Lord Hailey, the Colonial Office and the Politics of Race and Empire in the Second World War: The Loss of White Prestige

234 Pages·2000·0.99 MB·English

by  Suke Wolton (auth.)

St Antony’s Series
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LORD HAILEY, THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE POLITICS OF RACE AND
EMPIRE IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
The Loss of White Prestige
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Lord Hailey, the Colonial
Office and the Politics of
Race and Empire in the
Second World War
The Loss of White Prestige
Suke Wolton
in association with
ST ANTONY’S COLLEGE, OXFORD
First published in Great Britain 2000 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
Acatalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-42040-7 I SBN 978-0-230-51476-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230514768
First published in the United States of America 2000 by
ST. MARTIN’S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wolton, Suke, 1962–
Lord Hailey, the Colonial Office and the politics of race and empire in the Second
World War : the loss of white prestige / Suke Wolton.
p. cm. — (St. Antony’s series)
Based on the author’s thesis (doctoral).
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. World War, 1939–1945—Diplomatic history. 2. Hailey, William Malcolm
Hailey, Baron, 1872–1969. 3. Great Britain—Colonies. 4. Race relations–
–Political aspects. I. Title. II. Series.
D750 .W35 2000
940.53'2—dc21
99–086154
©Suke Wolton 2000
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written
permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright
Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P0LP.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained
forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00
For Georgie and David
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Contents
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
2 The Loss of White Prestige 35
3 The Question of Equal Treatment 65
4 Defending the Empire 94
5 Reformulating Imperial Authority 119
6 Conclusion 149
Notes 155
Bibliography 196
Index 213
vii
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Preface
More than any other war, before or since, the Second World War was
a war fought ideologically as well as militarily. It involved not merely
a clash of competing great powers but also a clash of competing polit-
ical visions and systems. Ideological success was crucial because the
Second World War was as much a civilian as a military war. Whole
societies were mobilized for the war effort. Political and military
leaders required the active engagement of the mass of the population
to fight for territory on a global scale, to meet the production targets
of an industrialized war, and to stay the course despite aerial bombard-
ment, food rationing and slaughter on an unprecedented scale.
It is unsurprising then that the Second World War was a turning
point in the history of ideas. In Britain, for example, the war led to the
abandonment of liberal laissez faire economics and the adoption of
welfare statism as the ruling outlook. For Britain’s leaders successful
mobilization of the population presented a considerable problem.
Their manpower needs in the Second World War were phenomenal.
Although the number of people in the armed services in Britain
reached, at its height, only half a million more than in the First World
War, the production levels had to be much greater to satisfy the needs
of a technologically advanced war. Production was the key to winning,
and the Axis powers were ‘ultimately overwhelmed by the sheer mass
of Allied firepower’.1 Both in Britain and America, manpower was a
constant worry, which in turn increased the pressure to improve
productivity through encouragement and pep-talks. Moreover the
seriousness of aerial bombing raids made for a far more devastating
experience for civilians than the First World War. Although the
number of deaths of British servicemen was half what it was in
1914–18, civilian deaths were multiplied forty-fold.2
In the face of these manpower needs, at the outset of the war the
government found it difficult to counter the background of cynicism
and disillusionment that had emerged after the First World War. As
E. M. Forster commented on the war in 1940: ‘I don’t expect Victory
(with a big V!), and I can’t join in any build-a-new-world stuff. Once
in a lifetime one can swallow that, but not twice.’3 Paul Fussell has
argued convincingly that ‘between the wars, “belief” itself [had been]
eroded’. Even advertising reflected a mood of lost ideals.4 The
ix