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SECRET
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
Weekly report by Home Intelligence - No. 54
Copy No. 32

15th October, 1941

In reading this report, it is important to bear in mind that it is not meant to be a record of facts , except in so far as public opinion is itself a fact. It is a statement and reflection of the public's views and feelings about the war in general. Therefore, in matters on which public opinion is ill-informed, prejudiced or inconsistent, the report does not imply any endorsement of the views which are expressed in it.

It may be convenient to remind all recipients of this report that it is a confidential document, and therefore should not be disclosed to anyone else except by special authority of the Director of the Home Division of the Ministry of Information.

457 459 3 460 4 461 5 464 8 465 9

SECRET
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
HOME INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY REPORT NO. 54 .

15th October, 1941

(covering the period from 6th October to 13th October, 1941.)

Note:- The figures in brackets refer to sources of information, a list of which is given at the end of this report.

I GENERAL COMMENTS

1. General state of confidence and reaction to news

A general sobering of spirits, with increased anxiety and depression is very noticeable this week, as a result of the situation on the Eastern Front: public attention has been focused on the Russian situation - “almost to the exclusion of everything else”. The relatively complacent attitude previously reported is described as having “taken something of a nose-dive”; and the few cases of “facile optimism”, which are said still to exist, now stand out as isolated exceptions to the general picture of “concern, shock and irritated frustration”.

The rapid German advance has come as a shock to many people; it had been hoped that the Soviet Army would have been able to keep enemy progress reasonably slow. The “high German casualties and the scorched earth policy so much publicised by the Press” are thought to have “prevented the public up to the present from fully realising the seriousness of the position”. This feeling of shock is also partly attributed to Hitler's speech. It had been “received in the customary way, as so much hot air”, and taken “as a confession that Germany was in difficulties”; then the “terrific thrust of the offensive”, following so speedily on “Hitler's boastful words”, made people recall how often he had in fact carried out his threats. The effect of the news is said “to have actually enhanced Hitler's prestige, on the grounds that ‘what he promises he has planned, and what he plans he goes through with’”.

There is no evidence of any belief in the possibility of a Russian surrender, and the feeling persists that “Russia is too vast to be conquered” and “will pull through eventually”. But many people are preparing themselves for the fall of Moscow. The question is asked, “If Moscow falls, will Hitler turn his attention at once to an attack on Britain? Is the ‘one by one’ policy succeeding”? The present situation is described as having “revealed the depth and intensity of public sympathy for Russia”. Deep respect and “increased admiration for the tremendous efforts of the Soviet troops and civilians” are widely reported, together with a “realisation of the moral strength of a country which was formerly somewhat disparaged officially”.

Sympathy for Russia expresses itself most clearly in the widespread demand that we should give more military aid. This feeling had tended to die down during the past fortnight, largely as a result of the Prime Minister's speech, the success of ‘Tanks for Russia Week’, and the speedy conclusion of the Moscow Conference. Now, while some take the view that “Churchill and Dill know best”, others are saying that “we have already missed the bus”. People realise the great difficulties in the way of supply, but it is asked, almost in desperation. “Is there nothing we can do to help in time”? The news of “better Christmas dinners” is met by the remark: “We want guns for Russia, not butter”.

From several Regions there are reports of a persistent feeling that “certain members of the Government pay lip-service only to the needs of Russia”. In some quarters, Lord Beaverbrook's assurances of help are compared with “high sounding statements uttered at the time of the Norwegian campaign”. The public appears to feel that “even our air activity has tended to peter out”; and people are asking “why we have hardly raided Germany or German occupied territory in the last week or two”. (This was before our bombing offensive re-started.)

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13).

2. Lord Beaverbrook and the Moscow Conference

The speed with which the Moscow Conference reached its conclusion is largely attributed to “Lord Beaverbrook's capacity for hustle”. The rapid and apparently satisfactory result of the Conference is described as “the one reassuring factor of the week so far as the public is concerned”, and as “evidence that the Government is in earnest”.

Preliminary reports only on Lord Beaverbrook's broadcast are available. The majority welcomed it as “very typical” and as likely to “stabilise and relieve people again to a considerable extent”; his vivid description of Stalin's personality was particularly liked. The manner of his delivery was criticised by some for being “too excitable, and reminiscent of Hitler's nervous outbursts”.

(1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11)

3. Italy

Recent press insistence on the deterioration of Italian morale is said to be raising hopes of a more extensive bombing of Italian cities and there is still a persistent desire that Rome should not be spared. “The feeling that we should knock Italy out of the war increases as the Russian situation gets worse, as it is felt that she would then be unable to help Hitler, if he turns his attention to our Forces in the Middle East”.

(3, 5, 8, 11)

4. America

This week, American news is “taking a back seat” with the public.

5. Proposed exchange of prisoners

The major events on the Russian front have apparently distracted public attention from this subject, but there is a high degree of unanimity in the opinions expressed. The following reactions have been noted:-

1. The commonest view is: “What could you expect from the Nazis”? “You can't trust any Germans”. “We took it for granted Germany would play some dirty trick”. As a result, the incident has “fanned the feeling of personal hostility and loathing for the Germans”.

2. There have been some expressions of surprise and regret that the Government should ever have entered into negotiations with the Nazis, after continual reiterations that they would never do so. A bad impression is said to have been caused by “the B.B.C.'s claim that the negotiations would have succeeded if they had been conducted with the German High Command instead of with the Nazi Party”. Prussian war lords, it is said, are no better than Nazi gangsters.

3. There has been criticism of the Government for going so far with the arrangements before everything was settled, and also for announcing the scheme in advance.

4. The abandonment of the scheme in the circumstances was generally approved, and Captain Margesson's official statement was accepted without question.

5. A small minority view is that “the German demand for an exact numerical balance in the exchange, while not perhaps humane, was not unreasonable”.

6. There has been widespread anxiety and sympathy for the wounded prisoners and for their relatives.

7. There is a popular theory that “the Germans didn't want their men returning and describing how good the food and conditions are in England”. Rumours continue that the Germans wanted Hess to be included.

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13)

6. News presentation and broadcasting

This week there is relatively little criticism of the news service:-

The habit of the B.B.C. news of discounting German claims which subsequently turn out to be true is still commented on.

More demands are made for news and, if possible, pictures, of the R.A.F. in Russia, and, in some quarters, “it is felt that a valuable opportunity is being missed by failing to publicise its exploits”.

There have been some cynical remarks about the “reference made in the B.B.C. news to the damaging of a single enemy tank by British Forces in Libya while wholesale slaughter of our allies is going on in Russia”.

There is considerable and increasing praise of the Sunday evening Postscripts, “after the slump when Priestley ceased to speak”. Now, “owing to the great variety of type of speaker and subject matter, listeners eagerly look forward to Sunday evening to see who it will be next”. Frank Laskier's Postscript rivals those of Quentin Reynolds in popularity.

More than one report speaks of the popularity of the “Brains Trust” which is said almost to equal the Music Hall programme in public esteem. Mr. Vernon Bartlett's talk was “welcomed with delight, and gave rise to considerable spontaneous comment”.

There are suggestions that the M.O.I. should use more speakers who have “actually done things”, and fewer of the “learned type”. In the South Western region, apparently “casual references to Russia” by one speaker caused “much adverse comment”.

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8)

7. Rumours

Recent army manoeuvres have given rise to a crop of rumours about casualties. A hundred men are said (in the North Midland Region) to have been “squashed flat by tanks in the dark”, and others to have been drowned. As a result, some indignation is felt at the supposed unnecessary loss of life. At Ramsey, Hunts, it is said that “four or five tanks followed each other into the river in thick fog and everyone was drowned”.

Italian prisoners of war are alleged to be “working without supervision in proximity to an aerodrome, being escorted back to camp by a single Home Guard”. They are reported to have “destroyed a crop of carrots by pulling the tops and leaving the roots underground”.

Following the passage of a convoy along the Via Devana, Cambridgeshire, it is said that a large quantity of sardine tins was found intact along the side of the road.

It is reported that the Stock Exchange “is rumouring ‘Peace by Xmas’”. The rumour that the war will be over in two months appears to be fairly widespread.

From the South Western Region comes a story that “the enemy are dropping rattlesnakes on the British countryside from aeroplanes”.

Rumours continue to circulate about the numbers killed in an air-raid shelter at South Shields. It is said in particular that many died by drowning.

(1, 3, 4, 5, 7)

II SPECIAL COMMENTS

8. Industry

Registration of Women: A call for the use of compulsory powers, (noted last week as “desired by the great majority”) is reported to be even more in evidence. There is still “much confusion about the Ministry of Labour's powers for the conscription of women for industry”, and a demand for a clear statement of the penalties for non-compliance. In the absence of such a statement, it is feared that “officials are brow-beating the ignorant and timid”, and parents are doing the same to their would-be war worker children. This is thought to be particularly so in the case of the A.T.S. In connection with local A.T.S. recruitment drives which have yielded very meagre results, the public is now beginning to comment on “the waste of money”.

Two R.I.Os record growing ill-feeling caused by the sight of numbers of young officers' wives “sitting about in the hotels of coastal and country towns, and in no way assisting in the war effort. Their excuse is always that their husbands may be moved soon, and they intend to follow them”.

Wages : Reports of resentment against the inequality of wages come from widely separated parts of the country. The Government is criticised for failing to stabilise wages now, and - by those with longer memories - for failing to learn the lessons of the last war in time to prevent the same anomalies arising again in this one. The main complaints are:

(1) Disproportionately high wages paid to munition workers, especially “the raw recruits to the newer factories”. It is said that “the new factories attract all the loafers and ne'er-do-wells of a town, who have never taken regular employment before, and pay them £6 and £7 a week”, while men in essential industries who have been at their present jobs from before the war, are still getting £4 or less.

(2) Unskilled workers, on such jobs as demolition, receive more than skilled men in other trades.

(3) High wages of juveniles, who, according to social workers, “are likely to become very discontented in any job which they can get in peace time”. Comment is “particularly bitter” on the comparison between their earnings and those of older brothers in the Services. But the comparison between Forces' pay and allowances, and the “unrelated wages of industry”, is almost invariably made with some degree of bitterness when industrial earnings are discussed. It is said that “at present, all talk of equality of sacrifice is nonsense”.

Strikes : From Scotland and Northern Ireland there are reports of “great public uneasiness” at what has been described as “an epidemic of strikes, caused by unimportant grievances”. R.I.O. Scotland reports: “The underlying discontent and irritability of some sections of industrial workers on Clydeside has flared up. Two thousand men came out on the relatively trivial ground of the transfer of a shop steward from one department to another. The mood of many of the workers is not good, and the general war situation seems to have little or no stabilising effect on them. Material factors causing this unrest include the coincidence of new income tax payments, with the cutting down of overtime”.

Individual “hard cases” in connection with the transfer of labour and trainees continue to be magnified.

Explanation to Workers : It is still thought that managements fail to realise the thirst of the workers for adequate explanation whenever a slackening of work is inevitable. “Forced idleness is noticeably resented at the present time unless the cause can be well understood; and a substitute task, even if uncongenial, is generally demanded”.

“The ‘cost plus’ system, where it is used even in small part, is still the cause of much dissatisfaction”. In this connection, it is pointed out that large sections of the public still believe the system to be generally in force in war-contracts for industry, and that further enlightenment is desirable.

Irish Labour : Postal Censorship and other sources continue to report outstanding cases of slacking among labourers, encouraged by their foremen, from camps where Irish labour is extensively employed on war work. “Such a job, it's a convalescent home. The boss comes along and tells us to hide. Yesterday and today, me and another lad went into the woods and fell asleep from 1 o'clock till 5.30”. “This job's like all army and navy contracts, it's how little you can do, and if you work too hard and get too enthusiastic, well, you won't be very popular”.

Joint Production Committees : In the Midland Region “an important step has been taken towards meeting criticism of alleged slackness in war factories”. The Midland Control Board of the Ministry of Supply has recommended the setting up in each works of a Joint Production Enquiry Committee, consisting of an equal number of representatives of management and men, so that all questions about production can be discussed from the point of view of the particular works. This project has been cordially welcomed.

(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15)

9. Black-out

Public interest in the question of lightening black-out restrictions has been considerable this week. In Cambridge, there is appreciation of the “starlight” system of street lighting; Leeds R.I.O. mentions a widespread desire for the introduction of it in that region; the R.I.O. Manchester says “If the one-switch control system at Moscow is not applicable here, it is still felt that some experiment in modification of the black-out could be tried”. On the whole, however, it is thought that “although people dislike the black-out intensely and it weighs on their spirits”, there is “a reasonable recognition” of the difficulties and dangers of plunging towns into sudden and complete darkness at the sound of the siren. For many people, discussion of the subject is probably no more than an expression of wishful impatience for better days, and it is believed that “any considerable increase in street lighting, in particular, would actually alarm the public”.

(1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11)

10. Evacuation

The return of long nights, but not of heavy raids, has brought back to the target areas still more “swarms of evacuated and re-evacuated children”. In Salford, for instance, 1700 are said to have now returned out of a total of 4000. More irritation is recorded at the waste of taxpayers' money by numbers of parents “who brought their children back from the country last spring. Then, when the weather got hot, they asked to have them re-evacuated to the country, and since that have brought them home again. They say openly that they did this in order to give the children a holiday in the country, and that they mean to keep them at home until trouble begins again, when once more they will be sent away”. Social workers, teachers and others think that the only way to stop this is to make parents liable for all travelling expenses after the first evacuation. In the London area it is said that “a remarkably high proportion of the returned children are not even going to school”; as they have been brought back privately by their parents, and are still believed by the school authorities to be away in the safe areas, no check on their non-attendance is possible.

From the reception districts there are reports of “growing restlessness among country women on the subject of the inadequate billeting allowance, particularly for schoolboys with hearty appetites”. There is a feeling that “too little recognition has hitherto been given to the great sacrifice most of these women have made without serious complaint while acting as hostesses for evacuees”. Once more there is mention, in many areas, “of considerable irritation at the way in which some owners of country-houses appear to be able to shirk billeting responsibilities”.

(5, 6, 8, 10)

11. Transport

There is increasing feeling in favour of “some form of war worker's priority pass for use on buses”. From districts where the idea is being tried out, notably Nottingham, the scheme is said “to have caused great satisfaction so far”, apart from a few cases of hardship, e.g., hospital patients who have been unable to attend for treatment at prescribed times. It is felt that “some such help is essential for the workers this winter, as shoppers show no inclination to comply with requests to avoid the rush hours”. With fewer buses, there are demands for more shelters at bus stops.

“Third-class-only” trains in the neighbourhood of London appear to have been accepted without serious complaint by former first-class travellers, many of whom had previously given up their first-class season tickets because their compartments were crowded with third-class passengers.

(3, 5, 6)

12. Housing Shortage

It is said that in badly-damaged London areas, to which many families and small businesses are returning, great difficulty is found in obtaining accommodation. In some areas there is “scarcely a room available”, and a big demand for small flats. It is hoped that “landlords will not be able to find loopholes” in the present legislation to prevent rents from soaring.

(5, 32)

13. Service Dependants' Allowances

No reactions have been received since the Government's announcement of an increase in the payments to the Forces' families: previous to this, the bitterness and resentment expressed in all parts of the country were still increasing. The “humiliation” of applying to the Assistance Board continue to be reported.

(1, 5, 6, 7, 11)

14. Clothes Rationing

Todmorden and Huddersfield echo the Leeds protest against giving up coupons for Civil Defence uniforms. Todmorden Civil Defence workers are reported as saying “We will go without our uniforms rather than surrender coupons for them”.

Part-time unpaid Civil Defence workers in Leicestershire are also reported to be agitated about the possibility of having to give up coupons for their uniforms. (“As their duties take up only a small amount of time, uniform would not save wear and tear of ordinary clothes”.)

(3, 11)

15. Constant Topics and Complaints

The food situation continues to improve.

Farmers complain at the call-up of agricultural workers.

Dissatisfaction over the delay in collection of scrap metal is again reported. Some demolition workers have alleged that they were “told to bury metal that could well be salvaged”. This was officially denied on the grounds that “only metal which it was uneconomical to save has been buried”.

There are “general complaints about the shortage of wireless replacements; many country people are without news because their wireless sets are out of action”.

Other causes of complaint are:-

Shortage of day nurseries; lack of shipping facilities for women in industry; discourtesy of shop assistants; long delays in shoe and watch repairs; high price of fresh fruit, particularly apples; erratic supply of beer, tobacco, and matches; and shortages of paraffin and Calor gas, of flints for cigarette lighters, and of cereals; and shortage and badness of eggs.

There is an increasing demand for British Restaurants.

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)

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REFERENCES