Talking to . Strangers
By COLLINGWOOD AUGUST
Tm3 hostel Govind used to run for overseas students tame into being mainly through the efforts of Labour party supporters. Govind him- selt—until recently, as we shall see—was a staunch supporter of Labour in Britain and is still a member of the PSP in India. He is also a very humanitarian Marxist. In 1961 he used to tell me: 'The capitalists are easier to handle than the Communists. If you've got the capitalists, you can always get rid of them; but if you've got the Commies, you've got them for good. Mind, we got rid of them in Kerala State, though.'
I met. Govind at the last Easter march--after a long interval. He was very glum, which sur- prised me, as he is normally full of impish mis-. chief. He told: 'I'm afraid of myself because, against my will, I'm becoming a Communist. It's the only thing left to be. The Labour people seem to be a hand-picked bunch of —s. Look at all the promises they made and broke—every single one of them. As for those arms to South Africa! Wilson has suddenly become a man of honour who can't break contracts, even dirty ones.'
M teaches at university. When he came back from America to find a Labour government, he was elated. As he said : 'You can actually feel the change. Just walk into any accommodation agency. They fall over their feet trying to place you—unlike the last time I was here, when they just weren't interested.' But Papas started the rot with his school-report cartoon of Wilson: 'Shows promise of being a good Tory.' M cut the cartoon out of the Guardian and sent it to an American friend. But it was the proposal that
in any school the number of coloured children should be limited to a certain percentage that really did it. Talking of the Labour party the other day, M quoted Agrippa: 'Almost tho persuadest me to be a Conservative, if not fascist—a black fascist.'
Being an alien, A cannot vote. 'If voting w compulsory,' he said, 'I'd vote Labour. I was Trafalgar Square when Wilson spoke about the "munitions of death" and what he'd do about them when he came to power—I know he hasn't done it. But I'd still vote Labour—they are the best of three --s.'
The temporary typist at the office came from Jamaica two years ago. I showed her Sheila, Patterson's Dark Strangers. 'What a silly title, she exclaimed. 'We shan't be strangers much longer—not with this government trying to get us out after promising to let us in. And the cheek of it! Calling British citizens strangers!'
D is a singer and actor. 'Yes, I would hoc voted Labour if I hadn't gone abroad. They're the only ones' we can trust.' Before answering the next question; he held his pint tighter and it seemed to disappear in his hand. 'Why are you asking me such difficult questions, man'? Yes, their record on immigration is bad. It's these Eoers from honie. They've brought their dirty ideas here. You hope to make a fresh start in Iite and they still pursue you. I'm telling you they{ pursue you to the ends of the earth.'
The West Indian on the bus was both livid and cynical. 'Don't tell me not'ing, mahn. Them s white people is all the same, mahn. It's thenls country, you know. And I don't vote for none of thems. Thems can do what they of ng like.'
Little Joe is a stateless person. About a month ago he went 'into a West End pub. But the bar- man refused to serve Little Joe as he had the wrong colour. Little Joe, who could hardly be' lieve that this was happening to him in England,
insisted that his colour, being natural, couldn't be wrong. The police were called in and by the time you read this Little Joe will have appeared in Bow Street charged with obstructing and assaulting a police officer in the execution of his duties. Unfortunately for Little Joe, he was bound over some time ago for throwing things at South Africa House. If he is found guilty—as he most likely will—Little Joe may be deported—where to, only the Devil knows.
Little Joe said : 'I'd have voted Liberal—they have no policy and that way 1 could have kept my conscience.' His eyes began to fill with tears: 'How could I vote Labour, the very people who are saying I must go?' He now became quite angry: 'Look here,' he said, `last time 53,000,000 English people voted and they don't even know what they voted for. Go and ask any of them, they just don't know. They're the ones who are not yet fit to govern themselves.' As for myself, I'm looking hard for the im- pertinent lady who accosted me outside Notting Hill Gate tube and, pushing some literature into my arrogantly unwilling hands, said: 'You are respectably dressed, sir; wouldn't you like to join the Conservative party?' beginning to change my mind about her. For, if I vote in defiance of my anarchistic tendencies and in spite of the insufferable Cyril Osborne and the frightful Peter Griffiths, it will be Conservative—I know where I am with them. The Labour creeply- crawlies that have come out of the slimy Rho- desian pool frighten me.
Pace, handsome Jo Grimond, I have an unmanly crush on you, and will certainly vote for your man if he stands a demon's chance at a Salvation Army revival meeting.
There's an obvious and heavy-handed moral to all this, but what's the betting the stodgy oxen of Transport House don't see it?
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