Olive Senior - PEN International

54
WORDS ... WALERIAN DOMANSKI
factories, which would be required to employ workers without the necessary
hard-to-come-by materials for production. They would, moreover, need to operate
at a low cost, without the need for skilled labour.
Meeting such conditions naturally proved a daunting challenge, but finally
one of the comrades from the Secretariat came up with a brilliant idea. ‘Build
smoke factories,’ he said, by which he meant factories constructed for the purpose
of producing nothing but … smoke!
A murmur of surprise rippled through the room. Party activists were accustomed
to controversial ideas from the Secretariat – but smoke factories? It was really
an astonishing suggestion.
‘Comrades, please be quiet!’ intoned Berman. ‘The use of these words is strictly
confidential – for internal use only. In practice, we shall call these ‘smoke factories’
something else. But for now the phrase reflects the essence of things. This idea
can meet our requirements and produce a fast, cheap and simple solution to our
problem. Most importantly, it will employ workers.
‘I shall repeat once again: our objective is to employ, employ, employ. There is
no other way! An unemployed worker easily becomes a class enemy. If worker does
not work, he does not earn, and if he is not earning, he will be angry and vulnerable
to propaganda from the West. We shall not proceed unless everyone here agrees.
Of course, we need to fine-tune the technical details of “Codename: SMOKE”.’
He continued: ‘The first, obvious question is: what kind of material will be used
to produce the smoke? To that I answer: any material! Smoke can be produced
from poor-quality, cheap coal, from waste wood, straw, hay, litter and so on. Local
authorities will be able to decide for themselves what materials will, for them,
be cheapest to burn, and most easily accessible. In the event of any shortage of
materials, the factory can simply stop production, and no great economic loss will
have been incurred. This is precisely the advantage of the “smoke factories” idea
above all others!’
It was concluded that even if the plants were to operate at only 50 percent
efficiency, no crushing economic blow would result. Should a factory be required
to close, the workers would be sent on forced leave, and paid 80 percent of their
lost earnings. Interruptions in production would not pose any problem as with
normal factories. In summertime, workers could be deployed to Agricultural
Production Cooperatives in the countryside to harvest grain, potatoes and beets
and work on water irrigation systems. But their main place of work was to be
at the smoke factories.
There remained the question of the transport of raw materials. Here again, this
issue would be at the discretion of the local authorities. Transport could take place
by rail, road, water and even horseback. It would cost, yes, but nothing was for free.
We must give to get, we were reminded.
‘Now I shall take your questions,’ Berman announced.
One conference attendee asked: ‘What will happen when information leaks
out about these factories to our enemies? What if it is announced on Radio Free
Europe?’
‘We have a solution to that,’ Berman said confidently. ‘These factories will
be classified as military production. Strict secrecy will apply, under penalty of
imprisonment. In addition, we must employ only trusted employees, Party
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