My Life

My Life - Oswald MosleyWhen mass production for the large and assured market of Europe is developed, andstill more when automation for such a market has immensely increased the power toproduce, a far larger pool of wealth will give a rare opportunity to increase the rewardand the amenities of the countryman, thus fortifying the equilibrium of the Statewithout any impairment of the purchasing power of the industrial worker. Others whoare not organised in big battalions should likewise at this point, and indeed before,directly benefit from government leadership through the wage-price mechanism; thecivil service, the police, the fighting services and above all the doctors, nurses andhealth services on which the whole structure of the State depends, and the pensioners,the old and the infirm.No equilibrium of an economic community can be established, and no durableequation between production and consumption can be maintained, until governmentoperates what should be the prime function of the State in the modern age: economicleadership through the wage-price mechanism. It will surely be regarded in future asone of the most extraordinary illusions of this period that government has the rightand the duty to interfere everywhere in industry except at the two points which matter;wages and prices.Setting aside the pretentious absurdity of government claiming to teach industry itsdetailed business, which is simply a mask for fundamental ineffectiveness, what is thefunction of government in the modern world if it does not give economic leadership inthe key questions of wages and prices? Is it just to keep the peace at home and abroad,until the collapse of the economic system risks disorder at home and impels us towardwar abroad? Is it just to levy taxes to maintain a growing and largely purposelessbureaucracy, and to hand out money to local authorities? Surely these principlesderive from the stage-coach age, for every pressing problem of the modern period iseconomic. In real terms, government has little function except to talk and posture, ifeconomic leadership is excluded, if intervention in wages and prices is prohibited.Reward: a cure for the English diseaseEven within the limited spheres allowed to government by the dominant forces of thepresent system, politicians fear any action which can remedy the malady known as theEnglish disease. There will be no health in England until we establish the principlethat it does not matter what a man is paid if he is worth it. This means quite simplythat he creates more than he earns. If this principle is applied, there will be no morebrain-drain, and even without a major revision of the economic system this could beachieved through a reform of the fiscal system. There is no reason why payment byresults should not be extended to our methods of taxation. When a firm largelyincreases its production, particularly in present conditions in the export trade, thechief executives should be rewarded by a corresponding reduction in their taxation. Itdoes not matter in the least if such a man's taxation is reduced to vanishing-point,provided his efforts have increased the wealth of the nation by more than the rewardhe receives. If British industry has not yet the wisdom to give good young executivesan interest in the equity of the firm in American fashion, a remission of their taxationin return for productive achievement can make them free men and give them freshcreative power by enabling them to save and to acquire their own capital.These revolutionary reforms are necessary to restore the normal working of natureand to cure the English disease. Exactly the same principle should be applied to412 of 424