My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleynormally would merit no notice, because it is typical of this attitude and practice.Years later a British official was in very free circulation in a German city; his exactposition was obscure to me, but he was undoubtedly and openly in the employment ofthe British Government. He had apparently the habit of attempting to ingratiatehimself in a social way with the Germans by the difficult and always rather ludicrousprocess for an Englishman of behaving in a manner more German than the Germans.This worthy of the English establishment approached a friend of mine at a party,presumably because he was prominent in the industrial and social life of Germany,and said after much circumlocution: 'Why waste time with Mosley, who politically isa dead man?' This did not go well, as he was met with the reply: 'Why then do youwaste time in trying to kill a man already dead?'After further preamble, he launched another attack: 'Anyhow, you know that Mosleyis a Jew'. This was all related to me with much merriment at a subsequent gatheringwhere everyone was well aware of my ancestry and antecedents. What is the manlike?— I asked— and one of the ladies replied with general assent: 'Ein ekelhafterkleiner Spion'. Once again love's labour appeared to be lost. This man's salary waspaid by the taxpayers; a curious employment for public funds, and it seemed to me astrange idea after all had been said and done, that the British government's causecould be advanced by a play on supposed German anti-semitism, which in that circledid not exist. Did this kind of thing make me bitter? Not at all; if you have long beenthe professional recipient of custard pies from the principal clowns of the politicalcircus, with every opportunity to throw them back carefully removed, you are notannoyed by the antics of the chap who sweeps up the dirt in the corner.The fight for freedom to express my opinions on the continent of Europe continued;nothing else was involved except this liberty which was one of the freedoms forwhich the allies claimed to have fought the war and was afterwards consecrated in theinstruments of the United Nations which were signed by these and other powers. Thenext mile-stone in this arduous journey to liberty was a libel action in Italy against thecommunist paper Unita which followed closely on the conference at Venice, whoseoutcome had apparently alarmed and enraged it. This was the most powerfulcommunist journal in Europe supporting the strongest Communist Party. I was toldthis party had not been successfully challenged in the law courts on the Continentsince the war. Nevertheless, I brought an action for criminal libel; they werecondemned and fined in the first court in front of three judges, and their convictionwas upheld by five judges in the court of appeal. The suggestion of the newspaperwas that I was the British Hitler, and was responsible for political crimes. The courtfound that I could not be called the British Hitler, and pressed the other side closelyon the point of political crimes. It was then admitted that there was not a shred ofevidence to support this allegation, but it was contended that such was my personalityand character that I must be the fans et origo of political crimes in general. It was notsurprising that the judges rejected this defence, and to the considerable indignation ofthe communists present, they went down with a bump.The next lawsuit of note was in Germany in October 1962 against the StuttgarterNachrichten. In the course of a long general attack on me it made a suggestion whichhad already been dealt with in the English courts. The beginning of the story was asmall anti-semitic society founded around the year 1920 by a veterinary surgeoncalled Arnold Leese, with the name Imperial Fascist League. After languishing in372 of 424