David Peace - GB84

The Jew listens. The Jew stops smiling. The Jew shouts, ‘Did fucking what?’

*

There were only three days to a week. There were only candles for lights —

‘— the CIA believe that the present spate of strikes in Britain has far more sinister motives than the mere winning of extra wages —’

There were rings of tanks around all the major airports —

‘— we believe that the aim is to bring about a situation in which it would be impossible for democratic government to continue —’

It was the State of Britain, 1974. It was a State of Emergency —

‘— you are restricted and squeamish on your own territory about doing the type of things that have to be done to track down and eliminate terrorists and subversives —’

They prised Malcolm from the six-fingered fist. Put him back inside the belly —

‘— the CIA has agents operating on the insides of all the British labour unions. These are British nationals recruited by CIA case officers —’

Back to work. Back to look. Back to listen —

‘— and for some time now we have been trying to convince successive British governments of the power of subversives within your trade union movement —’

Back to learn –

‘— the present state of Britain makes it a troublemaker’s paradise —’

To learn about adultery. Betrayal. Falsity. Infidelity. Perfidy. Treachery.

*

This was killing Neil. These death throes. This last, final rattle –

The Suits from the Board and the Moderates from the Union have been talking –

Talking. Talking. Talking –

Mines have always closed on the grounds of exhaustion. Mines have always closed on the grounds of geology. Mines have also always closed on the grounds of –

Many, many other things –

Things the Suits and the Moderates have been talking about –

Third-category things.

The Suits and the Moderates have been talking so much they actually think they are making progress –

The Board willing to compromise on the five threatened collieries, specifically. The Union ready to compromise on uneconomic collieries, generally –

That’s what they’re saying. That’s what they’re telling everyone –

Everyone who’s listening –

The government and the TUC. The rest of the Board and the rest of the Union. The working miners and the striking miners. The press and the public —

Telling everyone that negotiations were still possible –

‘Still possible ,’ screams the Jew. ‘Over my dead fucking body!’

The Jew will soon see about this –

Two and a half billion pounds have been either spent or lost on the strike to date. Thousands of police and reserves have been mobilized. Thousands of miners arrested. Thousands and thousands of miners and their families have been forever branded scabs. Thousands of miners have chosen to break from the National Union of Mineworkers –

One thousand eight hundred and forty abandoned the strike only yesterday –

‘And all for what?’ shouts the Jew. ‘All for fucking what, Neil?’

The Jew picks up the telephone. Click-click. The Jew calls Downing Street –

The Jew talks to the Prime Minister’s Chief Press Secretary –

BB will put a spin on all this talking. BB will put a stop to all this talking –

‘So the government and the Board are just going to turn their backs on the very people who have kept the lights on this winter?’ the Jew asks BB –

‘Leave them to the lynch mobs of the Left? Is that their thanks? Their reward?’

The Jew listens. The Jew laughs. The Jew says, ‘Thank you, BB, thank you.’

The Jew puts down the telephone. The Jew applauds. The Jew looks up at Neil. ‘Looking very pensive there, Neil,’ says the Jew. ‘Not keeping you, am I?’

*

The Fat Man and his seven Fat Friends were saying it would all be over in a matter of days now. There was talk of conciliation. Light on the horizon . Talk of concessions. Historic compromises . The rumour up and down the coalfields. Theendin sight —

The much-whispered-of Yorkshire revolt dead in the bar of a Normanton WMC –

Now was not the time to start scabbing. Not now, after all these months –

All this pain –

The Fat Man and his Fat Friends had come to put them all out of their misery. And the President knew now was the time. Now, after all these months –

All these false dawns –

The TUC put the twelve-point tentative draft agreement on the table before him.

‘This Union is perfectly willing to have negotiations,’ the President told them. ‘This Union is not arguing that there should be preconditions or a set agenda —’

The President knew this was not the time to start scrapping again. Not now –

The light in the dark marked Exit . The light over Terry Winters.

Terry looked at his watch. Clocks ticking . Terry said, ‘It’s time, gentlemen.’

The Fat Man and his seven Fat Friends, the President and his last skinny mates, everyone put down the draft agreement. Everyone turned to look at Terry –

Everyone nodded –

Terry switched on the television in the corner of the room –

TV Eye.

‘A lot of heavily loss-making pits will have to be shut down,’ she was saying. ‘Let’s not argue about the definition. Let’s just get it written down –

‘I want it dead straight. Honest and no fudging —’

The President stood up. He walked slowly over to the television and turned it off. He took the twelve-point tentative draft agreement out of Terry’s hands –

The President tore it into a thousand pieces. The President let them fall –

The lights had finally gone out.

*

‘Nothing short of total victory,’ shouts the Jew from the back of the Mercedes –

The Jew has been asked to report for duty at Chequers this weekend. Tout suite. To report on his union within the Union. The mind games and the endgames –

But there have been harsh words between the Chairman and the Minister –

The one blaming the other. The other blaming the one –

Their different agendas. Their different approaches. Their different games.

The Jew has his own agenda. The Jew his own game to play. To play to win –

‘Negotiations now would represent a defeat for the Board and for the nation. For, inevitably, there would be further concessions, in whatever words they were disguised. The time for negotiated settlement has passed. The President of the NUM must accept, in advance of any talks and in writing, that the Board has the right to manage the industry and the right to close pits –

‘There must be no equivocation. No prevarication.

‘There are those among us, however, who call for bridges to be built over which their president can beat an elegant retreat. Those voices misunderstand the temper of the nation. That man challenged the authority of the state. That man boasted that he would do to this government what the miners had done to the Heath government. That man presided over unprecedented violence and intimidation, corruption and conspiracy –

‘The nation wants to see that man defeated and the nation will not easily forgive those who would be held responsible if defeat, whether by compromise or by fudge –

‘If defeat were snatched from the jaws of victory –

‘For nothing short of total victory is acceptable now,’ says the Jew.

Neil Fontaine winds down his window. Neil Fontaine says, ‘Mr Stephen Sweet.’

The officer steps back from the car. He gestures at the gates. The gates open –