My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosley23 - The Post-War European IdeaDIRECTLY the war was over and I was free to move anywhere in Britain I began theorganisation of a political movement. The first action after resuming contact with myfriends was the organisation of book clubs, which was followed by the issue of anewsletter in November 1946. Union Movement was formally constituted onFebruary 8, 1948, when fifty-one separate organisations or groups came together andinvited me to start again. As the name implies, the aim of Union Movement was topromote this wider union of Europe. We desired first a union of the British people totranscend party differences as a vital preliminary to the union of Europe. A fewextracts from my writings and speeches during this period give the keynotes of acampaign which continued through the next fourteen years in public meetings whichwere large, orderly and continually growing in size and enthusiasm. Thecircumstances which then brought public meetings in Britain effectively to an end willlater be examined in some detail.As soon as I was free to speak after the war, I returned to the theme of the union ofEurope and linked it with the startling development of science during the war, whichreinforced my long-standing belief that it should be the main preoccupation ofstatesmanship. For instance: 'The union of Europe becomes not merely a dream or adesire but a necessity. The union of Europe is no new conception, the only novelty isits present necessity.... We must realise that science has rendered any pre-war policyentirely irrelevant in the new age. The idea I now advance is as far beyond bothfascism and democracy of 1939 as the jet-propelled airplane is beyond the nineteenthcenturysteam-engine. The movement of science since 1939 compels a commensuratedevelopment in political thinking. Politics must bring in the new world of science toredress the balance of the old world of Europe. The union of Europe is now necessaryto the survival of every nation in this continent. The new science presents at once thebest opportunity and the worst danger of all history. It has destroyed for ever theisland immunity of Britain and compelled the organisation of life in wider areas. Ithas accelerated evolution, and imposed union with our kindred of Europe if we are tosurvive. It is in the interest of America to have a partner rather than a pensioner. It isin the interest of the world for a power to arise which can render hopeless the Russiandesign for the subjection of Europe to communism. We shall thus combine in anenduring union the undying tradition of Europe and the profound revolution ofmodern science. From that union will be born a civilisation of continuing creation andever unfolding beauty that will withstand the tests of time' (November 15, 1946).An essay entitled 'The Extension of Patriotism, The Idea of Kinship' (January 1947)took this thinking further: 'We love our countries, but we must extend that love; theideal and the practical alike now compel it. The extension of patriotism: that is thenecessity and that is the hope. The new patriotism will extend to embrace all of likekind, but will not destroy the values of its kind by seeking the unnatural mingling ofthe old internationalism.'Any suggestion that in urging the creation of Europe I was becoming anti-Americanwas refuted by a further phase of the argument in this essay: 'Yet the idea of kinshipcarries us far beyond Europe; there are kindred of ours in both Americas. Theirspiritual life is also ultimately based on nearly three millenia of European history andculture. In the deep realities and further ideals of this age all nature impels them in362 of 424