Chapter Seven
The British elections in March 1937 signalled a see change in politics that would overturn the ‘old guard’ of the establishment of the Empire. This occurred due to numerous reasons, some highly controversial and others that were caused by the conditions of the economy and the general shift of global, and more especially European, politics at the time. To understand these underlying shifts in the socio-economic positions of the Empire it is useful to start by looking at the shifts that occurred already in the World, especially in those areas closest to the homeland.
After the Treaty of Versailles and the end of the ‘Great War’ all sides, whether in the conflict or neutral, looked upon a very different Europe and started to count the costs of the mammoth conflict. The forcible spread of democracy and ‘self-determination’, an aim that Woodrow Wilson has strived so hard for, had adjusted the continent in a way not seen since the end of the ‘dark-ages’ when the major combatants had been formed. This tumultuous climate allowed for the entry of powerful new ideologies and a receding of the traditional ‘politics’ of Europe. With the rise of Communism in Russia and the drift of France toward the same with Le Blum, the traditionally reactive centre of Europe, fearful of the Communist expansion, clung to the far right and the emerging ultra-right politics of Fascism.
The first victim of the new climate was Italy, a country that had gained little from a bloody war that had taken its men and labour. When Mussolini came to the for with his new brand of ideology, Fascism, promising a new dynamic age, a new ‘Roman Empire’ and a bulwark against the spread of Communism he was greeted well. Along with the obvious implications of the Russian revolution, central-Europe was left with the pressing sides of right and left.
The fall and dismemberment of the German Empire had caused the greatest upheaval in the region since the Empire had formed after the Franco-Prussian war of 1871. The deep losses in industrial base, population and moral were compounded by that fact that, although in reality the Central Powers had been defeated, with no foreign victorious army on German soil there was a sizable minority who thought that Germany had, in some way, been betrayed. The nation yearned for a strong leader to bring unity and economic recovery to the country. The ‘democratic experiment’ in Germany was, in retrospect, always doomed to failure. With an increasing marginalisation of the ‘centre ground’ of German politics, both the left and right feared that the other could, all to easily, come to power. When a strong leader emerged, with dreams of a new Reich and a profoundly anti-communist agenda the right flocked to him, the fracturing of the ‘leftist’ vote caused Hitler to become the leading figure in Germany. When the Reichstag was burnt, apparently by the forces of Communism, the democratic order started to dissipate and Hitler and his Nazi party rose to a unassailable position.
The dismantling of the Austro-Hungarian Empire had caused the ‘key stone’ of central-southern Europe to be removed, without the overriding conservative Empire to hold the region together the most of the client states in the already unstable area to become polarised and look greedily over their borders at their neighbours. The resulting tension caused by the proximity of strong blocks of right and left lead to the inevitable growth of these factions in the area. As a result, the countries of the old Empire drifted predominantly to the right. The countries closest to the interests of a revitalised Germany were first with the growth of Fascism and Autocracy in Austria, Hungary and Romania.
In this context the change in British politics does not appear strange or forced, however, if one was to say talk about such a shift in Britain even in the early 30’s many would not have believed such an outcome. The homeland of the Empire had always been a little more ‘stable’ than that of it’s brethren on the continent. The stability may well have lasted had it not been for the extraordinary events of 1936/37 with the attempt on the new King’s life and the war in Ireland. The major factor of the bombing was the removal of much of the current ‘cream of the crop’ of the then current political establishment. Furthermore the, apparent, failure of the occupation in Ireland discredited a lot of the mainstream of the political spectrum.
The most controversial portion of the electoral campaign was waged not by a politician, but by the right-wing press and especially Lord Rothermere’s Daily Mail. The normal ‘dirty tricks’ of the press were supplemented by the re-publication of the ‘Zinoviev Letter’ and that the Labour Party was while a seemingly a party committed to democracy, was actually a collaboration of communists. Interestingly while the almost propaganda was largely directed at the ‘old enemy’ of socialism and communism, the support of the papers did not fall upon the Conservative party as it had in the past. The support of the Daily Mail was put squarely behind the Mosley and his British Union of Fascists.
Without the usual ‘heavy weights’ of the centre left and right, the political spectrum was polarised with increasing support for both Fascism and Communism. The campaign was mired in violence and protests from almost the day that Cromwell dissolved parliament and call a general election. Interestingly the major centres of fascism were also the industrialised inner cities, leaving die-hard supporters of both causes in relative proximity. The obvious consequence of this was that political marches quickly turned into running battles between the two sides, virtually turning the major cities into almost war zones.
The upshot of all of this was the expected outcome of a house roughly divided between two coalitions on either side of the divide, with Labour and the Communists on one side and the Conservative Part and BUF on the other. It seemed that the Liberal and National Liberal parties would hold sway, and would be courted by both the left and right. The three explosions that rocked London two nights before Election Day would shatter this delicate balance. The attempt upon the lives of Mosley, William Joyce and William Cromwell was shocking, leaving Cromwell badly injured, Joyce dead an Mosley, almost miraculously, alive.
The utter bombshell for the left in Britain came on the, 4th March, the day before the election. The daily Mail ram with the headline “BRITAIN UNDER COMMUNIST ATTACK – ALL FOUR ATTACKS LINKED TO COMMUNISM!”. The devastating story in the paper was basically a leaked MI5 report which had uncovered evidence that the four bombs, including he on which killed Stanley Baldwin, was the work of Irish Communists also linking Willie Gallacher, leader of the Communist Part of Great Britain, to the attacks. All this along with the shocking arrest of Gallacher announced on the radio to a shocked public that evening the effect was devastating.
