My Life

My Life - Oswald Mosleyas a mark of their feelings; a vote of dedicated enthusiasts.Violent disorders at our meetings all over Britain in July 1962 followed theconference in Venice on March, and the local elections of May; this was clearlysomething more than a coincidence. After fourteen years of orderly meetings, wewere back in the situation of the thirties before we overcame red violence, with thedifference that we were now prevented by law from keeping order at our outdoormeetings, which are the normal activity of summer. Was it spontaneous combustionall over Britain ignited by the suddenly awakened indignation of honest burghers afterfourteen years of slumber? Were communists or fellow-travellers as innocent as theChurch Lads' Brigade of the sudden revival of disorder at the very moment of our firstconsiderable successes since the war? The reader can judge.The highly trained but always anonymous specialists in street tactics, who havesympathy but usually no overt connection with the Communist Party, were moved toaction at this point by quite clear reasons. They did not interfere during the fourteenyears of successful meetings because they thought we should get nowhere in theconditions of the affluent society and were therefore no immediate menace to them;they had the bitter memory of their attacks upon us before the war, which had notonly been heavily defeated but in their view of politics had actually stimulated thegrowth of our movement. There is nothing so disastrous for them as a challengewhich fails. Yet things were different after the war, because the Public Order Actprevented our self-defence. When they found to their surprise we were makingprogress they felt that some risk must be taken to stop it: violence began again; theycan turn it on and off like a hot-water tap.Two clashes are worth considering. We organised a march and meeting in Manchester,which we had often done before in peace and order during the preceding years. Mypart was to lead the march and to address the meeting. On the assembly of the marchwe were heavily attacked, and in the course of the fight I went down for the first timein my experience of such occasions. My fall was not due to being knocked down, butto tripping over a kerbstone in the course of the melee. We re-formed and marched fornearly two miles, fighting all the way. I then made the speech I had come to deliver.The behaviour of the Manchester police was magnificent throughout. Their numberswere inadequate to stop us being attacked (by assailants who in some cases had beenbrought from as far afield as Glasgow) but they were determined to allow the marchand meeting to go through; and they did.380 of 424