My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleycommunists had by then come over to us. Ever after those days, some of our bestmembers were ex-communists, and some of them held important posts in the party.Communists are well versed in real politics and after the requisite period of test theyoften become valuable members.It may be felt that throughout this period I much overrated the danger of communismin Britain. That is an easy view in the affluent society of the 1960s, but itmisunderstands both the fluidity of the economic situation and the flexibility ofcommunism. Modern experience indicates that the world economy can change forbetter or worse very quickly, and with it will change the tactics of the communists. Atpresent, they are playing their hand very gently, and have assumed almost theappearance of a bourgeois party in the countries where they are strongest. Theirorganisation has been founded a long time and has an able and experienced leadership.Since 1848 the communists have learned much, and have developed an extraordinaryvariety of methods; the long training of their membership has achieved a completediscipline, based on a deep understanding of the ultimate objectives of the party andthe need for continued manoeuvre to attain them. A party which aims not at thereform but at the overthrow of society cannot openly declare its objectives and mustcreate a hard core of membership which understands the need for a constant change oftactic. The communists are also possessed by the belief that the end justifies themeans to a far greater extent than any other practitioners of this pernicious andsocially disruptive doctrine. Dedicated communists are highly-trained politicalsoldiers, equally prepared to sing in the choir of churches open to their infiltration, orto use machine-guns in the streets, which are conveniently carried beneath surplices.Admirable in communism is the power to endure, to return again and again fromdefeat, and to march through disaster to final victory. This quality was for generationsunique in politics and comparable only with the morale of a great army. An examplewas the retreat of the German army in 1914 to positions prepared in advance againstdisaster on the Aisne, while their main force was advancing in the full flush of victoryon Paris. That manoeuvre seemed to professional soldiers a superb performance;foresight in command and morale in the troops. In politics, the communists have donethe equivalent over many generations, and as a result have won half the world. Itseems a rule of history that real men and real movements who finally change thecourse of events must first pass through the ordeal of recurrent defeat and longdisaster; a natural test of greatness in any cause. Communism is never a negligibleforce; it should be studied, as the great enemy should always be studied in every moveof his method and in every fibre of his being.Detestable in communism, and fortunately for us also laden with the seeds of itsultimate disaster, is the quality of its fanaticism which uses and justifies the vilest ofmeans to achieve ends which it genuinely believes to be noble. It is finally disastrousbecause it inevitably destroys all trust among men, even within the party. If you areready to assassinate by some wretched trick an opponent who impedes the ends of theparty, you finally assassinate comrades when you become convinced they too areimpeding the ends of the party. Hence the judicial murder of old Bolsheviks underStalin and all the horrible record of communism devouring its own. Communism canalways be defeated by political forces with similar resolution which combine greatbeliefs with the basic values of honour and fair dealing among men. Such movementsonly fail when they fall victim in some degree to the moral disease of communism.258 of 424