Letter from Harry Massey to Barbara Massey

[text top left] Letter No 11 Saturday May 9th [text top right] Major J. H. Massey 6, Palestinian [Coy?], The Ruffs [?] E. F.

My own darling sweetheart I posted a six page letter to you this morning & rather a sort of newsy & not very loving one, & so I must hurry up and get moving again at once. I am always afraid that such a letter may arrive at the end of one of those awful gaps, & you will be disappointed. But you know as well as I do how difficult it is to write when you are not feeling in the mood, & there is nothing very particular about which to write. And when a letter of mine is not loving, it is far from meaning that I am not thinking about you in a loving way - but I have to feel in some sort of good spirits or feel some urge; being depressed & feeling hopeless is not the right feeling at all.

I told you about my time with this [Coy?] coming to an end on August 1st. I saw Col. G. this morning & spoke to him about it, & he said that I could stay on if I wanted to - so the ruling does not sound to be a very rigis one. But I told him that I thought a year & a half was about enough - but that I was pretty well ruined as a fighting officer after all this & having left the 5th before I was fully trained. i told him that he should get me a staff job or promotion or both, & he just smiled & said he would do what he could. I hate this standard regular army outlook that only regular officers can do these jobs. If I was half as bloody brainless & useless as so many of these people. I [???] you most certainly would never have married me. Well, we shall see, & in the meantime do not worry about me darling. I will get something arranged for myself

[centre] 2 or else stay where I am. And with my next application for homecoming, I shall most certainly point to the fact that this job does come to an end for me on Aug 1st you said in an AG that I should have mentioned the horrible desert & worry about our second baby. I thought I had said enough in my 1st application, & in the 2nd one. I thought that Hughes' "had obstetrical history" would convey enough without giving details, but I certainly will explain matters more fully for the next time.

Sunday May 10th these H.Qs. & their staff officers really are inconsiderate, laughing at 9.30 last night, a special dispatch rider roared up on a motor cycle with a large envelope for me - & containing the papers for three Courts Martial cases for today. They were all highly legal cases, & ran to 50 pages of evidence, & gave me much work in the Manual of Military Law - & kept me out of bed until 1.0 this morning - & completely stopped me writing to you. I finished two of them today & go on again tomorrow. One was a bright young man who broke out of arrest in Egypt, on another charge, & then came up to Palestine, having fitted himself up with a set of faked credentials as an agent for the M.E. Razzle {which does not exist} & proceeded to sell advertising space to all & sundry. He will be doing hard labour in prison from now until May 9th 1943. The other was a truly disgusting case of buggery between a couple of Arabs - & we had to sit & listen to revolting details about positions &

state of deshabille ; & it all took place in a latrine they will be doing six months hard. The trouble is that this business is pretty common with the Arabs & I have heard of a case of an Arab who was in court for having casual knowledge of his donkey - who pointed out, with great indignation that it was his donkey.

We began at 9.0 this morning & finished at 7.0 - back late for dinner - & then I heard Churchill's broadcast - & now it is 11.0 which is not the best time for writing to you.

I have read & finished "For whom the Bell Tolls" - & I enjoyed it as much as anything I have read for a long time. The characters were magnificently drawn - it was very exciting as a story - it gave one a very good look into the carry on & life of the Republican Guerillas. & it made me very angry that a. we stood by & allowed this civil war to happen & even helped France. & b. that we learned so little from it. & I liked very much the love scenes which I found rather beautiful & very understandable.

I have just started Vol 1. of Beatrice Webb's "My Apprenticeship" - & which I think I am going to enjoy and I hope find useful; both vols are in Penguin, & I will send them on to you when I have finished.

I anm so tired & sleepy. I must go to bed now. I am hoping for a letter & a p.c. tomorrow - Monday my lucky day for last pic was on A.G. of April 8th - if you see what I mean - & your last letter was from March 10th & received May 1st

[centre top] 4 Goodnight darling pet - Toby sleeps on my bed - ok when will you sleep in it. & Maxie next door. xxxx H.

Monday - May 11th No letters & no pics for me today. You were talking in a letter about buying or building a house, & as you will know by now, I have been thinking about it too, & even went as far as to draw a modest plan of one part of my ideas about such a house. It would be wonderful to have our own house, & one day we will have it. But somehow there seems to me to be no hope of having that right away. I think that we are both going to be so militantly political & reforming. that I may have to tell Peter to take my job & stuff it up. And if that should happen, we are neither of us so attached to Bradford that we shall seek another job only there, so that really means that we shall have to find a house to rent again, which is not a very satisfactory prospect really. You were sweet to say, darling, that you could be deliriously happy with me in a rabbit hutch. And that certainly goes for me too. Anyway, if we can only find something of the sort of 37 Nat Lane again, that would do us very nicely for a few months or a year or two, until we knew more about ourselves. But even that may be very difficult to find when the war is over. If you do nip up to have a look when I am on my way home, do not sign any long or expensive agreement. Because I feel that owners will be very much on the make, if the demand for houses outruns the supply. And building or buying as an investment will be no good, because I am afraid prices will be very high & then when they come down we shall have lost so much money. It all depends so much on what we

5.

are going to do.

Am I going to carry on at Norths & take an interest in local politics & see where it leads to _ & if I become anything of a public figure, is Peter going to sack me, or will he be reconciled? I must say that that seems to me a rather too slow & steady way of trying to be of some use. And so, the alternative is to break right away & get a job in what is now known as reconstruction & you use the word too. I do not like the word at all because it has no exact meaning & it is also used by the big business gentlemen who only want to rebuild big business once again & for their own profits; & by the ruling class who only want to go on ruling. My idea of reconstruction is, frankly, a bloodless revolution & the building up of a Socialist state. And that is going to be a tremendous job _ but I consider it to be a vital necessity in our country & every where else, if we really are going to have a good world in which to live happy & secure lives. Have you noticed darling, during the last few months, the apparent development in my opinions. And I am quite sure that it is not a continuous move on my part farther to the Left, because I am not being influenced in that direction by anybody. But I am beginning to think for the first time what were my ideas when I left England? I was, roughtly, & in no particular way, but in my own opinion, a Socialist. And by that, I thought of myself carrying on at Norths, & becoming a director & one day, perhaps, Chairman; & I would work hard & look after my work people, & do all in my

6.

power to keep them on 5 days a week, & to improve their conditions of work; & I disapproved of Chamberlain & [Simon?] & Hoare & such people, & connected them with the Conservative party. But I was thinking in a muddled way, or not at all, & only sliding about the surface. I always felt that it was wrong that you and I could spend £5 in an evening & yet some man & wife & 2-3 children would be pleased to have that much to live on for 2 weeks. But I could always justify that by thinking that we did not do it very often, & even when we did, we were pretty broke for a week or two afterwards. And I could also justify myself by saying that I did work hard for my money, but I never really considered my advantages of education & opportunity & family & special apprenticeship. I used to worry generally, about inequalities in money & wealth, but in a very wrong & muddled & not at all a Socialist way

I dont ask or aim for complete equality now or ever that would be a calamity & a failure. But what I do aim for is complete equality of education _ that is, primary education & opportunity for all. An end to the frightful inequalities of money - an end or somewhere near an end, to inheritance. An end ot class, & this horrible snobbishness. And in other words, really, an end to our whole blasted system.

Now, what has caused my development , & what has caused me to begin thinking, as I think, more clearly? More than anything else, I think, it has been my contact & dealings with the Regular

7.

Army people & members of the ruling class out here. At home you know, I did not meet them so much - & such people as I met who had money, worked for it, & my muddled thinking of those days allowed such people to make money at the expense of the workers. But these people I meet out here are so indescribably snobbish, & self satisfied & cynical, & so inefficient & lazy & unrealistic. They look upon the workers, the soldiers + N.COs. as so much cattle - on the Jews & Arabs as inferior people - & they dislike Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, Czhecks, Poles, Free French - & even Americans. In fact, they only consider themselves - the ruling classes - the Regular Army. the civil service, London [illegible], & the countries: This may sound pretty good [illegible] [illegible], but by God, it's true. And nobody can say that I am embittered - except in so far as I hate their skins & souls for having allowed this war to happen, & cause me to come out here, away from you.

But meeting them & coming in contact with them, has convinced me that they must go - or else completely change their minds & ways of life. It is utterly [illegible] to have such people ruling our country, - coming to all the parts of the Empire & carrying on in the same way.

What annoys me so much about many articles which I read in magazines & papers, & about post-war [reconstruction?], is that they all presume a return to the old system of capitalism & profit making & competition - & they ponder to some extent to better wages & working

8/ conditions + increased security- + then they go on to talk about increased efficiency + methods + management + finances + so on: some of them even go as far as entirely low profit, but must also be for the good of people. But all that is just fucking about, neither more nor less. As long as you have any profit making, you have competition, + vice versa. And when you have those things, the workers immediately become subordinate to them + all security for them goes. The cost of labour is an important, if not the main cost of all goods- therefore in profit making it must be employed at as low a wage as possible + it must be used + driven as hard as possible. You must remember the time + effort I spent in working out how to cheese + pare here + there, + fighting the union for lower wages + price rates. why the hell should this vast majority be [?] created like coal + steel + timber + bargained about in order, to employ as little of it as possible for the least amount of money - in order that a small minority can pile up money. And people like me, who come in between the two, share + wear out their minds + bodies in aiding + checking that minority- in order to turn L 600 into L700 - L 700 into L 1000 + so on. How much better to have L 500 + work peacefully + well for the good of the communuity as a whole.

9/ Tuesday. May 12th Midnight came last night. But I want to push on + say more about all this + I do hope I am not boring you. I realise that I am probably not saying anything very original, but I want you to know what I am thinking + I am burning to know if you agree with all I say + what your ideas are about our future. I am very anxious that you should agree with me + then we really can feel a common purpose + aim. I am perfectly convinced of my rightness + as you are an honest + intelligent person + have no false ideas about having a rightful place in the world except by your own mind + qualities + efforts I am equally certain that you will be with me- + so will anybody else of similar qualities. In my opinion, the capitalist profit making, land + property owning system has two major + intolerable defects. Firstly, because the workers + wage earners + that includes foremen + clerks + shop assistants , yes, + managers too are pinned down to as low a wage as possible + geared up to as much work as possible; in the case of workers on newer wages, their standard of life is very low, they have very few comforts + pleasures, + no security at all. And secondly it leads to inevitable international rivalry in trade + so on to war; this war, + the last were caused by German capitalism's effort to expand + the British + French capitalism's efforts to prevent it doing so; its not a question of National Socialsim + Democracy at all + anybody who says differently is talking balls. The only alternative method to Socialism for preventing for future wars is the continuance of capitalism in Britain + America + this will keep going a large army, navy + air force to deal with any further German attempts to rise up that might or might not see you + I through

10/ our lifetime- but sooner or later war would come again. Either by means of our capitalists rearming Germany again, as they have done before- or else by means of Russia having had enough of us + herself living up with a socialist Germany to march against us. That is another very excellent reason why socialism is necessary in Britain. I have never read any Marx or Lenin at all but I feel quite certain that their only reason for wanting world revolution was to make a world in which war would be impossible because it would be unnecessary - + not for the futile popular conception that they enjoyed revolution + looked upon it as some game or national sport. And now Stalin is condescendingly praised because he forsook the policy of world revolution + carried on + minded his own business in Russia. Once again I do not know but I feel sure that Stalin weighed things up very carefully + decided that world capitalism was too strong an oponent for him + that he must wait for the impulse to come from within a country such as ours. And the Heavens be praised, he went on to make his preparations for this war. But I do not think for one moment that Stalin is going to sit back again + wait for the next one. And if we do not forsake capitalism, he will concentrate on Germany + the rest of Europe. And then we shall have to fall in a rather bad last- or else our capitalists will lead us into another war + next time, Canada + Australia + S. Africa will NOT come to our aid. A socialist world, as I see it, is one in which

11/ everybody has enough of everything necessary to life- + in addition, some comforts + leisure + holidays + weekends + free days The question of unemployment does not arise in the world today there is a super abundance of all the materials which go to make the necessaries And each country must be so organized that they exchange these things with each other. In my opinion the main problem should ^not be one of finding enough work, but enough leisure for everyone. And this can be done in many ways - the school leaving age can be raised from 14 to 17 or 18- all sorts of agents + middlemen + unnecessary people can be cut out- stock exchanges + all their ramifications done away with- there will be far less litigation - quack medicines + worthless patent foods + all their advertising should be stopped + all medicines + toothpastes + special foods controlled by the State Medical Dept.- all rubbishy books + magazines ended, this again would help to educate the people + would save labour in manufacturing paper + printing it; the publication of a book should not depend on whether the author can afford to publish it or whether the publisher can see a profit in it. In other words, all unnecessary production must be eliminated + every increase in the efficiency of machines + methods of productionmust be with the idea of improving working conditions providing more leisure + time for family life + the home + travelling about + reading + music + art

12.

Is this Utopia? I do not think so I think it is quite capable of acheivement in a country which is run entirely + solely for the benefit of its people.

But it will be a hard fight. The first necessity is to get a good strong Socialist government into power- + that should be the easiest part of it of they will fit themselves out with a strong + sensible policy + go hard for it. Once in power, they must go ahead with carrying our their policy + so well disciplined among themselves. And about the first thing to do wil be to do away with the ridiculous house of Lords.

But, I think this is about enough of politics for one letter- if I go on like thos very much longer you will have to stop + pinch yourself + ask yourself whether you are reading a letter from your adoring + admiring husband or this week's New Statesman.

But it all began by me talking about our house, in answer to your letter.

And darling one, the letter came again today - the letter writing applications for posting home on compassionate grounds. And so I am off again - I shall send the previous correspondence, & Hughes' certificate again. & just a new short letter to tell about the first boy. & my worreis about your worries, & my longing to see Max. And then I shall send another letter asking for an interview with the Area Commander to see if I can possibly get his support. And the answer should be back by about the middle of June, which I will cable

13. you at once, + which will probably arrive before this. Having been optimistic before I am afraid I have very little hope this time- unless I an persuade the A.C. to support my claim. And so now the suspense begins once more.

What joy to home, darling, + oh God how I want to come it will be the most thrilling moment in all my life+ I often wonder where exactly we will meet- I suppose it is almost bound to be on a station somewhere I remember how I have always felt at home, when you have been away for only a few days- + on sept 21st on Gobowen station, when your train was four hours late. what a moment it willbe my sweetheart - what a nuisance the luggage will be.

We shall have so much to talk about & tell eachother & discuss, & there will be Maxie to meet, & all the time, I shall not be able to leave go of you, & I shall want to kiss you again & again. It will be so wonderful & heavenly, it will be unreal. when I am sitting & writing to you, I long so much to be able to talk to you. And when I look at your photographs, which I do so much, I long to kiss you & hold you & love you. I imagine talking to you - sitting in our two chairs. & in front of a fire, & so much to talk of & to interest eachother. And I think of sitting on your chair, on the left arm, & with my right arm round you & coming across your chest & with my hand on your left should - & them becoming

14/ a little excited + my right hand would leave your left shoulder + go down inside your dress + hold + stroke your left breast instead. And your breasts are so smooth + lovely + dear to me, + I would feel more excited (as I do now) + come round + sit in your chair + kiss you very passionately + my hand would hold your legs + their silkiness + their bareness + go down inside your stocking + rub your knee. And then, oh my darling sweetest Barbara, the fire would be warming both our bodies + we would hold each other very tight, so that we could touch each other all the length of our bodies what glorious happiness we have had darling- + how even more glorious our future happiness will be I want you so much my own beloved darling to talk to you + you to talk to me + to love you + kiss you + hold you + look at you + be with you + help you + do things for you + make you happy + interested + make you laugh + make you love me + be sure that you are happy + content + looking forward. And to be with you + Marie too. How much we have to gain- I would give + do anything to come home to you. I love you with all my heart + soul + you are perfect, my darling own Barbara. XX to Marie Always, your Harry------- XXXXXX

[postmark] FIELD POST OFFICE 12 MY 42 154

[written] 11

Mrs Barbara Massey. c/o Mrs Paul. c/o Mrs Jenkins Lynwood. 6 Bulstrode Gardens Candlemas Lane Maddingley Road Beaconsfield. Cambridge Bucks

[stamped] PASSED BY CENSOR No. 514

[page turned] JH Massey