My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosley24 - North KensingtonLater Renewal of Communist ViolenceI SHALL now describe how a sudden renewal of violence, in conjunction with thegovernment's attitude and action, effectively brought to an end the large and orderlypublic meetings which I addressed throughout Britain during fourteen years, from1948 to 1962. Even before the post-war foundation of the party in February 1948,during the period of book clubs and conferences, we held some public meetings whichwere successful and undisturbed; in the fifties they were the largest then being held inthe country and often very enthusiastic. The only trouble of any kind I remember wasone boy being put out of Birmingham Town Hall for throwing a firework. Televisionwas already taking its toll of the old English habit of public meetings, and even themain party leaders were finding it difficult to get audiences, but our meetingscontinued to fill some of the largest halls in the country. The policies we wereadvocating will be described, but there is not much more to relate during a long period,because of the tranquility of the whole experience. Also my picture of the post-waryears is deliberately foreshortened in order to avoid too much entry into contemporarycontroversy, which is not the purpose of this book.The main event in these years was my candidature at North Kensington in the electionof 1959. Our local branches had fought local elections on their own initiativethroughout the post-war years, but this was our first parliamentary fight. It was whatMr. Asquith described as a 'dark and difficult adventure' before his successful byelectionat Paisley, but the background of my political enterprise on this occasionmade it a good deal darker and [e.g., Free Trade Hall Manchester, and BirminghamTown Hall], more difficult than any normal election. We had given warning eversince 1952 that the Government's policy of permitting unlimited colouredimmigration was a grave error which would inevitably cause trouble; in fact, itgratuitously imported into Britain difficulties already evident in America. There hadbeen considerable white versus black riots in North Kensington during the previoussummer of 1958, and feeling on this matter was still smouldering. I thought thatsomeone should give this electorate the opportunity to express legally and peacefullyby their votes what they felt about the issues involved, and clearly I had the bestchance to establish these difficult conditions and get a fair verdict. Yet I knew that myentry would be misrepresented as an attempt to exploit the situation, and that theexcitement of my arrival might be alleged to have caused further violence if anythingof the kind should occur. It was a difficult decision to take, but I felt it my duty tostand and to face the problem. Otherwise history might well record that the Britishpeople had never been given a chance to express their opinion on the acute questionof coloured immigration.We had one local branch covering South and North Kensington, where there hadnever been any trouble until the sudden riots, in which our people took no part exceptto hold meetings asking for calm and order. My first act in the election address was toreiterate our appeal to settle the issue by votes and not by violence, and I asserted mywhole personal influence to secure order, and fair, peaceful discussion. The result atleast in this respect was a success, for after all the previous disorder there was notrouble of any kind in this election, and from that date to this there has been no revivalof mass violence in North Kensington. This was a surprise to many people. Even theusually sensible Sir Patrick Spens, Conservative M.P. for the next constituency of375 of 424