The Grey River Argus MONDAY, November 29, 1943. THE CASE OF MOSLEY.

Grey River Argus, 29 November 1943, Page 4

The Grey River Argus MONDAY, November 29, 1943. THE CASE OF MOSLEY.

The fact that he is reported by a London paper to be a “broken man,” might appear a justification for the action of the Home Sec. ret ary, lit. Hon. Herbert 'Morrison, in releasing Sir Oswald Mosley from prison, after his years of detention. On the other hand, the fact that the industrial organisations of Britain have made a very spirited protest against the Minister’s decision cannot lie disregarded. Indeed, it lias received Hie endorsement of New Zealand industrial unions, and the motives for it have even been acknowledged as. reasonable and justifiable by papers in London which have nevertheless defended the Government in the matter. It is stated that Mosley, in addition to undertakings that he would refrain absolutely from any association with former Fascist callaborators, has given the police to understand that he is finished with politics entirely. The sole grounds on which he has, with, his wife, been allowed out of prison were stated by Mr. Morrison to be his grave state of health, in which continued detention would, in the opinion of leading doctors, create the risk of his possible death. Even allowing the case to be thus, however,

the voice of workers’ organisations has been raised against his liberation on point of principle. Incidentally the Government press also claims to defend his release on the ground of principle. They state that the regulation under which he was detained should long ago have been repealed, since it means the indefinite imprisonment of persons without trial or the right of trial. For years this regulation has been attacked, but significantly it has not been the papers now questioning it which hitherto have objected to it. Rather have they condoned it, and the question arises as to when ami why their attitude underwent such a radical reversal. This point seems to be really the core of the agitation to have Mosley returned to prison. It was by no means with his case' in mind that those who questioned _ the regulation urged its abolition. But it is any odds that the workers’ organisations regard Mosley as having been given exceptional treatment. The continued detention, without regard for health, under the same regulation of numerous other persons is obviously being contrasted with the special consideration extended to the former leader of the Fascist movement. In short, the case presents all of the. appearances of one in which a class distinction is being drawn, a member of the aristocracy being’ allowed his liberty whilst others outside the pale are denied it when they are politically far better entitled to it than he is. Probably also the protesting workers’ organisations are concerned about the implica tions of this decision in Mosley’s favour in reference to other policy decisions later. The precedent set, is susceptible of an interpretation that reactionary agitation might become subject to condona’tion. . It might be that Mosley’s political disaffection is the result of a disillusionment due to his realisation of the logical conclusion of Fascism as illustrated by German terrorism. But whether or not he has seen the evil of the thing, the workers of Britain have a grim realisation of what harm the Nazi movement has wrought upon Europe, and feel that in fighting it they are fighting to brinish the idea which inspired Mosley, when he broke with the British Labour tradition and embraced the caricature which Hitler propagated as National Socialism. Although the demand has been that Mosley should not remain free, and, although. a majority of the Labour Party has refused to condemn the action of Mr. Morrison, it is more than likely that the object of the protest is both to render the release nugatory as a precedent, and to make it instead a precedent for excluding Fascism from any quarter for the future. More will be heard of it in the political arena, and it will already have bieeii assured that there shall -be nO repetition, nor any compromise with, the nations that always will remain associated with Mosley’s pre-war activity.