The King and Country Debate was a debate on 9 February 1933 at the Oxford Union Society. The motion presented, “This House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country”, passed with 275 votes for the motion and 153 against it.
1933 was the year that Hitler came to power and I’d guess that six or seven years later many of the 275 who voted for the motion joined up voluntarily. Context is everything!
I recently responded to an article in The Times by Melanie Philips which hailed Britain’s “historic strengths as a nation.” Philips was peddling bombastic nonsense, at least to me, proving the rightness of Doctor Johnson’s “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” I said “Let’s list a few “strengths” from our history – some still current”:
* A leading slaving nation for 200 years
* Obsession with extending the Empire wider still and wider
* Warmongering pursuit of power
* Destruction of the lives of First Nations peoples
* Inventor of Concentration camps
* An Industrial Revolution based on exploitation of the poor
* Without London the poorest country in Europe
* Inability to create modern and efficient transportation systems
* Destruction of a once substantial manufacturing sector
* A public service emphasis on profit not the population’s needs
* Murderous suppression of those whose territory they usurped
* Preposterous arrogant belief that the “English are Best”
* Male dominated society without womens’ rights for centuries
* Unelected Head of State and upper House of Parliament
* Institutionalised historic racism and colour and religious prejudice
* Huge gaps between the aristocratic rich and the downtrodden peasantry
* Contempt for international institutions and transnational cooperation
* Failure to deal with famine from Ireland to Bengal
* Criminalisation of the sexual preferences of 10% of the population
* Obsession with faux-patriotism and flag waving
* Complete and ongoing failures of political leadership
We are in “Hitler was kind to dogs” territory here. Is Britain the best of the worst or the worst of the best? I don’t compare, in the main, by making international comparisons (except the point about being the poorest country in Europe if you exclude London. Which is pretty shocking).
I received many compliments from readers and friends about my gloomy list. But the usual suspects went predictably into faux-patriotism mode. Didn’t I know that Britain abolished slavery for example? Well yes, I know my Wilberforce. But defending 200 years of slavery by boasting that we were the first to abolish it is pretty weak ! Then apparently we didn’t invent Concentration camps, and lots of countries had empires, and we weren’t the worst imperialists. Etcetera ad infinitum.
Nations do advance over time and yes Britain is more liberal and equal today than it was before the social legislation and change of the 20th century. But there is much to criticise – my point being there always was. In the main we are a fairer and more tolerant society than in the past. And we’ve stopped enslaving people and children don’t work on looms or in chimneys any more. We’ve stopped hanging people and persecuting gays.
In short our past was pretty disgraceful and our present is better. But there’s a long way to go and faux-patriotism and defending the indefensible doesn’t help.
Paddy’s Blogs in a crazy world 