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CHAPTER FORTY - February to December 1920

The Aldershot Military Detention Barracks was a griht, but it was better than Siberia Aldershot was an army town thirty-fivewith galleries of cells on three floors around an atriuave the place its nickna, it was more co the past four years

All the same, he was miserable The war had been over for more than a year, yet he was still in the ares and taking girls to the pictures He still wore the uniform and saluted, he slept in an ar mats, which was the prison industry Worst of all, he never sao for him-probably Everyone had a tale to tell of a soldier who had coone off with another man

He had no communication with Mildred or anyone else outside Prisoners-or "soldiers under sentence" as they were officially called-could normally send and receive letters, but Billy was a special case Because he had been convicted of betraying army secrets in letters, his mail was confiscated by the authorities This was part of the arer had any secrets to betray, of course What was he going to tell his sister? "The boiled potatoes are always undercooked"

Did Mam and Da and Gramper even know about the court-martial? The soldier&039;s next of kin had to be inforht, but he was not sure and no one would answer his questions Anyway, Tommy Griffiths would almost certainly have told the

He received no visitors He suspected his family did not even know that he was back froe the ban on his receivinga lawyer-and nothat this could not go on indefinitely

His news of the outside world ca speeches urging more military aid for the Whites in Russia Billy wondered if that meant the Aberowen Pals had coood Ethel&039;s "Hands Off Russia" can had won support and been endorsed by the Labour Party Despite colorful anti-Bolshevik speeches by the minister for war, Winston Churchill, Britain had withdrawn its troops from Arctic Russia In mid-November the Reds had driven Ad Billy had said about the Whites, and Ethel had repeated in her ca Fitz and Churchill said rong Yet Billy was in jail and Fitz was in the House of Lords

He had little in common with his fellow inmates They were not political prisoners Most had committed real crimes, theft and assault and murder They were hard men, but so was Billy and he was not afraid of the that his offense was a cut above theirs He talked to theh but none of the with the society that had imprisoned them; they were just deter the half-hour lunch break he read the newspaper Most of the others could not read One day he opened the Daily Herald to see a photograph of a familiar face After a moment of bewilderment he realized the picture was of him

He recalled when it had been taken Mildred had dragged hiate and had hiht I&039;ll touch it to uous promise while he ay from her

The headline said: WHY IS SERGEANT WILLIAMS IN JAIL? Billy read on withexcitement

William Williams of the 8th Battalion the Welsh Rifles (the "Aberowen Pals") is serving ten years in a military prison, convicted of treason Is this man a traitor? Did he betray his country, desert to the eneht bravely at the Somme and continued to serve in France for the next two years, winning proeant

Billy was excited That&039;s ht bravely!

Then he was sent to Russia We are not at ith Russia The British people do not necessarily approve of the Bolshevik regiime of which we disapprove The Bolsheviks present no threat to our country or our allies Parliaovernment in Moscow There is a serious question as to whether our mission there is not a breach of international law

Indeed, for some months the British people were not told that their ar state our property, organising orderly withdrawal, or on standby The clear iainst Red forces

That this was exposed as a lie is in no small measure thanks to William Williams

"Hey," he said to no one in particular "Look at that Thanks to William Williams"

The men at his table crowded around to look over his shoulder His cellmate, a brute called Cyril Parks, said: "That&039;s a picture of you! What are you doing in the paper?"

Billy read the rest of it aloud

His crime was to tell the truth, in letters to his sister that ritten in a simple code to evade censorship The British people owe hiratitude

But his action displeased those in the ar British soldiers for their own political ends Williams was court-martialled and sentenced to ten years

He is not unique A large nu made part of the attehly dubious trials in Russia and given scandalously long sentences

Williaeful ht Britain is a country of justice That, after all, is e fought for

"How about that?" said Billy "They say I&039;ve been victimized by powerful men"

"So have I," said Cyril Parks, who had raped a fourteen-year-old Belgian girl in a barn

Suddenly the newspaper was snatched out of Billy&039;s hands He looked up to see the stupid face of Andrew Jenkins, one of theplaces, Williams," thecon, so get back to fucking work"

"Right away, Mr Jenkins," said Billy

{II}

Fitz was outraged, that suation came to London and elcoe, at nu Street The Bolsheviks were still at ith the newly reconstituted country of Poland, and Fitz thought Britain should be siding with the Poles, but he found little support London dockers went on strike rather than load ships with rifles for the Polish areneral strike if the British army intervened

Fitz reconciled hi possession of the late Prince Andrei&039;s estates His sons, Boy and Andrew, had lost their Russian birthright, and he had to accept that

However, he could not keep quiet when he learned what the Russians Kamenev and Krassin were up to as they went around Britain Room 40 still existed, albeit in a different for the telegra home Lev Kamenev, the chair out revolutionary propaganda

Fitz was so incensed that he berated Lloyd George, early in August, at one of the last dinner parties of the London season

It was at Lord Silverrave Square The dinner was not as lavish as those Silverman had thrown before the war There were fewer courses, with less food sent untasted back to the kitchen, and the table decoration was simpler The food was served by maids instead of footuessed those extravagant Edwardian parties were gone for good However, Silverman was still able to attract the most powerful e asked Fitz about his sister, Maud

That was another topic that enraged Fitz "I&039;one to live in Berlin," he said He did not say that she had already given birth to her first child, a boy called Eric

"I heard that," said Lloyd George "I just wondered how she was getting on Delightful young wohtful young women ell-known, not to say notorious

"I&039;m afraid life in Ger for an allowance, but he had refused point-blank She had not asked his pere, so how could she expect his support?

"Hard?" said Lloyd George "So it should be, after what they&039;ve done All the same, I&039;m sorry for her"

"On another subject, Prime Minister," said Fitz, "this fellow Kaht to deport him"

The prine in his hand "My dear Fitz," he said aovernment is not very worried about Russian misinformation, which is crude and violent Please don&039;t underesti class: they know claptrap when they hear it Believeyou or I could say"

Fitz thought this was coiven money to the Daily Herald!"

"It is discourteous, I agree, for a foreign government to subsidize one of our newspapers-but, really, are we frightened of the Daily Herald? It&039;s not as if we Liberals and Conservatives don&039;t have papers of our own"

"But he is contacting the roups in this country-maniacs dedicated to the overthrow of our entire way of life!"

"The et to know about Bolshevism, the less they will like it, you mark my words It is forh iuard to British society, for it infects all classes with a horror of what anization of society is overturned"

"I just don&039;t like it"

"Besides," Lloyd George went on, "if we throw them out we may have to explain hoe knohat they&039;re up to; and the news that we&039;re spying on theainst us id speeches"

Fitz did not like being lectured on political realities, even by the priury "But surely we don&039;t have to trade with the Bolsheviks!"

"If we refused to do business with all those who use their eanda, ouldn&039;t havepartners left Come, come, Fitz, we trade with cannibals in the Solomon Islands!"

Fitz was not sure that was true-the cannibals of the Solomon Islands did not have much to offer, after all-but he let it pass "Are we so badly off that we have to sell to these ood htenedin Customers won&039;t buy We may be in for the worst period of unemployment that any of us have ever known But the Russians want to buy-and they pay in gold"

"I would not take their gold!"

"Ah, but Fitz," said Lloyd George, "you have so much of your own"

{III}

There was a party in Wellington Rohen Billy took his bride home to Aberowen

It was a summer Saturday, and for once there was no rain At three o&039;clock in the afternoon Billy and Mildred arrived at the station with Mildred&039;s children, Billy&039;s new stepdaughters, Enid and Lillian, aged eight and seven By then the miners had come up from the pit, taken their weekly baths, and put on their Sunday suits

Billy&039;s parents aiting at the station They were older and see those around them Da shook Billy&039;s hand and said: "I&039;ht you to" Billy was glad, although he did not see himself as just another of Da&039;s achievements in life

They hadDa shook Mildred&039;s hand and Mam kissed her

Mildred said: "It&039;s lovely to see you again, Mrs Williams Should I call you Ma she could have said, and Mahted Billy felt sure Da would co

Persistent questions by MPs in the House of Coovernment to announce reduced sentences for a number of soldiers and sailors court-martialed in Russia for mutiny and other offenses Billy&039;s prison term had been reduced to a year and he had been released and demobilized He had married Mildred as quickly as possible after that

Aberowen seeed s were different It was small and drab, and the mountains all around seeer sure this was his home As when he had put on his prewar suit, he found that, even though it still fit, he no longer felt right in it Nothing that happened here would change the world, he thought

They walked up the hill to Wellington Row to find the houses decorated with bunting: the Union Jack, the Welsh dragon, and the red flag A banner across the street said WELCOME HOME, BILLY TWICE All the neighbors were out in the street There were tables with jugs of beer and urns of tea, and plates loaded with pies, cakes, and sandwiches When they saw Billy they sang "We&039;ll Keep a Welcome in the Hillsides"

It made Billy cry

He was handed a pint of beer A crowd of adathered around Mildred To them she was an exotic creature, with her London clothes and her cockney accent and a hat with a huge brim that she had trimmed herself with silk flowers Even when she was on her best behavior she could not help saying risque things like "I had to get it off my chest, if you&039;ll pardon the expression"

Graht, but e of Enid and Lillian, producing sweets out of his waistcoat pockets and showing them how he could make a penny disappear

Billy had to talk to all the bereaved families about his dead comrades: Joey Ponti, Prophet Jones, Spotty Llewellyn, and the others He was reunited with Tommy Griffiths, whom he had last seen in Ufa, Russia Toaunt with cancer

Billy was going to start down the pit again on Monday, and the round since he had left: new roads driven deeper into the workings, hts, better safety precautions

Tommy stood on a chair and made a speech of welcoed us all," he said "I remember when people used to say the rich were put on this earth by God to rule over us lesser people" That was greeted by scornful laughs "Manyunder the command of upper-class officers who should not have been put in charge of a Sunday school outing" The other veterans nodded knowingly "The on by reed, saying "Aye" and "Hear, hear"

"We&039;ve got the vote now-and so have our woh not all of theh" There was a little cheer from the women at that "This is our country, and we must take control of it, just as the Bolsheviks have taken over in Russia and the Social Deot a working-class party, the Labour Party, and we&039;ve got the nue pulled a fast one at the last election, but he won&039;t get aith that again"

Someone shouted: "No!"

"So here&039;s what I&039;ve come home for Perceval Jones&039;s days as MP for Aberowen are almost over" There was a cheer "I want to see a Labour ht his father&039;s eye: Da&039;s face was aglow "Thank you for your wonderful welcoot down from the chair, and they clapped enthusiastically

"Nice speech, Billy," said To to be that Labour MP?"

"I tell you what, Touesses"

{IV}

The philosopher Bertrand Russell visited Russia that year and wrote a short book called The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism In the Leckwith family it ally against the Bolsheviks Worse, he did so fro perspective Unlike Conservative critics, he did not argue that the Russian people had no right to depose the tsar, share out the lands of the nobility a the peasants, and run their own factories On the contrary, he approved of all that He attacked the Bolsheviks not for having the wrong ideals, but for having the right ideals and failing to live up to them So his conclusions could not be disanda

Bernie read it first He had a librarian&039;s horror ofthe pages with angry co "Rubbish!" or "Invalid arguins

Ethel read it while nursing the baby, now just over a year old She was named Mildred, but they always shortened it to Millie The older Mildred had nant with their first child Ethel lad to have the use of the upstairs rooms in the house Little Millie had curly hair and, already, a flirtatious twinkle in her eye that reminded everyone of Ethel

Ethel enjoyed the book Russell was a witty writer With aristocratic insouciance, he had asked for an intervieith Lenin, and had spent an hour with the great lish Lenin had said that Lord Northcliffe was his best propagandist: the Daily Mail&039;s horror stories about Russians despoiling the aristocracy eoisie but they would have the opposite effect on the British working class, he thought