The Island of Dreams

by Gregory James Clark

  “Gary,” said the lady, shaking his hand.

  “Who are you?” asked Gary.

  “I’m Connie from Anchorage, Alaska,” she replied. “I am your fiancée by the way, or principal, as they prefer to call it here.”

  “Principal? Yes I heard that term when I left England. What does it mean exactly?”

  “Something known as The Set Formation Act defines it. It’s broadly similar to a wife or husband. There’s no difference really, apart from the fact that should a relationship get into difficulties your secondaries will be on hand to help you sort things out. I’ve got a booklet I can give you later on which explains all about it simply and concisely. Basically now that you have arrived here you have automatically become a member of a twelve member conventional set which will live and work together in Petropavlovsk Kamchatskiy, home of The Kamchatskiy Auto Company.”

  “So I believe. I was told that I would be transferred there after a year.”

  “Yes. After we have done our year’s training here that is where we will go. Then we do five or six years in the skating troop, depending on whether or not there is an intake next year. After that we work on the shop floor and later in management. It’s self-service here by the way.”

  They made their way past the light vegetarian and fish servery.

  “How does it work?” Gary asked.

  “You point to the items that you want and the server puts them on the plate,” Connie explained. “It seems pretty efficient. They don’t serve meat though. The Island believes in trying to minimise animal cruelty so it’s just fish and veg. Apparently that was arrived at by consensus right across The Island and its territories five years ago, so The Usherette told me. Most people, including myself, don’t seem to have anything against it.”

  “So, there’s no meat anywhere?” Gary asked.

  “No. Five years ago a decision was made to close down all the abattoirs everywhere in every Island controlled territory. Queen Mary, now the Queen Mother, decreed it after popular consent, though seafood continues to be caught, farmed and served according to strict environmental criteria. Not to fish would apparently disturb the world’s ecosystems, but we still have to be careful not to overfish. Like everything else, supply has to be exactly matched with demand.”

  They sat down.

  “I’m still curious to know how this system of Non-Capitalist Economics actually functions,” said Gary. “Until last night I thought it was no more than a theoretical concept.”

  “It’s a lot more than that I can assure you,” Connie explained. “It is tied in very closely with the political system. I found out yesterday that The Island and all of its territories operate as a one-party state. There are no competitive elections.”

  “So, what is it then? A dictatorship?”

  “Oh no, it’s definitely not a dictatorship,” said Connie. “It’s what is known as a One Party Democracy. We are governed here by a team of scientists, statisticians and engineers in Kamchatka who serve the queen and her prime minister here. Politicians are not programmed to fight elections. Instead technical people are trained and educated to make the system work and continually improve on it. And as long as that continues to happen they have nothing to fear with regard to elections. I am looking forward to experiencing an election here though. It is rumoured to be something quite special.”

  “You say you are from Alaska?”

  “Sure am. And I’m glad I am because it has allowed me to find out about The Island at an early age. I had the good fortune to go to a school in Alaska that has a long association with the philosophy of W. Edwards Deming, the guy whose statue stands at the entrance to this training centre.”

  “Yes, I noticed that as I walked in,” said Gary.

  “Well, he had an influence at my school way back towards the end of the twentieth century before he died. Little did I know that there was a whole society growing and thriving within Alaska and indeed the world that based its workings upon exactly that philosophy transposed at every level. I kept an eye on the local papers and became inspired to learn more about the system that had steadily made its way east from Kamchatka without anyone hardly knowing. Every few years I would find out that another island had been bought out and converted to this new system. Yet there was no change of sovereignty, just a complete change in the way in which society is organised. But it was always little by little, nothing dramatic. This has gone on for pretty much as long as I can remember. Once an island has been converted, however, it shuts its doors rigidly to outsiders. Now the territory extends as far as Fox Island, which is just off the Alaskan Peninsula. Rumours abound that the Alaskan Peninsula itself could one day be bought up, though it is likely that Nunivak and Kodiak Island will be transferred first.

  I knew ever since I was at school that I wanted to be part of the non-capitalist community of the US and not the capitalist one that still dominates the US so shamefully.”

  “So how did you manage to get here?”

  “I revisited my old school. I felt sure that someone in that school would know something about how I could do it. An appointment was set up for me with my old head who said he thought he could do something as he had a few contacts. If I waited for a chance otherwise I would be unlikely to be successful.”

  “So your old head fixed it up for you to end up here?”

  “He arranged for me to meet a Kamchatkan who worked for the Kamchatskiy Auto Company and gave me the prized opportunity to come here and then go to Kamchatka, the place that in my heart of hearts I knew I wanted to be but never thought that I ever could. Fortunately my skating served me well. I never thought I would get to be a skater either, but I was told, after he had taken a look at me down at my local rink, that my skating was good enough for the car company. So, how did you end up here?”

  Gary told her his story. Then Connie explained the programme for the day.

  “At five o’clock you must go to The Great Dome for Joanie’s address,” she said. “She’s the prime minister and dame in charge here. One step down from the queen you could say, and in charge of all political and day-to-day operations associated with The Island. I heard her address yesterday so I do not need to hear it again.”

  “So what do we do between now and five?” asked Gary

  “Well, we could go and look at our home for the next year. We will be sharing a room in a cottage known as Angel. When we have finished we can go up there. After that there should be time to visit The Wax House.”

  Connie led Gary back up the hill, pointing out Anchor cottage to the right where another set of new recruits were installing themselves.

  “That’s The Town Hall on the left,” she said. “And The Wax House is next to it with its blacked out arched windows. The entrance to our cottage is round to the right, by Atlas’ statue. I suppose we are quite privileged having a residence that is right in the Town Square. That rectangular piece of water in the middle is called Leo’s Lake.”

  The door to the cottage opened automatically, and then closed automatically behind them.

  “The whole set isn’t here yet,” explained Connie. “Me, Carl, Jose and Graca arrived yesterday. Carl is from Newfoundland, which, like Alaska has strong ties with The Island. Jose and Graca are from Lisbon. Carl has a background in engineering, but as he couldn’t pass exams too good so he wasn’t going to be able to make a lot of his talents in Canada.”

  “So how did he get his passport here?”

  “Family contacts. His dad knew of The Island and some of the local landowners had links to The Island. He thinks, and so do I, that the island of Newfoundland is a target for The Island for conversion to Non-Capitalist Economics. It won’t happen soon, though. His dad thinks it won’t turn non-capitalist for at least twenty years. Carl is already twenty-nine, so unless he was given a chance now he would have had to accept that he would have to live the rest of his life under capitalism. The landlords held a secret meeting and somehow fixed it for him to have that prized Queen’s Ticket.”
/>
  “And what about the Portuguese couple?” Gary asked.

  “They are Catholics, but they belong to a very special church called The Church of The Founder Mary in Lisbon, not to be confused with the Church of Saint Mary, which is quite different. The Church of The Founder Mary, I learnt, has nothing to do with the Virgin Mary, but with a far more recent person by the name of Mary, who established our multi-religious faith to which all other religions of the world would one day subscribe. No more wars caused by religion. A noble aim, most would agree, but she received little support in her time, especially in her native England. She was an obscure woman, just like that church where Jose and Graca worshipped is a very obscure church with a very private congregation. It contributes to the Catholic Church and, for so doing, is not criticised for its existence, but it is definitely not a conventional Catholic Church, and its weddings are not recognised officially as being Catholic. Its priests and priestesses are likewise not recognised as being officially Catholic. I guess it is more than a matter of coincidence that the ice rink where Jose and Graca practised their ice dance routines is situated exactly opposite the church, and that every year it is accepted that two of its twenty-somethings are selected to come here and start new lives in a place where this multi-faithed religion is the norm rather than the exception.”

  “Where are the others now?”

  “Up at the rink I guess. There should be more of our set arriving today or tomorrow. I know there will be twelve of us in all.”

  Connie showed Gary around the cottage, which consisted of a living room, study room, kitchen and two bedrooms downstairs, and a further four bedrooms upstairs. Connie and Gary’s room was one of the upstairs ones. Once inside Connie handed Gary a little red book.

  “What’s this?” he asked

  “Something you’ll need to get used to using. It’s called a requisitions book. You can use it for requisitioning all of your standard personal items, such as basic clothing, toothpaste, basic food items, in fact anything that is classed as basic and unrestricted. There’s a different system for what under capitalism would be classed as more expensive items. They are more tightly controlled but aren’t rationed or subject to rigid quotas. Excessive consumption could give rise to what is known as a demand irregularity, but usually there would have to be an error of some kind or something very out of the ordinary to invoke that. It is what is known as a fault tolerant system.”

  Gary looked closely at the various categories of basic goods.

  “How do I apply for these things?” he asked.

  “You either fill out a form and have them delivered or you present yourself at a place of release, that is, a shop, and get an entry made in your requisitions book. A lot of things will be requisitioned collectively, so there is joint responsibility for ordering meals for the week, for example. You can also requisition online.”

  “What about pubs and restaurants?”

  “Depends on the place. In a basic pub or restaurant it is sufficient just to present your ID number.”

  “And higher than basic?”

  “Higher class places often require a ticket for which you have to apply, unless you get it as a merit award. Applications are usually granted, but you can’t abuse it by always going to a posh place and never to a basic one. I’ll try and download a factsheet if you like. The Island website is easy to log onto here, although outside Island territories it is impossible. The only way anyone ever hears of this place is by word of mouth.”

  “So it seems,” acknowledged Gary. “Shall we go to The Wax House then?”

  Chapter Five

  The Wax House

  A set of steps led to the entrance to The Wax House. Outside a dozen recruits were already waiting to be escorted inside. A sign at the door read ‘next tour at 3 p.m.’

  As the clock on the Bell Tower struck three, the door opened and a dark-haired lady in her late forties beckoned them to come inside.

  The hall into which they stepped was darkened to protect the delicate wax exhibits, which were arranged in two lines of six pairs with a platform at the far end upon which one further waxwork stood, dressed entirely in white, set on a pedestal behind as if looking over them from above.

  “Good afternoon, ladies and gents,” said the lady. “I am Maria Salvatore and have the honour of being The Curator of this our fine Wax House museum. Allow me to introduce The Founders of our Island. If you will follow me round I will move to each pair of figures in turn and then give you a brief description of each couple and what their role was in the establishment of the fine community which you have been invited to join. These are the great and glorious men and women who, over seventy years ago, shaped and constructed our Island. Many of the people who live and work on The Island are direct descendants of these Founders.

  All in their thirties, they were men and women with means who shared a common vision of a better world that would be achieved not by violent revolution, but by popular consent that would ensue over many generations in territories that would be acquired through a long-term strategy of progressive acquisition. The acquisition of islands would form the basis of this strategy, but other territories, notably peninsulas, would also be earmarked for purchase under opportunist conditions. Kamchatka, with its previously low rate of economic growth, yet considerable geothermal energy reserves and cheap land, was a special target for acquisition at an early stage.

  All of these individuals were wealthy, but at the same time they all recognised the unfairness, injustice and suffering that capitalism created. But whilst they all had a quiet despising of capitalism, they all agreed also that communism was a worse rather than a better economic model and that at some point it would either collapse, as happened in eastern Europe, or would be forced to slowly revert back to capitalism, as happened in China. In the view of The Founders the world needed a completely new third theory to rival capitalism and that theory is the one that we know commonly today as Non-Capitalist Economics.”

  The Curator presently stepped toward the first pair of exhibits.

  “The first Founder that we see is Eric, The Journalist, and architect of our political system which functions under the title of One Party Democracy. Next to him we see his principal, Rachel, who had served alongside him during his years of media reporting researching and studying different systems of government throughout the world, as well as different systems of management. He took particular interest in the techniques of quality management that had been adopted by the Japanese in the twentieth century and believed that some kind of system that removed the competition and wastefulness of multi-party systems was needed, but without creating a dictatorship. Eric was duly appointed Minister for Democracy.

  Facing them, we see the all-female partnership of Mary, The Priestess, and her principal Norma. They believed in the need for a single unified world religion, which, whilst not being a religion in itself, would provide an umbrella for all other religions. Mary became the Minister for Religious Affairs and shared a close affinity with the queen for ice dancing, which increasingly became part of our culture. She also managed gay and lesbian affairs, against which The Island does not specifically legislate, although everyone is expected to remain faithful to their set.

  Diagonally opposite we see David, The Publisher, and his principal Valerie. He was a strong campaigner for the anti-gun lobby in America, which didn’t exactly make him popular in some quarters in the US where he did much of his work and campaigning. His experience of world affairs, however, gave him sufficient expertise to take on the role of Media Minister, freeing up Eric to concentrate on the political side.

  Opposite David and Valerie we see John, The Barrister, otherwise known as Big John, with his principal Angela, whom John had met at law school. John was the legal expert who was responsible for all aspects of law and order. He was dismayed at Britain’s legal system as well as the current state of policing in all countries. In his many papers he likened policing to inspection on the factory floor, but his ideas we
re not readily accepted by either the British media or academics. Much of his work fell on stony ground until he met the two Japanese gents Endo and Kai at a Deming conference. These two men, whom we shall see later, were very interested in his ideas and, following a meeting with Leo and Ken, invited him to join The Island and take on the Home Secretary role. Building on the third of Deming’s Fourteen Points, namely to cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality, John constructed what was later to become the Self Policing State. Our Greencoats as they are called now test for social defects by looking for common and special causes that could potentially lead to dissatisfaction and address those rather than attempting to police by inspection.

  Moving on, the next waxwork on the left is Colin, The Analyst, who was quite a different character. He was the Minister for Education and Information Technology, and, with the help of Clifford, whom we shall see in a moment, and Endo-san, developed our intranet system known as Commander, as well as revolutionising education and learning. He was a computer expert from Wales who worked closely with Leo and Ken to ensure that their computer systems were always ahead of everyone else’s. His expertise made him very rich, not that Sheila, his principal, was aware. She loved him for his desire for continuous learning. As a schoolteacher in the Rhondda Valley she was as dismayed at Britain’s education system as Big John was at the legal system. Both Colin and Sheila’s condemnation of the UK examinations system especially led them both into conflict with the Department for Education costing them their jobs. Ken immediately rewarded them both with a place on The Island.