My Life

My Life - Oswald MosleyIt was, of course, perfectly possible to have genuine differences of opinion on asubject like the Olympia meeting without ulterior motive, and fair-minded membersof the Conservative and other parties took different sides in the subsequentcontroversy. Most of them only saw what happened on the spot in the violent fightingwhich took place in the hall; they were unaware of what had occurred previously inthe systematic organisation of disorder for attack on the meeting from outside the hall.Some Conservative M.P.s witnessed these happenings, and recorded them in the Press.Mr. Patrick Dormer, M.P. wrote, for instance, in the National Review: '. . . that fact isthat many of the Communists were armed with razors, stockings filled with brokenglass, knuckle-dusters, and iron bars; that they marched from the East End, the policekindly escorting them, with the avowed purpose of wrecking the meeting. A friend ofmine saw a woman Fascist with a razor-cut across her face, and with my own eyes Iwitnessed gangs of Communists (some of them dressed in black shirts to makeidentification of those responsible for the uproar more difficult) resisting ejection withthe utmost violence. If then, as cannot be disputed, some of these hooligans werearmed, can it in equity be argued that the stewards used their fists, when provoked inthis manner, with more vigour than perhaps the situation required? I listened carefullyto comments of those nearby, and noted that one woman present referred to the"restraint" shown by the stewards.'Example of weapons taken from Communists who hadattacked BUF Olympia meetingA collection of weapons taken from the attackers was afterwards made and thephotographs are still on record. Our stewards had to eject these armed men with theirbare hands, for they were not only forbidden to carry weapons, but were oftensearched to ensure the order was obeyed. Our Constitution laid down precise rules fordealing with disorders at meetings: 'Interrupters will be ejected only on theinstructions of the speaker as chairman of the meeting when the persistence of aninterrupter prevents those in his vicinity from hearing the speech. Ejection will becarried out with the minimum of force necessary to secure the removal of theinterrupter from the meeting.' Were our stewards really to be blamed if they punchedwith their fists men who attacked them with 'razors, knuckle-dusters and iron bars'? Ifthey handled the opposition with such brutality, why was not a single case of that kinddetained in London hospitals that night? At our own dressing-station, according tosigned statements of highly qualified medical personnel: 'Sixty-three Blackshirts weretreated for injuries, mostly abdominal, and injuries caused by blunt instruments'; theinjuries included, 'Blackshirts kicked in the head and in the stomach and laid up forthree weeks'... 'girl Fascist with a scratch, commencing under her eye and runningdown her cheek and neck and finishing on her back, between her shoulder blades. I do247 of 424