The Unseen (25 page)

now the guards had to make their way through a quagmire as well as having handkerchiefs over their faces now they had to wear rubber wading boots as the water poured out of the cells we also threw in some detergent making a huge amount of foam and some people also made little paper boats out of newspapers they threw the boats out of the spy-hole and they sailed along the corridors borne by the tide of foaming water it was a genuine flood and this was another form of struggle that we launched and naturally it created a lot of problems for the guards another form of struggle we used was setting off short circuits that made the lights fuse all over the prison this was operation blackout the whole prison went dark

there was one comrade who was an electrician and he knew all about electrical systems which meant he could set off short circuits by disconnecting something or other I'm not sure what I never did it myself he made things short-circuit and when there was a short circuit for a few seconds you'd hear a very loud noise it was the sound of the outside generators going on and putting the lights back on at once there were moments of panic though for when the lights go out in the prison in the middle of the night the guards start running around with torches it was all pretty unnerving for them but naturally it was unnerving for us too for we'd anticipate retaliation at any moment we'd be anticipating some large-scale operation against us

42

All this built up and built up these small everyday protests built up all the time until naturally the prison administration was faced with the question of some decisive major operation to put a stop to it once and for all but among the guards there were two camps whereas over and above our political distinctions and different opinions on the outcome of the revolt we were now struggling over basic issues issues affecting our survival which meant that now it was clear that unity was the sole requirement for achieving this survival we were struggling for

for the guards however the problem was posed differently and the result was that they were divided into two different camps there was the interventionists' camp in other words those who maintained the need for immediate intervention by force and on the other hand those who maintained that there was no need for intervention by force and inevitably this disagreement touched the hierarchies too there were interventionist sergeants and warrant-officers and non-interventionist sergeants and warrant-officers but the interventionists had deliberately stirred things up what had happened for instance was that guards had burst into one of the cells one day because a comrade had insulted a sergeant by throwing a cigarette-end in his face

what had happened was that while the majority of the comrades were having exercise time one afternoon a group of guards turned up with shields and helmets and truncheons and burst into the cell and they seized this comrade and took him away to the isolation cells that's when tension rose to boiling point and naturally the comrades made all kinds of threats they'd carry out if this comrade wasn't brought back to this section at once then the guards thought it over and they gave permission for some other comrades to go and visit the comrade however the prison administration said that since a charge had been made by this sergeant who'd had the cigarette-end flung in his face there would be a hearing which meant that they couldn't remove him from isolation until the day of the hearing

however the date of the hearing was fixed for just two or three days later and so this comrade went to the hearing where of course he was found guilty and straight away went home again that's to say to his section what's more he made the most of the opportunity at the hearing to make a public denunciation of the conditions we were still being held in after more than a month and our situation of daily struggle for survival then the Ministry of Justice formulated its plan for solving the problem which like all plans for solving problems when what's involved are unified and solid struggles there's always just one solution to the problem splitting up prisoners and breaking up this solid unity

in other words what they always do in these circumstances is to try and pick out the ones they think are the ringleaders in the protests and separate them from the others and also to create distinctions as a basis for different kinds of treatment and so one day while we were all at exercise a great throng of guards turned up they'd brought christ knows how many hundreds of guards from other prisons too it was terrifying and our first thought was that they'd come to sort things out again just the same way as before and all the comrades there were still suffering from the after effects of the bloodbath that followed the revolt an unbelievable number of guards came but right away they told us what they planned to do we have to split you up and take some people to the first floor we're only going to split you up

they told us what they planned to do there in the exercise yard then they took out their list and said either you come out or we'll go in and there'll be trouble there were really so many guards with so many shields truncheons water hoses and so on so we thought it was better to concede and all those destined for the first floor went upstairs they let themselves be taken to the first floor there was no violence but the first thing the comrades did as soon as they got up there was to test the strength of the new plate-glass windows that they'd put there and with the stools they found up there they smashed one or two of them just to test the resistance of the new plate-glass windows they'd put in

they left the other comrades downstairs on the ground floor their plan was to break the internal circuit of communication again by putting people on two different floors because with people on two different floors they could break the flow of communication that we'd achieved so far but people found a way round this too for the comrades upstairs tore up their sheets into strips and dropped messages down from the first floor windows to the ground floor the torn sheets with the messages would be weighted with a lemon and they'd dangle the lemon and the messages in front of the first floor window

however this division also coincided with the start of the first mass transfers in record time the Ministry of Justice had carried out the complete reconstruction of that other special prison that had been totally destroyed a few months earlier they'd re-established this prison and so on the basis of their lists of those they regarded as the ringleaders of the revolt the mass transfers began people were transferred in batches of ten they began first and foremost with those they'd put on the floor upstairs then the transfers went on until a score or so of us altogether were left in the prison after all these transfers

a few days before the transfers the administration had given everyone permission to go up to the first floor that had been wrecked by the guards one at a time escorted by guards they took us up there to collect our things from the cells that we'd occupied before the revolt when I went up I saw the holes made by the grenades in the floor of the rotunda and the metal gate blown out and propped against the wall it was almost pitch dark in the corridor I could feel water underfoot where there must have been big puddles and there was also water dripping from the broken pipes in the corridors there were radiators lying up-ended broken tables cupboards that had caved in stools strewn all over the place all broken and in pieces

bits of television sets mattresses books strewn everywhere food leftovers clothes sodden with water and there was a stink of dampness and putrefaction lingering on in the corridor there was light in my cell in the doorway I stumbled over the violin gutted with its strings torn off I went inside and I saw the wreckage of my cell everything smashed up everything uprooted everything shattered everything lying on the ground in an inch or so of water a sludge that had been rotting away for two months now the guards looked and said nothing I didn't know where to start I didn't know what to do there was nothing recognizable anymore there were shirts sweaters rotting with stains of green mould I'd left everything there all my shirts and sweaters

I took two sweaters that had been saved because they were on top and some other stuff then I also took a pair of trousers half mouldy and ripped too at the bottom but I really needed them in one corner I saw a little pile my letters ripped crumpled and torn I recognized the little yellow square of China's last telegram her letters were there and other letters I gathered them up in a handful I saw her writing on the pieces of paper and I put them in my pocket I searched for my books one or two of them were still in good condition although wet I dried them a bit and I put them with the sweaters after trying to dry them a bit

I searched around a bit longer but halfheartedly I raked around a bit kicking aside the plastic plates and the sodden newspapers I stood there staring about the guards didn't seem to be in any hurry I looked through the broken window pane and I started wondering what was the point of this I dropped the books I only kept the sweaters and the mouldy trousers then I put my hand in my pocket I pulled out the shreds of the letters and without looking at them I dropped them on the floor too even her letters and before I left I also took off the red scarf that I always wore around my neck and threw that down too and I hurried away with the guards because by now nothing mattered to me any more at all

43

The date of the trial came round and I was transferred to the prison where I'd been the first time after my arrest we were in a small transit block for people who like me were there for trial a small block that was really awful a small block in continual darkness buried in a corner where the sun's rays never reached that was where I understood because for the first time I saw it for myself about all these stories of
pentiti
*
that had started just at that time I became aware then that the worst things about this whole business were still to come that everything that had happened so far had been nothing by comparison with what was starting to happen in fact it almost looked good by comparison for with all these things happening now it seemed to me that not only was it all over and done with but also that the whole thing had been futile that it had all been utterly futile every single thing everything that all of us had ever done

it so happened that in this block of the prison there was someone who was reputed to have talked to have sent other people to prison what had happened to this guy was very unusual because he'd been captured as a result of a
pentito'
s statements and then early on he'd admitted to everything this guy had accused him of there was a murder involved too he admitted everything but went no further than that made no accusations against anyone else however his comrades in prison judged these actions of his to be an admission of the
pentito'
s statements and they gave him the option of getting himself sent to a prison where there were
pentiti
and taking a
pentito
and killing him

when his comrades forced this on him he cracked in the face of this proposal he reacted by cracking up and he decided to become a
pentito
in earnest then he justified it by saying that this proposal had struck him as monstrous this thing they proposed to him in other words a murder to purify himself he cracked up and spent a few days in this state then he made up his mind he called the investigating judge and he talked in earnest and came out with a load of names he told them a lot he even told them the name of a guy who was his best friend the only one who defended him in prison and so further incriminating evidence turned up against his comrades who were in prison who were incriminated all over again by what he'd said

when he finished his statements the judge told him these statements mean that you can't go back to the special again with all the rest because they'll kill you right away so they sent him to a prison for
pentiti
he went to this prison for
pentiti
sure that there he'd at least have the chance to discuss these experiences but once he'd got there in this prison for
pentiti
there came another shock even worse than the first because what he saw and heard in his talks with these
pentiti
was even nastier for he explained in the letters to his friend that I read too that these individuals weren't
pentiti
at all but were just people making calculations about when they'd get out on the basis of the number of statements they'd made how long it would take them to get out on the basis of that

and then he freaked out again and once more he called the same investigating judge to whom he'd made his statements and he withdrew the whole lot saying I know very well that the retractions I'm making are unlikely to exonerate the people I've incriminated but all the same I want to leave this prison because I don't want to stay here any longer then the judge told him listen now if you go back where you were before they'll kill you they won't give you any option this time this time instead they'll kill you as soon as they set eyes on you and that's the end of it but he said it doesn't matter I'm going there even if they kill me for I'm not staying here

at a loss to know where to put him the ministry parked him in this block and he was there just when I arrived for my trial he was in isolation he even went out for the exercise period alone they put him on his own in one of these enclosed segments however as soon as his comrades arrived he started sending them notes and letters telling them about all his goings on and saying that what he was hoping for was to go back with his comrades despite having done what he'd done and saying that he was ready to accept whatever judgment the comrades would make on his decisions and his actions saying that he preferred the risk of being killed because he was aware of what he'd done and he preferred the risk of being killed

he set out all these self-critical arguments and sent them to his comrades from isolation but they were all rejected he received no replies and then one day after these futile attempts to establish a dialogue he made a decision he went down to the exercise yard and spent half an hour pleading with the sergeant who was on duty to put him in with his comrades he pleaded and pleaded the sergeant was doubtful however in the end he let him go through and then he started talking to his comrades telling them his story which they knew already the comrades told him don't come in here again tomorrow or we'll kill you and then he said he'd come anyway tomorrow because if that was what they decided whatever it might be he accepted it