My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleyheritage the highest level of material well-being and the finest form of civilisation theworld had yet seen. One thousand years of genius and heroism created it—the geniusof inspired leadership and the heroism of a great people. . . .'The British Empire is now liquidated as a direct result of war. I continued in 1954:'The American navy controls the sea and British ships are commanded by Americanadmirals for defence of our homeland. . . . American aeroplanes with their atombombs also occupy England to save the English people from the same Sovietpower . . . the Dominions are protected by special arrangements with America fromwhich Britain is excluded; our old favourable balance of trade is lost and, instead, aprecarious and temporary equilibrium trembles on the brink of catastrophe wheneverthe lightest breeze blows from across the Atlantic; our old foreign investments arenearly all gone and the very few remaining are in pawn to the Exchange Control assecurity against the next crisis; the resources which could have developed the Empireare scattered by the winds of war; the manpower of the colonial Empire, which wouldonce have joined so willingly in a great development of mutual benefit, is also gone oris seething with unrest beneath the weakening grasp of the wavering giant. The BritishEmpire has lost confidence in itself and has gained confidence in nothing else, neitherhope nor idea. England —the land of genius, of daring, of energy, of eternalleadership and creative inspiration—stands humbly hat in hand to beg the support ofits American children, and mumbles tired excuses as it shuffles out of Empire, Europe,leadership and history.'A few men in the seats of power had ruled Britain throughout my political life. Iopposed their policies from start to finish and invariably advanced constructivealternatives. When I contrasted the Britain they inherited from their forebears with theBritain they bequeathed to their successors, was I unfair to write: 'Has so muchgreatness ever before been brought so low by the errors of so few men, without defeatof its people in war?'Should I now adjust the facts or admit the injustice of this attack? The only substantialchanges in facts since 1954 appear to be the large restoration of our foreigninvestments position by the efforts of British industry and finance, and a belatedchange in the direction of our government's shuffle, under stress of necessity, towardsEurope instead of away from it. Otherwise, any survey of the scene since thissummary was written can only note the accentuation and acceleration of everytendency then observed; certainly the further dissolution of the British Empire. It istrue that order and the affluent society still prevail on the knife-edge of our precariouseconomy within the main nations of the West. But everywhere else disintegrationdegenerates into anarchy as the direct consequence of the principle and the ally whichwe embraced in the war. We were certainly aided in our victory by the Soviet fightingon our side, and now we pay the price. When we entered the war, our rulers did noteven know on which side the Soviet Government would fight, for it had just signed atreaty with Germany. Russian entry on the other side would almost certainly havebrought the final disaster of defeat.The result of this war could only be tragedy: in the event we lost the Empire andsuffered only the partial triumph of Russian communism, because we were savedfrom its universal victory by the unforeseen and unforeseeable invention of the H-bomb by the scientists. I maintain the validity of the alternative policy: rearmament of331 of 424