My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosley13 - Office in MacDonald's 1929 AdministrationOPINIONS may vary about the policies for which I was responsible during thedecade 1920 to 1930, but it would be difficult to deny that they were a serious attemptto meet the problems of the day. Many of us in that period dedicated ourselves to thecause of doing something for our country and its people at a time when humansuffering and national danger alike demanded action. I had entered politics withsimple objectives: to prevent any recurrence of the war which had inflicted suchlosses on my generation, and in place of that senseless destruction to build a fair wayof life. I felt with ever increasing force that modern science not only provided themeans to give everyone at least a good house and a living wage, but, with competentpolitical direction, steadily to increase the standard of life. After eleven years,experience of politics I had complete confidence in my own capacity to solve anyproblem confronting the nation; that confidence has not diminished but has grownwith the years.Labour at last had the great opportunity in the victory of 1929, because we could besure enough of Liberal support at least to deal with the immediate unemploymentproblem. Here was the chance to do what we had promised after long years of effort.What then was the result of all these exertions, requiring some personal sacrifice inleading an arduous existence of incessant struggle in a storm of abuse instead of thegood life we so much enjoyed and for which we had ample means? The answerpresents a degree of frivolity and indeed of absurdity which it is difficult to credit.Before I became a Minister I used to say that Bernard Shaw's caricatures of the mind,character and behaviour of politicians were hardly funny because they were tooremote from reality. After a year in office I felt inclined to say: Shaw's plays are anunderstatement.Pride of place in the riotous burlesque of politics provided by Ramsay MacDonald'ssecond Labour Government must be awarded to J. H. Thomas, but before discussingmy relations with him against the general political and parliamentary background, Ishould describe the means at my disposal, and the men who assisted me in producingthe creative ideas which will later be discussed. In 1929 I had the assistance of whatwas then and still remains the most brilliant executive team in the world, the staff ofthe British Treasury. Ramsay MacDonald formed his second Labour Governmentafter the election in May, and invited me to become Chancellor of the Duchy ofLancaster, a post which left me free as a Minister virtually without Portfolio toundertake a special task. I became one of four Ministers charged with theunemployment problem, with a room in the Treasury and an official of thatdepartment as whole-time secretary. J. H. Thomas was the Minister primarilyresponsible, and he also had a room in the same building. The other two Ministers,Lansbury and Johnston, were housed elsewhere, as they were responsible for theOffice of Works and the Scottish Office.It must be clear to anyone who is good enough to study it in detail that my short-termpolicy of meeting the unemployment problem of 1929-30 could only have beenproduced with the aid of the Civil Service; the long-term policy proposed at the sametime is in another category, but again the knowledge and assistance of the CivilService made an immense contribution. This is not to say by any means that all theTreasury officials were in agreement with these policies, for that would be remote192 of 424