My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleyhome for a few shillings; private enterprise produced them in bulk. Soon our mendeveloped the habit of cutting the shirt in the shape of a fencing-jacket, a kindly littletribute to my love of the sport; also this form had the practical advantage that it gavethe opponent nothing to grasp, in particular no tie which he was wont to pull adroitlyfor purpose of strangulation.My mistake was in allowing the development of a full military uniform for certainmen who qualified to wear it. Technically, the matter had nothing to do with me, for Iwas divorced by our Constitution from the management of the financial side of themovement, and this was in origin a purely commercial matter. The companyproducing our supporting newspaper. Action, supplied the military uniform to anyman who gave five nights' service a week to the party and sold a certain number ofcopies of the paper. I think even these men wearing the special uniform had to pay forit; but they were allowed to wear it on certificate of the party that they gave fivenights' service, and of the journal that they sold the requisite number of papers. It wascalled the Action Press Uniform.I was not therefore responsible for the uniform, but undoubtedly I could have used myinfluence to stop it and I did not; on the contrary, I accepted the invitation to wear itmyself, in order to encourage others. The reason was that the men were desperatelykeen to wear it as a mark of distinction, a party honour. They were soldiers, goodsoldiers, and soldiers like a smart uniform. With my background I simply had not theheart to stop them, and so much to disappoint them. It was an error and a derelictionof duty, for I should have known that while we could have got away with the simpleblack shirt, the uniform made us much too military in appearance and would createprejudice. The old soldier in me got the better of the politician.We created a real military organisation after the failure of the New Party, as the onlyway to defeat the highly-organised Communist guerrillas. Fortunately, many of us hadsome experience of it. I reverted to type and lived in the spirit of the professionalarmy where I began; I was half soldier and half politician. Around me by then weremen wearing every medal for gallantry the army had to offer. It is difficult to sayexactly in retrospect how and when they came. As the sense of crisis in the mass ofthe people deepened and our struggle intensified, they seemed to appear fromnowhere, from the limbo into which Britain all too often casts those who have servedit well.They were joined by others of similar type and character, who were too young to havefought in the previous war. We set about the job in a thoroughly professional manner.Another essential was to get a barracks where men could be concentrated and trained.This was provided by Whitelands College near to the Chelsea Barracks; it has sincebeen pulled down and a block of flats built on the site. There were large sleepingquartersand a drill or sports ground at the back for training. A mess and canteen wereestablished, so that men could both live and sleep there. They paid for their keep, andthe Whitelands barracks was practically self-supporting. Our administrative officeswere in the same building, and I had a room overlooking the parade ground.Another essential was mobility. We must be able to move rapidly about the countryfrom the H.Q., particularly to areas where branches were newly formed and localmembers were not yet trained as stewards for meetings. The chances of disorder were253 of 424