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SECRET
MINISTRY OF INFORMATION
Weekly Report by Home Intelligence - No. 42
Copy No. 32

(From Wednesday, 16th July, to Wednesday, 23rd July, 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.

14 16 3 17 4 18 5

HOME INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY REPORT
No. 42 - July 16th to July 23rd, 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

No essential change in public feeling has been reported this week. The predominant note is still one of confidence, ranging from “quiet hopefulness” with reservations, to excessive optimism. The main causes for this are the same as for the past three weeks: Russia's resistence, the R.A.F. offensive, the collapse of the French in Syria, and the country's comparative freedom from heavy raids.

Among the most optimistic sections of the public, it is said, complacency about the war is still “far too prevalent”, and it appears to be increasing. There are reports of “a growing belief that the war will not last much longer”, and the view that “at any rate the bombing is over”, continues to be expressed. Expectations as to “when the war will end” are variously given as - this month, in September, before Christmas, or at any rate this year. Some people are “ridiculing the idea of having to spend another winter in the shelters”, and are talking of taking down their black-out curtains. The return of evacuees still continues. Fire-watchers are stated to be “very slack”. There is no evidence that the severe raid on Hull on July 18 has had any sobering influence on the country, though it came as a shock to the people of Hull: for this “the cheerful official predictions that night-bombing would shortly lose most of its terrors” are held partly responsible. This feeling of complacency has been further increased by the belief that the “V” campaign, and press statements of a split between Hitler and Goering, indicate an “impending revolt in Europe, and the imminent collapse of German morale”. A recent remark by Field Marshal Lord Ironside that the war might be over “a good deal more quickly than many of us imagine” has had a similar effect. In view of this, the warning note in the recent speeches of the Prime Minister, and of the First Lord of the Admiralty, has been welcomed as likely to check over-optimistic tendencies. But, in spite of so many disappointments, the public still has the habit of treasuring optimistic prophecies and forgetting more realistic utterances, so that the letter tend to be submerged by the former.

Russia : The fact that the Germans are still making such slow headway in Russia is the cause of rising spirits. The slow retreat of the Soviet armies is felt to be more in the nature of a deliberate withdrawal -which may have the effect of “luring the Germans onwards to their doom” - than of a rout. Every day the Russians continue to hold out adds to the general satisfaction.

People are still unwilling to put much trust in communiques from the Eastern Front, though the Russian claims are felt to be considerably more reliable than the German. There is, however, much uncertainty, not only over the fluctuations of the campaign - which are described as bewildering and on which more authoritative information would be welcomed - but over the whole question of Russian resources and potentialities. There is some feeling that in the past the public has been misled on 15 the subject of Russia. There are comments on the fact that “in Godless Russia” thousands of people crowded the churches to pray for victory. People are noticing that “an ill-fed, ill-equipped rabble, whose best officers have all been short”, and whose tanks were so summarily handled by the “gallant little Finns”, has succeeded in “putting up a better show than we did”. Russian propaganda to the Germans is considered to be admirable and “far superior to any we have produced”.

A feeling of distrust of the Soviets still persists in many quarters, both on religious and political grounds. On the other hand, a latent working-class sympathy for the “workers' republic” has also become manifest among more conventional followers of Labour. However, both extremes find general agreement in the realisation that “Russia is fighting, not only for her own existence, but also for ours”. There is general approval of the Prime Minister's “forthright declaration” that our agreement with Russia is an alliance; and general condemnation of the failure to play her national anthem. Suggestions that the ban on the “Daily Worker” might be lifted now come from a rather wider circle than adherents of the Communist Party.

From almost all regions, there are reports of strong wishes and hopes that the R.A.F.'s offensive may be implemented by land and sea operations, even if these are to be no more than raids on the French and Belgian coasts. The belief continues that we have a “golden opportunity” at present, and there are some sarcastic comments to the effect “that we shall start something when Russia is on the point of collapse, and then it will be too late”. In this connection, the “V” campaign “mystery date” of July 20th was seized upon by a large number of people as the day for the invasion by us of Northern France. There is also a growing hope that we may soon take the offensive in North Africa.

The National War Effort : Criticism of the Government and administration has been less vocal this week, but demands for greater efficiency in industrial organisation, together with “sterner measures” and less of the “pampering policy” continue. It is suggested that some of the criticisms of industrial inefficiency, unbacked by definite facts, are doing severe harm.

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 20 Inverness; Manchester, Edinburgh P.C.'s, 23, 34).

2. Broadcasting and news presentation

There is little criticism of news presentation this week. People are grateful for the fuller details of the results of R.A.F. raids, in particular for the aerial photographs of bomb damage. There is still, however, a considerable demand for more information on the Battle of the Atlantic. It is widely believed that a report of submarine sinkings, divorced from dates and localities, could safely be given without revealing information to the enemy.

Cassandra's postscript was “received with disgust”, as a “futile and vindictive piece of scurrility” by some of the more articulate sections of the community; the susceptibilities of the less articulate were not so upset; but “all condemn Wodehouse”. There has been considerable praise for Mr. Swing, and there is continued appreciation for Mr. W.J. Brown for his “hair-raising description of the conditions that Hitler was planning to impose on us”.

There have been criticisms of the Kitchen Front programmes, on the grounds that they are showing signs of “padding” and “staleness”, that they take for granted stores of food which do not exist in poor people's larders, and that what Mr. Grisewood calls “lunch” is, for most people, dinner.

(2, 6, 7, 9, 20 Inverness, Edinburgh P.C.s, 23)

3. The “V” campaign .

The campaign has captured the imagination of a large section of the public. Its extensive use in this country by shop-keepers, publicans, and writers on walls and public utility vehicles is widely commented on. It is mentioned by two R.I.O's as “probably being responsible for a rise in public confidence”. More thoughtful people feel that it is “admirable for occupied countries, rather than at home”; they fear it may “become meaningless unless some definite post-war aim is agreed upon. The effect of the campaign in producing belief in imminent invasion of France or rebellion in the occupied territories has already been noted. There is no connection in the public mind between the campaign and the Ministry of Information.

(4, 7, 10, 12, 23)

4. Rumours

Once again, rumours have not been numerous. A variant of the “Roumanian oil wells” rumour alleges that the immunity from air attack of a concentration of industrial objectives, which includes an I.C.I. factory at Hayle in West Cornwall, is due to some mutual arrangement with the opposite number of I.C.I. in Germany.

In peace time the Orangemen of Northern Ireland hold processions and light bonfires in the streets on July 12th. From Belfast a rumour is reported that “this year the Luftwaffe would light their bonfires for them”.

A Stirling bomber crashed in Northampton on July 15th. It is rumoured to have been returning from Germany, and still to have had a number of bombs on board.

Other rumours are that the casualties at Hull were higher than those at Coventry; and that soap is to be rationed.

(3, 7, 8, 13, 23)

II SPECIAL COMMENTS

5. Food

Eggs : Criticism of the egg situation has now reached “bitter dimensions”. Although grumbling about other shortages continues, none of them has provoked such widespread resentment. From almost all regions, there are complaints along the following lines:-

1. Eggs are still in short supply in many parts, and distribution is patchy.

2. Retailers in egg-producing areas complain angrily that they are asked to handle Canadian and Irish eggs, many of which are bad.

3. Producers complain that arrangements for the collection of eggs and their delivery to packing stations are “woefully inadequate”, so that they have eggs left on their hands.

The mildest report received on this subject (from the Northern Region) refers to “some lack of enthusiasm about the quality of many of the eggs”.

Queues : These continue to be a major problem which, it is suggested, “is affecting, or may soon affect, public morale. Charges of greed and favouritism are bandied about”. Two complaints of “peace talk being fostered in queues” are mentioned by the R.I.O. Midland Region, while several other R.I.O.s refer once again to the fact that working women cannot compete in queueing with the idle, a situation which is causing “growing anger”. Queues are also said to be “hot-beds of anti-Semitism” because of the belief, very generally held, that Jews “always manage to get hold of more food than other people”. “Opinion is steadily forming, especially in urban districts, that queues are an unhealthy symptom, and inconsistent with the underlying principles of rationing”; and, moreover, that “they are unnecessary”, and “make it appear to the world that we are starving to death, and our people are lining up for a crust”.

One example of queueing, quoted by a Manchester report, is of a four-hour wait by people at Smithfield Market, with four police officers needed to control the crowd. Police efforts to abolish queueing, reported in many parts of the country, appear to have met with little success. Harrogate people, for instance, are said to “queue by instinct”, in spite of the efforts of the police; and women at Illkley to have “the habit of stopping at every queue they see, on the principle that there must be something worth getting at the other end”.

Ration Books : There has been grumbling about what are thought to be “the complex operations necessary to fill in the new ration books”, a task which is “rapidly becoming one of the abstruse sciences”. It is suggested that directions published in the press were far from clear. “No wonder the Food Offices are kept busy correcting mistakes”, sums up the general attitude.

The R.I.O. South Eastern Region reports: “If a ration book is lost the owner can go to her Local Food Office, make a statement to the effect that she has not used any of her margarine coupons for the purchase of clothing, and have the whole 26 coupons replaced. In due course this dodge will become generally known, and there are many who will take advantage of it”.

(1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 20 Aberdeen, Inverness P.C.'s)

6. Petrol and Paraffin

Cars bearing labels such as “A.R.P”, “Doctor”, “Urgent Medical Supplies”, parked outside shops and roadhouses, are said to be adding considerably to the suspicion that a revision of the supplementary petrol allowance is as urgently needed as a further cut in the basic ration. It is still possible to hire a car for holiday purposes; one instance is given of a man hiring a car to take his family to Devonshire, and receiving petrol coupons for 750 miles. On the other hand, there are recurrent reports that tradesmen and business men, on urgent national work which yet cannot be scheduled as war work, are in serious difficulty owing to lack of petrol. It is believed that, where supplementary rations are granted, inadequate effort is made to discover why the recipient must go by car rather then by train. It is also said that insufficient check is kept as to the purpose to which the petrol is put - logs being “easy to cook”; no solution is, however, offered.

In country districts, a large section of the populace depends wholly on paraffin for cooking. Considerable hardship has been caused by the recent scarcity. In some places, supplies have been reduced to 25% of the individual's former consumption; in others it is unobtainable for several weeks at a time. Bearing in mind the threatened coal shortage, many people regard the winter prospect as extremely serious, if oil stoves cannot be used to supplement fires for warmth as well as for cooking. It is urged in some quarters that paraffin should take precedence over the basic petrol ration for shipping space. “A few of the more intelligent”, suspect that “the Treasury may be at the back of the retention of the basic petrol ration”. They are said to feel that “the unnecessary consumption of imported fuel in order to raise revenue has no justification in a war economy”.

(5, 12, 34).

7. Day Nurseries

The difficulty of providing for their young children continues to be one of the two main reasons put forward by women for not volunteering for industry. (The other, referred to in previous reports, is the shopping problem, when factory and shopping hours coincide.) Reports in favour of more nurseries attached to factories, or in workers' residential districts, have come in from many parts of the country. In some, women are said to be “clamouring for them”, and the Ministry of Health's new War Nursery Scheme is described as “merely scratching the surface of the trouble”. (It is proposed, in this scheme, to add 83 whole-time and 35 part-time nurseries to the 117 - mostly part-time - which are already in being, in order to accommodate a maximum of 9,000 children.)

(5, 15, 34)

8. Service Pay and Allowances

“More and more ill-feeling” is alleged on the part of relatives of men in the Forces, at the discrepancy between their pay and the amount earned by their contemporaries in reserved occupations. In this connection, it is often said that “everyone of Service age should have been conscripted, and those wanted for industry should have been drafted into the factories, at the same rates of pay”.

The inadequacy of their marriage allowance is given as the reason for the “flocking back to town” of many soldiers' wives, with their evacuated children. The loss of the 3/6d a week “London Rent Allowance”, if they live elsewhere, is a very bitter grievance. Social workers report that “When families are evacuated from London it is almost impossible for them to find storage for their furniture if they give up their rooms. They realise, also, that after the war, supply will not equal demand, and they want to be sure of a home when they return. “They take our men and they take our money, and then they try to make us give up our homes” is a point which is frequently made. “Widowed mothers, drawing “dependent's allowances”, are often deeply resentful of their treatment. If they are able to earn a little money, their allowance is withdrawn should their income reach 25/- a week after payment of rent and rates.

(5, 34)

9. Anti-Semitic feeling

A slight increase in anti-semitic feeling is associated with the present increase in food difficulties. Few specific 19 instances of anti-social behaviour are brought forward against individual Jews, but general allegations suggest that “Jews always have money to burn; they crowd out the evacuation areas” and “seem to think of no-one but themselves”. The following incident is informative:-

“A Jewish women evacuee buying fish in a small town was told that the price was high. She insisted on having it. This was quoted as evidence of Jews having “money to burn”. To anyone acquainted with orthodox Jewish practices, however, the explanation was that the women, being unable to obtain Kosher food, had to buy fish whatever the price.”

(4, 6, 7, 8, 10)

10. Constant Complaints .

There is still considerable concern over the following matters:-

1. The scarcity of soft fruit, and potatoes, immediately after price control.

2. The prospect of coal shortage.

3. The failure of local authorities, particularly in rural areas, to collect scrap metal and other salvage. (The official explanation of the situation is still by no means fully appreciated.)

4. The growing shortage of beer and cider.

5. The cigarette and tobacco shortage.

(1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12

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REFERENCES .