now!’ He hit his fist against the wall. ‘I didn’t kill
Tilney because no one did.’
‘No one did? His death was an accident?’ Edward said, already disbelieving what he was being told.
‘Oh, no. What I mean is when I left him he was very much alive.’
‘But you identified the body . . .’
‘Yes, well, that was what we agreed.’
‘I’m sorry, David, but I’m not following this at all. Can you start from the beginning?’
Griffiths-Jones hesitated for a moment and then said, ‘To make you understand, I’ve got to explain a little about the political situation here. It’s anything but cut and dried.
Anything might happen. We expect opposition from the army to what we are trying to do. The new government has sent away to the provinces – North Africa mostly – some of the generals
they most distrust, like Mola and Francisco Franco, but that may not be far enough. Added to which the Popular Front is by no means united. We have to deal with weak-as-water socialists,
Trotskyists, anarchists and Catalonian separatists so getting anything done is a battle.’
‘You talk about “we” all the time like my friend Basil Thoroughgood. He means the Foreign Office but I suspect your “we” is the Communist Party as directed by
Moscow. Is that right?’
‘Look, Corinth, you know I have no time for your sort of “English gentleman” politics. The fight against Fascism is too serious to be left to people like you and in any case
– you mentioned Basil Thoroughgood – I happen to know he is a Fascist sympathiser and there are many more like him at the heart of government. Britain is riddled with snobbery,
corruption and anti-Semitism. You can’t fight evil – by which I mean Fascism – with a broken sword.’
‘But you’re not Spanish. Is this really your fight? Aren’t you interfering in someone else’s quarrel and making it worse?’
‘For Christ’s sake, Corinth, this isn’t a Spanish quarrel – or not just a Spanish quarrel. It’s a fight against the evil of Fascism. This is the first battle
in a long and bloody war. Each time we don’t stand up to it, it grows like some monster which feeds on blood and treachery. I don’t suppose you’ve ever read Lenin’s What
is to be Done? ’
‘No, I’m afraid not.’
‘Well, you should. It might appeal to you. I read it first at Cambridge, at the Gramophone Society.’
‘The what?’
David smiled. ‘It’s what we called our communist gatherings. We caught “conspiracy” like we caught chickenpox when we were children.’
‘I didn’t know that.’
‘Why should you? Communism could have no appeal for you.’ There was a sneer in his voice. ‘But you ought to understand what is going to be the fate of you and your
class.’ He waved a hand at the copy of Das Kapital . ‘As long ago as 1844 – almost a century ago – Karl Marx described communism as “the riddle of history
solved, and knowing itself to be the solution”. And to get back to Lenin – ’ David was pacing up and down the cell in his eagerness to preach the word – ‘he wrote What is to be Done? a full fifteen years before the revolution but it is so farsighted, so brilliantly focused. He stresses the absolute necessity of discipline and he talks about the need
for terror – “truly terrifying terror”, he says, “is magnificent.” ’
‘Like Robespierre.’
‘Yes, like Robespierre, Lenin sees the value of what he calls “ mass terror” and he emphasises the need for konspirativnost – underground political activity.
That’s what particularly appealed to us in the Gramophone Society. I have said this to Verity but I don’t think she understands what I mean – perhaps no woman can: Lenin says
there can be “no freedom of criticism” in the Party and those who are unwilling to operate actively under the direction of one of its officials should have membership denied them. Lenin
called for miracles, for dreams, but to make them come
Tilney because no one did.’
‘No one did? His death was an accident?’ Edward said, already disbelieving what he was being told.
‘Oh, no. What I mean is when I left him he was very much alive.’
‘But you identified the body . . .’
‘Yes, well, that was what we agreed.’
‘I’m sorry, David, but I’m not following this at all. Can you start from the beginning?’
Griffiths-Jones hesitated for a moment and then said, ‘To make you understand, I’ve got to explain a little about the political situation here. It’s anything but cut and dried.
Anything might happen. We expect opposition from the army to what we are trying to do. The new government has sent away to the provinces – North Africa mostly – some of the generals
they most distrust, like Mola and Francisco Franco, but that may not be far enough. Added to which the Popular Front is by no means united. We have to deal with weak-as-water socialists,
Trotskyists, anarchists and Catalonian separatists so getting anything done is a battle.’
‘You talk about “we” all the time like my friend Basil Thoroughgood. He means the Foreign Office but I suspect your “we” is the Communist Party as directed by
Moscow. Is that right?’
‘Look, Corinth, you know I have no time for your sort of “English gentleman” politics. The fight against Fascism is too serious to be left to people like you and in any case
– you mentioned Basil Thoroughgood – I happen to know he is a Fascist sympathiser and there are many more like him at the heart of government. Britain is riddled with snobbery,
corruption and anti-Semitism. You can’t fight evil – by which I mean Fascism – with a broken sword.’
‘But you’re not Spanish. Is this really your fight? Aren’t you interfering in someone else’s quarrel and making it worse?’
‘For Christ’s sake, Corinth, this isn’t a Spanish quarrel – or not just a Spanish quarrel. It’s a fight against the evil of Fascism. This is the first battle
in a long and bloody war. Each time we don’t stand up to it, it grows like some monster which feeds on blood and treachery. I don’t suppose you’ve ever read Lenin’s What
is to be Done? ’
‘No, I’m afraid not.’
‘Well, you should. It might appeal to you. I read it first at Cambridge, at the Gramophone Society.’
‘The what?’
David smiled. ‘It’s what we called our communist gatherings. We caught “conspiracy” like we caught chickenpox when we were children.’
‘I didn’t know that.’
‘Why should you? Communism could have no appeal for you.’ There was a sneer in his voice. ‘But you ought to understand what is going to be the fate of you and your
class.’ He waved a hand at the copy of Das Kapital . ‘As long ago as 1844 – almost a century ago – Karl Marx described communism as “the riddle of history
solved, and knowing itself to be the solution”. And to get back to Lenin – ’ David was pacing up and down the cell in his eagerness to preach the word – ‘he wrote What is to be Done? a full fifteen years before the revolution but it is so farsighted, so brilliantly focused. He stresses the absolute necessity of discipline and he talks about the need
for terror – “truly terrifying terror”, he says, “is magnificent.” ’
‘Like Robespierre.’
‘Yes, like Robespierre, Lenin sees the value of what he calls “ mass terror” and he emphasises the need for konspirativnost – underground political activity.
That’s what particularly appealed to us in the Gramophone Society. I have said this to Verity but I don’t think she understands what I mean – perhaps no woman can: Lenin says
there can be “no freedom of criticism” in the Party and those who are unwilling to operate actively under the direction of one of its officials should have membership denied them. Lenin
called for miracles, for dreams, but to make them come
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