been a calm since the early rhetoric that followed the evolution of more extreme of the Tories into the English Socialist Party.
The three of us travelled, via a relief vessel, from Bristol to Cobh, and then by aeroplane to New York, where we were greeted by Jack Kennedy at Idlewild Airport, before being driven into town where we met up with Emmanuel.
It was such a selfish pleasure to be in New York, and we enjoyed the calm and the freedom of sorts to go about our business unhampered. But the food! It brought back memories of my youth when what we had was plentiful. I digress.
The talks were largely a waste of time - at least from my point of view. There was no common ground at all between us representatives of the bona-fide government, and those of the English Socialist regime. Half-truths were thrown around, but Emmanuel and I gave them caution. The other three were much more encouraged by these offers, and felt that the promise of new elections by 1970 was worth taking into consideration.
After Colchester we couldn't accept that, and there was a split in our group. I regret to say it, but that day in New York, Aaronson, Jones and Rutherford sold their souls to a false promise. They left for the British Isles, and landed with triumph at Burtonwood Airport, waving to the crowd of party supporters on the back of good feeling.
That changed when the football team defected a week later. They'd seen life in Paris. They knew it was untrue. I was told years later that some poor wretch - one of the many that had managed to cross the channel on a makeshift raft of beer barrels and firewood - had got Duncan Edwards attention the day before the final and given him a newspaper in French documenting rumours of Mosleys death.
We know what happened next. When the soccer team won it started a rising from within Britain, but it was crushed mercilessly. It was a second wave of bloody purges; any truce was in tatters. I still shudder when I see that photograph of the footballers famillies hanging from the goalposts at Wembley. You know, the one that made the cover of TIME with the headline "Swinging London". I hate the way the Americans still call that period the swinging sixties because of the sheer number of executions that took place at that time.
Emmanuel and I heard when we were in Ottawa that our three comrades had been taken to that giant monstrosity that was being built in Westminster, and were serving under house arrest following their 'correctional process'.
We'd had enough, and we joined with our friends that had escaped the purges and formed the government in exile - an amazing achievement assisted by the wealth of cross-party figures that had arrived in Australia over the past few years. I was sent to Canberra with Harold, where we were to begin our fight to convince our Commonwealth cousins that there was hope yet for Britain.
"I was in the United States when I first began to appreciate the truth. There had been a ceasefire in the pointless guerilla conflict in the West Country, and myself, Jones, Aaronson and Rutherford had been approached by an envoy of President Stevenson to help broker a more lasting truce. We believed that the government could still be reasoned with. There had been a calm since the early rhetoric that followed the evolution of more extreme of the Tories into the English Socialist Party.
The three of us travelled, via a relief vessel, from Bristol to Cobh, and then by aeroplane to New York, where we were greeted by Jack Kennedy at Idlewild Airport, before being driven into town where we met up with Emmanuel.
It was such a selfish pleasure to be in New York, and we enjoyed the calm and the freedom of sorts to go about our business unhampered. But the food! It brought back memories of my youth when what we had was plentiful. I digress.
The talks were largely a waste of time - at least from my point of view. There was no common ground at all between us representatives of the bona-fide government, and those of the English Socialist regime. Half-truths were thrown around, but Emmanuel and I gave them caution. The other three were much more encouraged by these offers, and felt that the promise of new elections by 1970 was worth taking into consideration.
After Colchester we couldn't accept that, and there was a split in our group. I regret to say it, but that day in New York, Aaronson, Jones and Rutherford sold their souls to a false promise. They left for the British Isles, and landed with triumph at Burtonwood Airport, waving to the crowd of party supporters on the back of good feeling.
That changed when the football team defected a week later. They'd seen life in Paris. They knew it was untrue. I was told years later that some poor wretch - one of the many that had managed to cross the channel on a makeshift raft of beer barrels and firewood - had got Duncan Edwards attention the day before the final and given him a newspaper in French documenting rumours of Mosleys death.
We know what happened next. When the soccer team won it started a rising from within Britain, but it was crushed mercilessly. It was a second wave of bloody purges; any truce was in tatters. I still shudder when I see that photograph of the footballers famillies hanging from the goalposts at Wembley. You know, the one that made the cover of TIME with the headline "Swinging London". I hate the way the Americans still call that period the swinging sixties because of the sheer number of executions that took place at that time.
Emmanuel and I heard when we were in Ottawa that our three comrades had been taken to that giant monstrosity that was being built in Westminster, and were serving under house arrest following their 'correctional process'.
We'd had enough, and we joined with our friends that had escaped the purges and formed the government in exile - an amazing achievement assisted by the wealth of cross-party figures that had arrived in Australia over the past few years. I was sent to Canberra with Harold, where we were to begin our fight to convince our Commonwealth cousins that there was hope yet for Britain.
Bravo, sir! Bravo!
I take it a certain photo was taken while they were in New York
.
I take it a certain photo was taken while they were in New York
.Bravo, sir! Bravo!
I take it a certain photo was taken while they were in New York
Thankyou.
But that photo - I'm sure it never really existed... did it?
Defecting footballers families.
Which is even worse. Assuming people are allowed to remember it after a few years.
Which is even worse. Assuming people are allowed to remember it after a few years.
No 1970. TB is referring to the 1966 World Cup Finals (which in TTL are being held in France).
Just a thought. How could any of the Ingsoc executive Party leaders be successfully prosecuted after the fall of the regime when all documentary evidence of any crimes had been destroyed and all the "victims" were now convinced that they had been guilty?
The process of constantly rewriting historical records and the doublethink technique made the Party and its leaders always 100% correct and blameless at any instant.
The process of constantly rewriting historical records and the doublethink technique made the Party and its leaders always 100% correct and blameless at any instant.
Thankyou! I will take that as a complement. It was meant to be 1970, as Tony Benn, as Mark-ITSOT correctly states, was referring to the 1966 FIFA World Cup Finals, pinpointing the visit to New York as mid-1966, which, was just a few weeks before the death of Adlai Stevenson. Poor old Adlai. The executions in "swinging" London got too much and unfortunately he had a heart attack...
I think what is most "evil" about this story, is that in each post I'm trying to put in something that is recognisable. It is the recognisable evil that is most threatening - not the far-fetched.
With great difficulty. James O'Brien could only be indicted for the murder of 16 individuals over a forty year period. Genocide is a more open crime, based on evidence of his involvement in the social upheaval and collusion that causes it.
O'Brien possibly murdered, or was an accessory in, the murder of several hundreds, but evidence could only be gathered for 16.
Well done to Alberto for picking out the reference to the Orwell novel, and the evidence destroyed by Winston.
In addition, the authorities of the English Commonwealth that succeeds Oceania are not the most trustworthy. Whilst you and I know that O'Brien is guilty for many of these crimes, the people are crying out for a scapegoat. To quote the Who, "meet the new boss, same as the old boss.". The lines between Tory and Socialist, Communist and Fascist are going to become increasingly blurred in the British Isles, where a Conservative government is starting to nationalise in order to retain control over the instruments of authority.
excellent update will when will we be hearing some of the international responses as with out aid from Britain its likely that Greece will have fallen to the Soviets other things that could happen could be an independent Tibet though I'm not sure what will happen to the small islands that Britain controls around the world
Not to mention the various colonies we were still running in the late 50s/early 60s.
Kenya for one.
Kenya for one.
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