"Won!", "Get home!", "Scum!", "Bugs!" the British street screams, recalling two shameful Made in England products. Xenophobia and racism are by no means a new product of island culture. Do they have contempt and a sense of superiority in their blood?
There were times in the UK when intolerance went beyond homes and pubs, exploding in public spaces. Not for the first time, the increased influx of immigrants caused an allergic reaction to English concrete. To understand what is happening in the UK today, it is worth going back half a century.
Until 1962, any inhabitant of Commonwealth countries could freely cross the border of Great Britain. And that was the time when London turned from the city of whites to a cosmopolitan metropolis where people of different skin colors from all over the world live side by side.
Years of world domination have left the British feeling that they are better than everyone, regardless of their origin and skin color. Decorative map of the British Empire in 1886 by Walter Crane (source:public domain).
The more the streets became colorful and differently dressed, the more ethnic shops, restaurants and bars opened, the more the dark side of the British soul began to emerge.
British tolerance
The Englishman is nationalist and racist, the Englishman has an innate contempt for a foreigner and an incredible sense of racial superiority - wrote the Polish political journalist, Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile, Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz. Before the war he was an Anglophile, but after spending several war and post-war years in Great Britain he became a critical observer, almost akin to Anglophobia. He had reasons for it. As he wrote:
The Englishman does not reveal his moods externally. He is always composed and polite in his own way. But he has an incredible sense of national superiority and a lot of disgust towards foreigners. Of the European nations, only the Germans, the Dutch and the Scandinavian nations are respected in England, then (...) the Spaniards (...), while the English disgust the French, contempt for Italians, and disgust and contempt towards Poles .
People with the "wrong" skin color - even if they came from the British Empire - had a harder time in the UK than Europeans. In this photo from around 1957 we can see a young countryman Odelle eating cocoa beans. (photo John Hill, license CC BY-SA 4.0).
The Poles had a hard time, but even more so - people of color from outside Europe, even if they spoke English and were subjects of the queen from birth.
Do you have dark skin? Even the prostitute will refuse you
An example is the fate of the literary talented Odelle from the book "The Muse" by Jessie Burton, who came to London from Trinidad, i.e. from the former British colony.
In my country, with a degree and a strong sense of self values, I wouldn't even think of an occupation mainly for making tea, but Cynth brought me in to the ground:"Yes, such a job could be done by a blind person in one eye and a stump-deaf lame frog, but they are here anyway they won't give her to you, Odelle. (…)
I made regular calls in response to advertisements for a job that does not require experience. People with whom I talked, they were extremely nice, so I appeared at place, and there - what a surprise! - each offer showed is no longer available.
And so for 5 years. Well, in the London of the 1960s, talent was not enough, as you had a black skin color.
Cat-Mackiewicz wrote similarly about English racism:
We know from the criminal and judicial records of London that not every London prostitute will agree to have sexual intercourse with a Negro. (...) In the English colonies there is a very far-reaching range between the indigenous people and the English "Herrenvolk". There are separate carriages, separate trams, separate restaurants. Today India is independent, but during the last war, the Hindu was not allowed to enter the English restoration in India .
Poor bastards
But where did xenophobia and racism come from in Britain? From around the world. It is a memento from the colonial era, when a quarter of the globe was ruled from London, and the British empire practically did not set the sun. The overseas properties were serviced by a relatively small elite of colonial officials and officers, supported by the army, navy and local law enforcement forces. The ruling division - the ruled one was clear, and the orientation was often helped by the color of the skin.
British racism and xenophobia, however, also spilled over into whites. Some Polish airmen, for example, experienced it during World War II. At the initial stage of formation, the Polish squadrons had British co-commanders, which was helpful in getting to know the procedures of the Royal Air Force. The RAF did not always delegate people suitable for cooperation.
The ruling - ruled division was quite obvious to the British, and the color of the skin often helped in orientation. In the photo Lord Mountbatten during the inspection of the Malayan army in 1946 (photo:Ministry of Information Photo Division Photographer, Imperial War Museums, public domain).
For example, John A. Davies went to the 308th Krakow Fighter Squadron. This is how the Polish commander of the unit, Stefan Łaszkiewicz, described his British colleague:
He was taller in height, and looked down at me, literally and figuratively. The confident face betrayed no emotion other than haughtiness. (…) He was sitting behind the desk with his head thrown back and his eyes focused on the wall a meter above us. The lower lip moved, making a pontifical voice. (...) His every move, every word seemed to come not from a human, but from a dummy pretending to be a Roman proconsul.
Davies with his drawl of words, pouting his lower lip for authority, stiff legs, slow motion moves, making decisions like a high priest who weighs the fate of the British Empire , [was like] a mannequin from the office and a wooden puppet in appearance. I was for him (…) a man of an inferior race.
"Inferior People" of 308 Squadron gathering wheat in Normandy to prepare the landing site (photo:Clark N S, Imperial War Museums, public domain).
Davies - as the Polish aviator continued - was a typical "product" of colonial policy, so it was:
high official or officer - "pukka sahib", literally "strong lord", sort of like a prince. He personified the authority of Great Britain and was already certain in his blood that his orders or orders would not be questioned. An answer other than "yes, sir" could only have come from an English equivalent. The native who took it committed blasphemy.
We, in Davies' eyes, were just such natives in the colonies. (…) If someone is not English, he must be "poor bastard". (...) Literally "poor bastard", meaning [this] is a lower class creature .
The first humiliation of Poles - after the war
Eventually, Polish squadrons quickly became independent, but the problem returned after the end of World War II, when on July 5, 1945 Great Britain withdrew recognition of the government-in-exile.
Overnight, Polish soldiers became - as one of the British said - "the largest illegal private army that ever existed in this country" . Initially, the British government urged Poles to return to Poland, but not everyone was willing to do so. Some of them have already experienced Soviet labor camps, others' houses were located in the Soviet Union.
Ultimately, the British organized a Polish Resettlement Corps to assist former Polish soldiers to get civilian, but it was not easy.
Although the British economy needed hands to work, and many Polish veterans had the necessary skills, trade unions began to strongly protest against the employment of Poles. They were supported by the British sovereign - in June 1946 a poll showed that 30 percent. The British wanted to allow Polish soldiers to stay on the Island, but almost twice as many (56%) wanted them deported.
Stefan Knapp succeeded and became a successful artist. Other Poles were not so lucky ... The photo shows a mosaic designed by Stefan Knapp on the facade of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (photo:Zorro2212, license CC BY-SA 3.0).
Reluctance was expressed verbally and forcefully. In the vicinity of Polish bases, "Poles, home" and "England for the English" were written with paint on the walls, some Poles were beaten. Suddenly I became a useless, burdensome and even harmful object that everyone wanted to get rid of - Stefan Knapp, a former pilot from the 318th Gdańsk Fighter-Reconnaissance Squadron, complained.
He finally succeeded - he received a scholarship, graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in London and became a recognized artist. Others, however, were not so lucky.
Here are London's nightly industrial plants, some dishwashers, bakeries, sponge cake stackers into boxes, they are filled with Polish old men with high ranks in our former clerical hierarchy and these people work like "stakhanists" in relation to the English worker - Cat-Mackiewicz wrote about Polish ex-servicemen and politicians.
Poles deprived of pay, pension rights, prospects, often with only military education, were more determined and motivated than locals. So they worked more willingly and more efficiently than the British, and the union members… demanded their dismissal. Managers of the plants, fearing a strike, most often succumbed.
Poles - recognizable by their accent - were also often accosted and called on by "Polish fascists" or strangers who are unnecessary on the Thames and should return to where they came from.
Exceptions to the rule
And indeed. Many could not withstand this harsh atmosphere and left. Some to the countries of the Community, where xenophobia was not so common, and some - despite fears of new realities - to their home country. They returned to Poland, among others in 1956 Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz and in 1958 former journalist of the Krakow "Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny" Antoni Wasilewski.
Squadron 318 pilots painted such an emblem on the planes. They soon realized that living with dignity among the British is almost as difficult as winning three cards ... (work by Dmitry Fomin, public domain).
It must be honestly said at this point that not all Brits were smitten with xenophobia. Some of them had no prejudices against Poles, did not want to throw them out and recognized that they had the right to life and happiness in Albion.
Tell us why you are leaving our island after so many years. Think about it again - asked the British official of the Cracovian with concern. This one, however, had met enough British xenophobes before, so with a British sense of humor he replied: I don't want to take your place on buses and queues .
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This article was inspired by Jessie Burton's novel Muza (Wydawnictwo Literackie 2016). It is an original story about artistic freedom, finding your own form of expression and searching for creative redemption. On its pages you will find eye-catching characters, skilfully drawn narration and the atmosphere of two eras - Spain at the beginning of the Civil War and London in the 1960s.
Bibliography:
- Jessie Burton, Muse, Krakow 2016.
- Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz, Londyniszcze, Krakow 2013.
- Stefan Łaszkiewicz, From Cambrai to Coventry, Warsaw 1982.
- Adam Szostkiewicz, Five minutes of glory, in:"The British Empire. From the colonization of America to the Scottish referendum ”,“ Polityka. Historical assistant ”special edition 8/2014.
- Jacek Tebinka, Colorful metropolis, in:"The British Empire. From the colonization of America to the Scottish referendum ”,“ Polityka. Historical assistant ”special edition 8/2014.
- Antoni Wasilewski, A dry run in Krakow, Krakow 1976.
- Adam Zamoyski, Forgotten squadrons. The fate of Polish airmen, London 1995.