November. Americans are impossible. Poles popular. "Quite mad" Mrs Hichens. British zone in Germany. Monty's one dish too many.
Saturday, Nov 9th
Conscription to be continued and is to last 18 months. It seems a pity they cannot make do with a year
There is now a Republican Congress and therefore a stalemate in the U.S.A. The Americans are sinking steadily back to laissez faire, freer hand to the businessmen and more power to the party bosses. The trend will be towards a more aggressive policy towards the U.S.S.R. followed perhaps by isolationism and revival of tariffs and restrictions on foreign imports. As The Spectator says, both parties are running down hill, but the Republicans are running with the breaks off. What is clear is that the Democratic policy, feeble though President Truman may be, is more likely to help forward world peace and prosperity than Republican. Yet as it is U.N.R.A. has been wound up, price controls ended, government buying in foreign countries stopped, and the plan for a world food board rejected. The result of this is that our zone in Germany is starving and India and S.E. Europe are near famine. The Americans are so impossible, and clearly Truman has no grip on the situation.
The repatriation of those Poles who want to go back hanging fire and the rest are about the place in uniform; 24,000 have elected to stay and 18,000 to go back. Few of them can speak English and until they can do that they cannot be absorbed into English industry. Neither the miners nor the agricultural workers want them. They have on the whole a bad reputation and are unpopular.
Tuesday, Nov 12th
New chairman of Education Committee, Mrs Hichens, sounds quite mad. An aristocrat – Lyttleton – never answers letters, though when inviting her to give away prizes did not realize this. On anniversary of son’s death in war gave a great dinner party, .… and la grande dame takes the head of the table, telephone call to say friends in Oxford cannot come, Mrs H in evening dress goes out to fetch them in her car. Car runs out of petrol in the village; Mrs H takes car of friends without permission that she finds outside their house. Runs into bus, crawls out of wreckage, taken home in ambulance, has stitches put in leg and comes down stairs a wreck to find guests departing. Is unable to attend meeting of new Development Committee, “important engagement”, a police court where heavily fined. A real aristocratic eccentric. As for people like headmasters or directors - all below cabinet rank do as Mrs H tells them like the one-time servants of the estate. Curious commentary our democracy, so called.
Sunday, Nov 17th
Brains Trust asked recently if they knew of any good news replied, “No, they couldn’t think of any.”
The Germans in our zone have reached a point of moral and economic collapse. Eighteenth months after the surrender they are facing another winter without the stocks of food, fuel, clothing they had last year. Rations are falling to slow-starvation level. The unconditional surrender policy seems to have been a ghastly mistake and has been followed by an inefficient government, which has always been forced to conform to the effects any actions may have on relations with other powers, never on the zone itself.
At home the news of the week was a revolt of 50 or so M.P.s against Bevin’s foreign policy. The motion expresses the fear that we shall be involved in a capitalist – communist conflict. The fears are partly economic, that we shall be involved in an American slump, partly political, two powers at war. We cannot however be economically independent; we are too poor and depend on American good will….
People grumble at the changing of bread units into points because the bigger families are so much better off – they don’t need their bread units and change them into points and then sweep the grocers clean when things like biscuits and treacle come in. Moreover the Food Ministry is prosecuting people for what are technical offences while the black market gets away with it. This week a corporation was summoned for serving too many dishes, to wit cheese, when entertaining Montgomery.
Been reading John Hersey's "Hiroshima", which created a sensation in America. The sense of guilt and uneasiness about our use of the bombs widespread. Argued that once war allowed a question of degree rather than kind. Don't hold with him on this, but wish we knew more about state of war at the time, responsibility for decision, etc - though goodness knows we are all responsible. We killed 300,000 Germans and lost 80,000 men of the R.A.F. and a similar number of Americans, yet the allied air power was decisive. It made invasion possible; it brought the German economy to the point of collapse. Before 1944, when the bombing reached its peak, 3/4 of the German population thought the war was lost. Debate in H of C on monopolies in the press and appointment of commission….. Doubtful if political opinions of electorate much influenced by press, more by discussion in the fish queue. Fish Fryers Assoc reported to have sent message of support to the proprietors: “Our work is wrapped up in yours”. Alleged that some angry reporters said to Proprietor: “You are nothing but a Judas Iscariot!”. Proprietor rang bell and shouted, “Boy, get me Who’s Who”.
Wednesday, Nov 26th
Rain and wind for weeks on end, floods, damp and slime. Also rheumatism in hip joint.
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