My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleycotton and woollen trades have shrunk to the negligible in terms of balance ofpayments statistics, for precisely the reasons I then gave.It is one of the most notable facts of the post-war period that the politicians have twicebeen saved from the results of their egregious errors by the discoveries of thescientists. If it had not been for the diversification of British industry through newinventions and techniques, we should have been bankrupt long ago; if it had not beenfor the discovery of nuclear fission the triumphant armies of Russian communismwould have overrun Europe two decades back. In the most diverse spheres thefrenzied politicians have attempted to commit national suicide, but have been pulledout of the morass into which they plunged by the saving hand of science. Completelyunabashed, the talkers continue to claim the credit without one word of thanks to thedoers, and worse still without even providing them with sufficient funds to prevent thedrain to America of brains which have hitherto been the only salvation of Britain.It may be complacently contended that natural luck and the ability of our scientistsand technicians can always assure that fresh discovery arrives at just the right moment,and that consequently the politicians had nothing to worry about at the time I wasanalysing the demise of our traditional trades on account of factors then easilyobservable and since proved to be correct. Yet surely statesmen can only deal withfacts as they are, and it is criminal to rest the life of great nations on the arrival ofthese happy chances. The drunk may argue that if he has missed the lamp-post onceon his way home he will always do so, but this cannot be the sober calculation ofstatesmanship. Britain has hitherto survived by astonishing luck, and it still faces acrisis which in the end can only be met by similar policies in the new context ofEurope and of modern science.When I resigned from the Government, in effect I staked my whole political life ontwo main issues. The first was that this top-heavy island cannot continue indefinitelyto sell so large a proportion of its total production on the open markets of the world;this analysis is now recognised to be true in the search for another marketarrangement. The second was that the purchasing power of the Western world couldnot indefinitely absorb the production of modern science without the devising bygovernment of new economic policies of a totally different order to the ideas thenprevailing; this was not only my view, it was stressed by many of the highest paidengineers of American industry, then known as technocrats. The validity of thissecond analysis was temporarily postponed by Roosevelt doubling the price of gold inthe thirties, and by the sequence of armament boom and another world war.Yet at present the same ominous symptoms begin to reappear, despite the higherpurchasing power of the post-war affluent society reinforced by hire purchase. Thesituation is graver than before, because a large proportion of American productionsurplus to normal demand has been absorbed by minor wars, by the armamentcompetition of the cold war, and by the related space programme. Temporaryprosperity rests on the dangerous abnormalities of hire purchase and the cold war, inthe continent on which depends the rest of the Western world under the presentsystem. We approach the time when these grave issues may be put to the final test, butthe measures now necessary to meet them are best dealt with later as a whole in acomprehensive study of my post-war thinking.213 of 424