Rebuilding After Big Brother: A 1984 Story

[DrDerp]

Camden Town, London

Blair Graham watched her son Mark walk off to the park to meet with his friends. He was starting to get to that age where he wanted as little to do with his parents as possible. Though it hurt, she didn't take it personally.

But wasn't what hurt the most.

He thought she was stupid.

Her own son looked at her like she was an idiot. Ever since Mark became old enough to begin understanding the system his mother lived under, ever since he knew what came before the liberation, he looked at her like she was a complete moron. How could she believe all the things she did when she was younger? How could she live so long barely having any life of her own?

How could she believe that war was peace, freedom was slavery, and ignorance was strength?

Mark gave her the most disdainful look whenever she accidentally slipped into Newspeak while talking to him, asking her what in hell she was trying to say before asking if she knew how ridiculous she sounded. More than once, she had to keep herself from breaking into tears until he was out of earshot.

It caused her so much pain to admit that she saw herself much the same way. She was a newly minted Outer Party member when the liberation occurred, working in Miniplenty. She remembered seeing the men in parachutes landing in the street and engaging soldiers in firefights. She remembered the air strikes. She remembered seeing officers of the Thought Police being taken away in handcuffs while medical posts were set up for the prisoners at the Ministry of Love.

Most of all, Blair remembered how she felt once it all became clear, when the truth came out.

None of it was real. Big Brother. Eurasia. Eastasia. The war. All of it. For fifty years, Britain was ruled by a police state unlike any other who kept the populace in line by concocting epic narratives about a struggle between good and evil. Oceania was supposed to be multi-continental superstate participating in massive battles with its enemies across the world, its shores protected by floating fortresses.

But it was just a single island bordering Europe. And while Oceania was frozen in time, so much had passed in the rest of the world. What Blair understood to be the inspiration for Eurasia, the Soviet Union, had fallen. An amazing new method of communication had been in the past few decades. Technology had developed at a breakneck pace. Rockets had gone into space, humanity had set foot on the moon.

The world had passed Oceania by.

She felt like her entire life up to that point was for nothing. Still, she felt so fortunate that her son was born after Oceania collapsed. Mark never heard the Party's slogans, never aspired to join its ranks. Though she could tell he held some contempt for what she used to believe, the idea of turning her over to the authorities was unthinkable to him. He grew up in a much freer world, one that was so much more colorful.

The way Mark looked at her sometimes caused her a great deal of pain. But Blair actually drew a great deal of hope from his attitude.

He wanted to be nothing like who she was when she was young. And she felt that to be a very respectable goal.

 

[DrDerp]

The Fens, East Midlands

Doctor Ibanez slowly strolled through the ward on the way to his workspace. Large human-shaped bags were lying on over fifteen slabs while medical staff in protective gear looked over them. The bags reeked of bog water and mud as well as decaying meat. An orderly, Johannes, came in through the double doors, another body strapped onto a slab that was wheeled inside.

"How many are still in that pit?" Ibanez asked.

"Twenty," Johannes replied. "Biohazard team is tryin' to wrench the rest of em free."

Ibanez gagged. He didn't want to picture what that implied. What was in those bags was already stomach churning to look at. Forcing down his nausea, he unzipped the body bag and found himself looking at a somewhat well preserved cadaver. A male guessing by the facial features. They'd need a tooth or two to find out exactly how old he was. The ragged jumpsuit he wore was a faded blue, identifying the victim as Outer Party.

The Fens were used as an execution ground by the Thought Police operating in Leicester. Their crematoria often broke down and so they drove their victims to the marshes before killing them. So far, every body seemed to have the same injury that gave away the cause of death, a bullet wound in the back of the head. Autopsies revealed that the bullets were fired from a pistol at close range. And just like with the other corpses, the one Ibanez was looking over had a hole in the back of the head.

Finding out exactly who this was would be a much bigger mystery. The records of the Thought Police were thorough but every other record of the people being looked over by the forensic team would've been wiped. Anyone who knew them would've been forbidden to speak of them lest they commit Crimethink. Even if their associates were still alive, finding anyone who could identify the bodies was going to be incredibly difficult.

There were forensics labs all over Britain doing the same gruesome, heart wrenching work. At least in Cambodia, where his favorite professor once worked helping identify victims of the genocide, there were more than just the Khmer Rouge's own execution records to go off of. People still remembered and talked about murdered loved ones. They didn't perform the kind of mental gymnastics that let them forget the fact they ever knew someone snatched by the Thought Police.

Vaporized. That was the word used to describe those who'd been disappeared. There'd be no evidence of them having ever existed if the Ministry of Love was thorough enough. The mere fact that this particular detachment didn't have access to a reliable crematoria was a miracle.

Who knew how many people from London, Birmingham or Leeds would never be identified?

Who knew how high the Party's victim count truly was?

 

[DrDerp]

Staff Housing, UN Britain Mission HQ, London

Tarabai Gulati yawned and stretched, taking one last look out the window before heading for bed. London was brighter at night than it was just five years ago, but it was nothing like the city she grew up in. She saw pictures of what London looked come nightfall when the Party was still in power as well as the first years of the UN mission. It looked almost completely deserted. No restaurants, no stores, no nightlife, nothing. Anyone caught outside by the authorities was shot on sight.

Growing up in Mumbai, she'd found the lack of noise jarring. There were businesses operating now. People were going out, having fun. But there was still so little going on once the sun went down. Tarabai heard about how long it took for the locals to get into the habit of going outside for anything other than work.

As disturbing as it was to see a city where the people had to live such bleak lives for so long, she couldn't help but think how weird it was that India was now one of the world powers. She heard many stories from her grandparents about the days when Britain ruled the subcontinent. She found it so astounding that a little island was able to keep so much territory and so many people under its control for so long.

When Oceania formed in the late 1950s and cut off its links with the rest of the world, there was a gaping hole in the world economy that India went to work filling. The idea of surpassing their former colonial master was one that made its people strive to make India as strong as possible in as many ways as possible. Her grandfather was proud to have worked building the massive interstate highways system that connected every part of the country. Her grandmother took to her job as a schoolteacher with gusto.

India had also established itself as a leader among Britain's former colonies. The British Empire fell apart without London to guide it, and from Southern Africa to Southeast Asia, nation after nation was born. New Delhi served as one of the capitals of the international grouping known just as 'the Commonwealth,' which included Nigeria, Singapore, Malaysia, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, and Jamaica.

And now, India was taking part in the efforts to help Britain heal after being in the thrall of the Party for so long. The former colonial subject was now one of the world's major players. The shoe truly was on the other foot.

From what she'd seen of propaganda made by the Ministry of Truth, Oceania liked to sell the idea that it was just as large as the British Empire to its people. One of the propaganda pieces that really got her attention showed Oceania having occupied India's Western seaboard after seizing it from Eurasian forces.

Funny, her mother never mentioned seeing any Oceanian soldiers in Mumbai or posters of Big Brother. So either it never happened or her mom practiced Doublethink.

With a sigh, she tucked herself into bed and got a book that was sitting on her nightstand.

 

[DrDerp]

New British National Library, London

Prum Nhean was just a boy when Pol Pot's mass slaughter began. He remembered little of life in Cambodia back then, his family fleeing into Thailand and then moving to Canada. But his parents and those of his family who survived had no intention to let the horrors they beheld become forgotten. They spoke of a culture being gutted by its own government, of the wise and curious being put to death after being subjected to horrendous agony. Of people of all ages being shot into holes by the dozens as they begged for mercy.

When he thought of evil, it was Pol Pot's face that first came to mind. Now, the faces associated with the word were those of the former Inner Party. Black suited demons in human form.

When the scale of what was done to Britain's culture had started to be revealed, all the stories he had heard rushed back to him. It wasn't just the destruction of Oxford, Cambridge and the great libraries that shook him. It was how the Party sought to erase the memory of any writer, musician, philosopher, or cultural figure that existed before its time. Even the Nazis would have been in awe of what the Party had achieved. Pol Pot would have looked upon its work and felt inferior, like an amateur. Filling the bookshelves with tomes would only do so much.

Which was why when UNESCO was screaming for archivists, teachers, and librarians to help oversee the creation of new knowledge centers, Prum sent his credentials in library science as soon as possible. His family understood what he intended to do and made no attempts to dissuade him. His father gave a sad smile when he told them all at the dinner table.

"We know what it is like when a nation must reclaim its memory, its soul," his father said mournfully. "The task will be a great one, but I know that you will not let it cow you."

Prum contacted his family back in Toronto whenever he could, either through a phone call or by mail. It took a month for them to respond once he sent a letter describing the cultural damage he witnessed firsthand, with his mother stating that they needed the time to find words capable of describing their horror.

"We feared a great deal," she wrote. "But we were stunned by what you told us. Forgive us for taking so long to get back to you. It exceeded everything we thought possible."

The rest of the letter wasn't as dour, but along with it came a small carving of Buddha meditating. Prum kept it on his desk. It attracted the attention of quite a few of those who visited the library, who asked who the 'kneeling man' was.

Just the fact that he was being asked this question gave him the strength to keep working.

 

[Impossible_Quail_250]

Quite an interesting timeline, a lot of works focus solely on conflicts and the social aspect gets left behind. Definitely a watch and I eagerly look forward to this

 

[Neoteros]

I've always wondered, how the fuck do you put back on track a country as broken as Great Britain after decades of Ingsoc rule? Only North Korea comes remotely close (Orwell was creepily prescient there) but, Airstrip One's basically Cambodia or China, if no one even remembered the times before the Cultural Revolution, or Pol Pot. Even the most fucked Australian Aboriginal or Native American communities have preserved at least some of their heritage, post-1984 Britons are basically a blank slate the few sentences of which are written in the language of abject horror and paranoia.

 

[DrDerp]

I've always wondered, how the fuck do you put back on track a country as broken as Great Britain after decades of Ingsoc rule? Only North Korea comes remotely close (Orwell was creepily prescient there) but, Airstrip One's basically Cambodia or China, if no one even remembered the times before the Cultural Revolution, or Pol Pot. Even the most fucked Australian Aboriginal or Native American communities have preserved at least some of their heritage, post-1984 Britons are basically a blank slate the few sentences of which are written in the language of abject horror and paranoia.

That's what this story is supposed to focus on. The records of Britain's history pre-Ingsoc are kept in a lot of places including its former dominions which will be taking part in restoring Britain. The mother in the first chapter doesn't know much of what came before the Party but what her son knows of the Ingsoc period has greatly shifted how he views her. But yes, the people of the former Oceania will need to relearn what it is to be functional human beings. The question of how the fuck you do that is what go me interested in writing this.

 

[Impossible_Quail_250]

What part of the Isles was controlled by Ingsoc? Was it the entire U.K or just Great Britain?

 

[stodge]

There is more than one post-1984 scenario which argues "Oceania" was just England, Wales and Scotland. It's even possible to argue it wasn't even that but just London and the South East of England and some form of "barrier" kept the rest of the British Isles untouched.

Orwell's book offers zero objective content as to the state of the rest of the world. Winston Smith never mentions any sense of anything from beyond London - there's not even a reference to a train service to other parts of Oceania such as Liverpool or Birmingham or Plymouth. Smith's universe is incredibly small - London and a small area around.

One could theorise it's all that survived following the atomic war of the early 1950s but that seems improbable. Another possibility is Ingsoc emerged as a radical Marxist variant in London and took over the city but how were the Ministries built, by whom and when?

So you could have an isolated London, effectively sealed off from the rest of the world. Perhaps the rulers of that London have nuclear weapons and have threatened to use them unless their isolation is recognised so apart from very basic trading (using the Thames), the area is apart from the rest of the world. Powerful jamming means no television, audio or later digital signals can get into London - the only communication Londoners have is what the Party provides through its relentless indoctrination.

 

[Whiteshore]

New Delhi served as one of the capitals of the international grouping known just as 'the Commonwealth,' which included Nigeria, Singapore, Malaysia, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, and Jamaica.

Considering the lack of a reference to Pakistan, I take it India attained freedom ITTL as a single united post-colonial entity instead of undergoing Partition? Or is it more a case of the Pakistanis preferring to do their own thing instead of being part of the Commonwealth?

 

[Impossible_Quail_250]

Considering the lack of a reference to Pakistan, I take it India attained freedom ITTL as a single united post-colonial entity instead of undergoing Partition? Or is it more a case of the Pakistanis preferring to do their own thing instead of being part of the Commonwealth?

While we don't hav exact dates the events leading up to the formation of Oceania occur in the Early-Mid fifties and assuming history before it went the same partition probably did happen and Pakistan just doesn't want to be in Bloc headed by India.

 

[Neoteros]

That's what this story is supposed to focus on. The records of Britain's history pre-Ingsoc are kept in a lot of places including its former dominions which will be taking part in restoring Britain. The mother in the first chapter doesn't know much of what came before the Party but what her son knows of the Ingsoc period has greatly shifted how he views her. But yes, the people of the former Oceania will need to relearn what it is to be functional human beings. The question of how the fuck you do that is what go me interested in writing this.

That's what made me read the first posts, too - it's going to be a massive undertaking.

 

[PolishMagnet]

Considering the lack of a reference to Pakistan, I take it India attained freedom ITTL as a single united post-colonial entity instead of undergoing Partition? Or is it more a case of the Pakistanis preferring to do their own thing instead of being part of the Commonwealth?

I think if the home islands were going towards ingsoc... Perhaps the Brits in the Raj stay there (and maybe more come over) and India just assumes the role of being the new Britain

 

[Impossible_Quail_250]

I think if the home islands were going towards ingsoc... Perhaps the Brits in the Raj stay there (and maybe more come over) and India just assumes the role of being the new Britain

Not really even if India accepted British refugees they'd still get Outnumbered by Indians, More likely destinations for Refugees are France or English Speaking countries. However it is true that many Brits would stay in India instead of Leaving. Even in OTL areas like Mussoorie and my Hometown of Dehradun had significant numbers of Brits who stayed after independence. They were mostly those who were born and Grew up in India. There are still a few left,most notably Ruskin Bond.

 

[stodge]

There are, I imagine, plans for the "de-Juching" of North Korea once the current administration is removed.

There would also be extensive plans for the normalisation of "Oceania" once the fighting was over. The first part of that would be a large UN Reconstruction Fund - one thing which adds credence to the isolation of Oceania would be no reference to North Sea Gas or Oil (Orwell didn't know about them of course) so we have the UN behind the occupying forces bringing food, fuel and starting the process of reconstruction.

Any surviving Inner Party members would likely be put on trial - Outer Party members would likely be imprisoned or at least questioned at length. Let's also remember the indoctrination wasn't steered at the "proles" but at the Party members - for the bulk of the population, there'd be more food, more money, more fuel and in time better housing. The de-programming of Outer Party members might take years.

"Normal" politics might take some time to emerge - most likely emigres returning from decades of exile would try to re-start political movements - but we might see local councils forming to take care of local issues with a new administration ironically operating out of the old Oceania buildings (and some taking careful note pf how the indoctrination process was accomplished).

You'd see foreign television from English language stations in the Commonwealth and of course the Internet swiftly appear. The psychological impact of unfettered capitalism and materialism might encourage crime and as we've seen in OTL, allow some individuals to become very rich very quickly.

 

[PolishMagnet]

Not really even if India accepted British refugees they'd still get Outnumbered by Indians, More likely destinations for Refugees are France or English Speaking countries. However it is true that many Brits would stay in India instead of Leaving. Even in OTL areas like Mussoorie and my Hometown of Dehradun had significant numbers of Brits who stayed after independence. They were mostly those who were born and Grew up in India. There are still a few left,most notably Ruskin Bond.

I just mean they'd bring money / investment / influence with them.

 

[Infamous_42]

Staff Housing, UN Britain Mission HQ, London

Tarabai Gulati yawned and stretched, taking one last look out the window before heading for bed. London was brighter at night than it was just five years ago, but it was nothing like the city she grew up in. She saw pictures of what London looked come nightfall when the Party was still in power as well as the first years of the UN mission. It looked almost completely deserted. No restaurants, no stores, no nightlife, nothing. Anyone caught outside by the authorities was shot on sight.

Growing up in Mumbai, she'd found the lack of noise jarring. There were businesses operating now. People were going out, having fun. But there was still so little going on once the sun went down. Tarabai heard about how long it took for the locals to get into the habit of going outside for anything other than work.

As disturbing as it was to see a city where the people had to live such bleak lives for so long, she couldn't help but think how weird it was that India was now one of the world powers. She heard many stories from her grandparents about the days when Britain ruled the subcontinent. She found it so astounding that a little island was able to keep so much territory and so many people under its control for so long.

When Oceania formed in the late 1950s and cut off its links with the rest of the world, there was a gaping hole in the world economy that India went to work filling. The idea of surpassing their former colonial master was one that made its people strive to make India as strong as possible in as many ways as possible. Her grandfather was proud to have worked building the massive interstate highways system that connected every part of the country. Her grandmother took to her job as a schoolteacher with gusto.

India had also established itself as a leader among Britain's former colonies. The British Empire fell apart without London to guide it, and from Southern Africa to Southeast Asia, nation after nation was born. New Delhi served as one of the capitals of the international grouping known just as 'the Commonwealth,' which included Nigeria, Singapore, Malaysia, Uganda, Tanzania, Botswana, and Jamaica.

And now, India was taking part in the efforts to help Britain heal after being in the thrall of the Party for so long. The former colonial subject was now one of the world's major players. The shoe truly was on the other foot.

From what she'd seen of propaganda made by the Ministry of Truth, Oceania liked to sell the idea that it was just as large as the British Empire to its people. One of the propaganda pieces that really got her attention showed Oceania having occupied India's Western seaboard after seizing it from Eurasian forces.

Funny, her mother never mentioned seeing any Oceanian soldiers in Mumbai or posters of Big Brother. So either it never happened or her mom practiced Doublethink.

With a sigh, she tucked herself into bed and got a book that was sitting on her nightstand.

nice, this will do nicely for the brits, i know it's bad and should not be encouraged the suffering of other people/nations even if they were former colonial empires, even the ones like great britain who invented the first concentration camps that the nazis "improved".

but after learning much of their colonial history in the mid to late-1800s, I've lost some considerable respect to the british, but then again here their former colonial possessions especially their crown jewel india and by lesser extent chinese hongkong and ireland could only feel pity for these guys for being in the dark hole and to help them reclaim their sense of being after ingsoc thoroughly kicked them in the face by a steel tipped jackboot.

which is what we can do irl for north korea and by lesser extent china, russia and half of the middle east.

thanks for writing this man, keep it up.

also one question if you don't mind answering, what was the reaction from the u.s after learning the complete situation of great britain itself after ingsoc is destroyed, or for that matter how china and especially ireland itself considering their close to the former british isles and what happened to the royal family?

did they survive? living in canada perhaps, or dead by ingsoc....

 

[arrowiv]

Keep this coming. I hope we can see any back-stories about the rise of INGSOC and Big Brother in this scenario. Anyone remember a similar TL called Tales from Oceania, which had the thesis of Britain being Oceania?

 

[Crazyduck156]

nice, this will do nicely for the brits, i know it's bad and should not be encouraged the suffering of other people/nations even if they were former colonial empires, even the ones like great britain who invented the first concentration camps that the nazis "improved".

but after learning much of their colonial history in the mid to late-1800s, I've lost some considerable respect to the british, but then again here their former colonial possessions especially their crown jewel india and by lesser extent chinese hongkong and ireland could only feel pity for these guys for being in the dark hole and to help them reclaim their sense of being after ingsoc thoroughly kicked them in the face by a steel tipped jackboot.

which is what we can do irl for north korea and by lesser extent china, russia and half of the middle east.

thanks for writing this man, keep it up.

also one question if you don't mind answering, what was the reaction from the u.s after learning the complete situation of great britain itself after ingsoc is destroyed, or for that matter how china and especially ireland itself considering their close to the former british isles and what happened to the royal family?

did they survive? living in canada perhaps, or dead by ingsoc....

Pretty sure it was the Spanish who 'invented' concentration camps, the Brits were just the first to call them that.
but regardless the sins of the father are not the sins of the son.

 

[DrDerp]

What part of the Isles was controlled by Ingsoc? Was it the entire U.K or just Great Britain?

Great Britain.