My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleymany years dictator of Russia, and the more I have studied his career, the more I amshocked by the terrible mistakes he made and the utter ruthless-ness he showed tomen and masses with whom he acted. When Hitler had been destroyed, Stalin madehimself our principal object of dread. After our joint victory became certain, hisconduct divided the world again. He seemed to be carried away by the dream of worlddomination. He actually reduced a third of Europe to a Soviet satellite condition undercompulsory communism.' So the rulers of Britain met their nightmare of a bid forworld domination in the end, and from the quarter whence, on the whole record, itshould always have been expected.Meantime, we not only suffered the physical division of Europe by the triumphantoutside powers, but were also assailed throughout the Empire by the politicalprinciples which had been used for the defeat of Germany. Extreme doctrines ofAmerican liberalism were combined with the subversive propaganda of Russiancommunism and were spread by the British Government through every medium ofworld opinion. Not only were we so physically exhausted by the effort of war that itbecame difficult to maintain our position, but the whole moral position of the BritishEmpire was undermined by the political explosives we had employed againstGermany.It is true that many changes must have come in due course, but in a considered andorderly fashion and not through the indiscriminate blasting of an improviseddemolition squad. We were well and truly hoist with our own petard; the chiefexample of self-destruction in all history. The heirs and beneficiaries we hadintroduced to the scene were ready and willing to take over; America appropriatedstraight away the world-wide trading and financial position of Britain, and Russiaprepared in its own fashion for the ultimate take-over of our Imperial trusteeship bythe preliminary employment of American liberalism. Their action in Europe was evenmore direct: Europe was divided into two satellite powers, with Britain attached toAmerica as the only alternative to death under Russia.A reply may be made to all this by the good and pious, who are ever ready to sacrificethe interests of their country and their continent in response to the latest message theyhave received over their private telephone to heaven. They have to admit that we havelost much, but urge that it was in pursuit of a moral duty. May we begin to examinethis claim with a simple question: is morality a one-way street? Does moralconscience only work if Germany is the opponent, but never when Russia is?This leads to further questions which start from the premise that policies can finallybe judged only by their results, by a comparison of the declared objective with the endachievement. What were our war aims, and what were the results? We set out to saveand liberate Poland and all other small countries from the German oppressor. I gave asummary of the post-war situation while Sir Winston Churchill was Prime Minister inAugust 1954, and which still seems to me mostly valid: 'Europe divided and ruined;the enslavement of eastern Germany, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria andthe Baltic states, added to the encouragement and subsequent betrayal of Poland; thephosphorus bomb during the war, and the atom bomb after the war was effectivelyover; Nuremberg and the peace of vengeance, which poisons Europe for a generation;all not for the greater glory but to the destruction of the British Empire'.329 of 424