"Images of 1984" - Stories from Oceania

[Weaver]

I like that with the exception of the "Fall of Rome" scenario re technology levels falling. War spurs on military technology, and that, together with the technology of surveillance and thought control, was all that Ingsoc was concerned with.

The fact that Oceania found itself fighting on a global scale with two utterly uncompromising totalitarian states in a war for survival after a sneak nuclear attack, would also explain the initial imposition of the holistic control of all citizens in total war.

Later, as the war proved unwinnable and also unlosable, the Party cadres would realise the opportunites inherent in the situation for exploitation by the Inner Party.

[davroslives]

I just thought that Hubbad's book really could do with a decent rewrite considering what actually happened OTL. Scientology? Nope. Not interested and certainly not a part of my writing. So far I have the makings of perhaps two chapters.

[Will Ritson]

Apologies for the lengthy absence. Spot the introduction of our first "Ingsoc" terminology...

From Notes on a National Scheme of Public Works by Sir Oswald Mosley (1933, preface to the 1946 edition)

Following the conflict the reconstruction of our island must begin in earnest. After the last great war our custodians promised the working man - the hero of Flanders and Paschendael - that they had earned "homes fit for heroes". Yet that promise failed to materialise.

Today, almost halfway through our century, we witness a Britain plagued by homelessness and slums. A Britain criss-crossed by a road network of certain antiquity, and a rail network barely improved since the latter days of the Victorian era.

This publications details a strategy for ensuring that we can move forward in terms of the progress of the nation and bring our crippled homeland - the centre of our great oceanic empire - to the forefront of socialist reconstruction.

Labour, as promised in the 1945 General Election manifesto, commit to this reconstruction.

Our leaders have passed legislation to construct a motorway network to complement our ambition of a world-class national railway. Today a man may feel astonished to be able to travel from London to Birmingham by rail in an hour. In ten years time it shall be commonplace. Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield - two hours from the heart of the empire. Glasgow, Edinburgh; just four hours.

Our motorways shall surpass the feats of the Romans and Macadam, and coupled with our plans for the car industry, bring our cities within reach of both the suburbs and affordable car ownership within reach of the working man.

Our network of airfields - a legacy of the war - will be put to use through civil aviation, again linking ourselves with the continent as well as the reaches of our nation hitherunto inaccessible and remote. Indeed the island of Great Britain herself shall be airstrip number one.

New towns shall be constructed to allow us to clear the slums. We shall build communities with their very own victory mansions at the heart of a new England.

Britain pioneered the industrial age. The railways, the macadamised roads and ocean faring. As we enter a new era we shall enter a new industrial age where once again we are the pioneer and a beacon to socialist governance throughout the globe.

[Will Ritson]

Extract from a speech by Sir Winston Churchill to Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri. April 1946

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.

But there is a wind blowing across the Continent. A bitter and sharp wind from the east that threatens to blow the curtain westwards in a gust of communism that shall herald the advent of a new totalitarianism.

In France, the Netherlands and Belgium we are seeing the rise of movements aligned to the far left, and in my own United Kingdom, we are seeing a foolhardy policy of the pursuance of debt in the name of the people. I openly disagree with Mr Attlee and Mr Mosley, whose strategies will cripple their nation and usher in the end of the most progressive empire mankind has ever known.

[Goldstein]

Originally Posted by Weaver

I like that with the exception of the "Fall of Rome" scenario re technology levels falling. War spurs on military technology, and that, together with the technology of surveillance and thought control, was all that Ingsoc was concerned with.

I dindn't mean a recessing tech level, but an economical crisis on a biblical scale.

[poster342002]

More interesting stuff there, Will Ritson. It's coming along nicely.

[alt_historian]

Originally Posted by poster342002

More interesting stuff there, Will Ritson. It's coming along nicely.

Seconded...

[Weaver]

Wil, if the nuclear war is real then there are certain parameters that must be acknowledged. I assume it is a fission bomb war simply because megaton range weapons would have left nothing of Airstrip One.

It has to take place between 1951 and 1955..that is the window for Soviet fission weapons to be used. Better say 1953 as the 1951 test was a prototype. There was a blind-alley hiatus between the 1949 test and the 1951 one.

[Will Ritson]

Originally Posted by Weaver

Wil, if the nuclear war is real then there are certain parameters that must be acknowledged. I assume it is a fission bomb war simply because megaton range weapons would have left nothing of Airstrip One.

It has to take place between 1951 and 1955..that is the window for Soviet fission weapons to be used. Better say 1953 as the 1951 test was a prototype. There was a blind-alley hiatus between the 1949 test and the 1951 one.

I'm excited by what this story will contain in the 1950s. More twists and turns than a drive over Hardknott Pass, I hope.

I just need to get the backstory right and all the characters in place to ensure that the Battle of Colchester happens on cue.

But, no Soviet atomic weapons hit Britain in this TL I'm afraid.

Just a quick query: In the book the Proles refer to rocket bombs as "Steamers". I'm assuming that this is derived from some rhyming slang, but can't think of anything that would do the trick. As a Northerner, am I missing something blatantly obvious?

Any suggestions?

[davroslives]

Could be the smoke trails they leave. Obviously they are some kind of cruise missile (sub-sonic) and not a rocket. Perhaps an offshoot of the V1 that made a distinctive sound. The pulse engines of the V1 made a 'chuff-chuff' noise as they operated - like the sound of a steam engine? George Orwell would have been very familiar with the sight and sound.

[Weaver]

Nope, Davros, they are ballistic missiles as only the proles could somehow hear them. Orwell makes that point in tne novel. As you said, V1 cruise missile made a very distinctive sound...hence known as "buzz-bombs".

BTW Will I was at the Roman fort on Hardknott in August 2006....I know what you mean about a twisty road. Not to mention narrow.

[poster342002]

No more of this, yet? Looking forward to it...

[Roberto]

Ritson, I spotted the 'Ingsoc vocabulary': Victory Mansions. This forshadows adding 'victory' to pretty much every other word, too, huh?

[Faeelin]

Hey,

Very interesting.

[NCW]

Originally Posted by Roberto

Ritson, I spotted the 'Ingsoc vocabulary': Victory Mansions. This forshadows adding 'victory' to pretty much every other word, too, huh?

Also "Airstrip One" and "Oceanic Empire".

Originally Posted by Will Ritson

Just a quick query: In the book the Proles refer to rocket bombs as "Steamers". I'm assuming that this is derived from some rhyming slang, but can't think of anything that would do the trick. As a Northerner, am I missing something blatantly obvious?

Any suggestions?

Well one thing that occurs to me is that one of the most famous steam trains is Stevenson's Rocket. Now if a steam train can be called "Rocket" it follows that a rocket can be called "Steamer".

Cheers,
Nigel.

[alt_historian]

Originally Posted by davroslives

Could be the smoke trails they leave. Obviously they are some kind of cruise missile (sub-sonic) and not a rocket. Perhaps an offshoot of the V1 that made a distinctive sound. The pulse engines of the V1 made a 'chuff-chuff' noise as they operated - like the sound of a steam engine? George Orwell would have been very familiar with the sight and sound.

Originally Posted by Weaver

Nope, Davros, they are ballistic missiles as only the proles could somehow hear them. Orwell makes that point in tne novel. As you said, V1 cruise missile made a very distinctive sound...hence known as "buzz-bombs".

Originally Posted by NCW

Well one thing that occurs to me is that one of the most famous steam trains is Stevenson's Rocket. Now if a steam train can be called "Rocket" it follows that a rocket can be called "Steamer".

Cheers,
Nigel.

I've not thought about this much... And yes, the V-2s were supersonic as they came in, which had the side-effect that you heard the explosion first and then a rising noise as the sound came in in reverse sequence...

One idea which occurs is that the OTL V-2s left a column of smoke/steam in the air above the explosion, basically it was due to the disturbance the end of the ballistic trajectory created in the air... that's why the government was able to pass them off as gas explosions for a while.

Relevant?

Or maybe they make a "steamy" explosion?

Or, of course, it could well be an obscure piece of invented rhyming slang. The real stuff can be bizarre enough...

[NCW]

Originally Posted by alt_historian

One idea which occurs is that the OTL V-2s left a column of smoke/steam in the air above the explosion, basically it was due to the disturbance the end of the ballistic trajectory created in the air... that's why the government was able to pass them off as gas explosions for a while.

Relevant?

Or maybe they make a "steamy" explosion?

Or, of course, it could well be an obscure piece of invented rhyming slang. The real stuff can be bizarre enough...

I know! The first rockets to be used were actually Scud missiles. The rhyming slang would be: Scud = "Steamed Pud" -> "Steamer"

Cheers,
Nigel.

[poster342002]

Will Ritson,

I note on another thread you say you'll be adding some maps to this thread. Will you be doing any flags? I've often wondered what the Oceanian flag looks like ...

[alt_historian]

Originally Posted by NCW

I know! The first rockets to be used were actually Scud missiles. The rhyming slang would be: Scud = "Steamed Pud" -> "Steamer"

Cheers,
Nigel.

He he... works better than my ideas!

Especially since the Scud is based fairly directly on the V-2...

[Roberto]

I don't know how possible it is, but maybe the rocket-bombs make a whistling noise coming down, remeniscent of steam coming out of a teakettle or a steam train whistling. Thus, they're called Steamers. However, you'd have to explain why only the Proles can hear this (maybe the Party members don't have senses as good because they spend most of their time inside?).