My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleyhad been held at that time on the parliamentary register, including the young vote, weshould certainly have won. Yet some of our opponents contend that we should neverhave presented ourselves in East London, for bogus reasons I will later analyse.Claiming to be democrats, they would have disenfranchised the East Londonelectorate.BUF meeting at Hyde Park London 1936Fair-minded men may reply to all this: yes, you had every right to express youropinions, and it was intolerable that free speech should be brought to an end in Britainby an organised minority under control which was at least dubious, but it was alsointolerable that you should prance around at the head of a 'private army' and the oldparties were quite right to stop it by Act of Parliament. To this I reply—agreed—provided they then kept order themselves. No one could be more strongly than I inaccord with the proposition that the State alone under elected majority should govern;but govern it must, or it forfeits respect and authority.The 'private army' was born of a situation in which order at public meetings and freespeech in Britain had ceased to exist. The only period in which free speech at openmeetings for the opponents of communism existed in Britain during my lifetime waswhile the 'private army' also existed, and for a brief subsequent period. The State hasnever yet done anything effective about free speech, which for any new movementrelying on public meetings still does not exist; its suppression since the war has beenmore complete than in any previous period.It is true that television has radically altered the whole position: public meetings in theold style are now outdated. Their only purpose is to enable established party leaders to263 of 424