Hons and Rebels

Barely a day goes by right now without an event occurring that makes us stop and think, ‘Oh dear’.

In erratic and uncertain times such as these, I am drawn to think of times past. Whilst history does not repeat, it can instruct and be a source of comfort and inspiration.

At my dear Mum’s insistence, I took to her favourite book of all time, a yellowed and much fingered copy of Hons and Rebels by Jessica Mitford. From the title, you might wonder if it is a book about paradoxical people, which it is. ‘Hons and Rebels’ is also an extraordinary memoir of family life and growing up in England in the aftermath of the First World War. It was first published in 1960.

Whilst Hons and Rebels is light hearted, poignant and funny, which has much to do with the idiosyncrasies of the Mitford family and Jessica’s incredible wit and way with words, it is also a powerfully instructive story for our times.

Jessica grows up in an isolated farmhouse in the English Cotswolds countryside with eccentric and reactionary parents, ‘Murv’ and ‘Farv’, and her six siblings. There was intense ideological conflict within the family, and their home bore the scars, with swastikas and hammer and sickles carved into the glass windows.

Hons and Rebels is also a coming of age story that will break your heart, and make you wonder about the choices we each have to make in our own lives.

Commentators around the world have compared Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Donald Trump and JD Vance to events in 1938 when the then British prime minister Neville Chamberlain travelled to Munich to make an illusory peace with Hitler at the expense of Czechoslovakia.

Esmond and Jessica

In Hons and Rebels, Jessica wrote about the personal reaction of her husband Esmond to Chamberlain’s actions in 1938:

‘If Esmond reflected at that moment the despair of a generation that has lost control of its own destiny, he was not one to remain in despair for very long. Turning over and discarding possible alternative plans of action and modes of existence, the idea suddenly flashed upon him: we’d go and live in America until the war began.’

Isn’t it odd and indicative of how much the world has changed that the US was once thought of as a safe harbour?

In our own time, people have told me they are cancelling plans to travel to the US. Others are choosing not to buy US products, and there is discontent within the US itself with people boycotting companies for abandoning their diversity, equity and inclusion commitments. A growing international move to boycott the US is spreading around the world from Scandinavia to the UK, as well as Canada and Mexico who have been the first targets of Trump’s tariffs.

What was it about the US in 1938 that was so appealing to Jessica and Esmond?

Esmond and Jessica had to convince US authorities to grant them a visa, and this is how they did it:

We canvassed various friends … [who replied] ‘He’ll give you the papers, all right; just say the Magic Words’ … The Magic Words, it seemed were Land of Opportunity, Rugged Individualism, Free Enterprise.

Esmond said to the US consul:

‘Sir,’ he began, ‘my wife and I hold dear a most heartfelt, deep and sincere faith in the ability of your grea-a-at country, the Land of Opportunity, the United States of America, to provide, through its Free Enterprise system, a modest but adequate living for those young people who, like ourselves, are imbued with the spirit of Rugged Individualism.’

The consul declared, ‘with a faraway look in his eyes’, ‘Well, I guess I’ll take a chance on you kids.’

So it is ‘Rugged Individualism’ that makes Jessica and Esmond successful in obtaining their visa. They then travel to the US with letters of introduction from family and friends, which soon furnish them with jobs and invitations to parties and places to stay in the state of New York and Washington DC. The paradox is that whilst ‘Rugged Individualism’ opened the door for Jessica and Esmond to the US, it was though connections, community and the support of others that they made a life for themselves in the US, as well as escaping from a subdued and polarised Britain.

Indeed, this is the tonic the much loved and highly respected social psychologist Hugh Mackay recommends to Australians in his latest book published last year, The Way We Are: Lessons from a lifetime of listening:

You worry that individualism is eroding our sense of community? You think society is suffering from too much busyness, too little courtesy, too little eye contact? Or that, post-COVID, people again seem reluctant to make personal sacrifices for the common good? You think it’s outrageous that so many people don’t even know their neighbours’ names?

There’s no magic wand. You exist in a circle. Join the dots.’

But back to Hons and Rebels.

Without giving anything away, by the end of ‘Hons and Rebels’, Germany has invaded Poland, Neville Chamberlain has resigned, Winston Churchill has become Prime Minister of England, and has announced Britain is at war. Esmond decides the only option is to enlist and fight against the Nazis. Of these events, Jessica writes:

Usually the events which make history seem to take an interminable time when one is living through them. Only years later do the essentials appear in perspective, telescoped and summarised in glib phrases for the history books … In real life, the maturing of the crisis that leads up to a change in government, the course of international negotiation and conferences that shape the destiny of a generation, the ebb and flow of battles that decide the outcome of a war, unroll in maddening slow-motion fashion, the decisive meaning of each stage often obscured and buried under mountains of newsprint, speculation, rumour, interpretation, ‘inspired’ stories, comment pro and con.

Not so the German offensive against Western Europe, when it was finally unleashed…

Out of the wild confusion of those first few days of the attack, one fact emerged: the German rain of fire against these ill-prepared, disunited countries had illuminated in one vast flash the real nature of the danger confronting Europe, had exposed for all to see and understand the criminal stupidity of the years of shabby deals and accommodation to Hitler’s ambitions. Overnight, the appeasement policy was buried for ever…

To Esmond this was the turning point…

Characteristically, while analysing and expatiating at length on all the drawbacks and drearier aspects of the war, Esmond was full of optimism. He predicted that the necessary clearing away of the Nazi rubble would open up the way to enormous social change everywhere.

Esmond was right. The paradox of World War Two is that whilst there was devastating loss of life and destruction, it also lead to great positive social change. For example, there were technological advancements such as the discovery of penicillin and radar, and the establishment of international cooperation through the United Nations and other treaties, the adoption of the Declaration of Human Rights and ongoing progress towards diversity, equity and inclusion. These changes have come slowly, and they have not come without difficulty.

With the advent of AI – Artificial Intelligence, the world feels as if it is changing faster than ever. Yet, the world needs to address climate change and ensure that AI does not become the next Tragedy of the Commons.

Are we at a similar turning point to that faced by Jessica and Esmond in 1939? Will the paradox of our times be that Trump will toll the bell for the change truly needed to contend with climate change?

With this thought, I wonder who will be our Hons and Rebels? Like Jessica Mitford, for me they will be my family, my friends and the people of Walyalup/Fremantle that I am fortunate to call home. And some other people around Australia and other countries around the world.

I also commit, like all good Shipees to ‘Hold Fast’, and if I may, suggest so do we all.

PS For those keen to hear from Jessica Mitford herself you can access this recording of her in conversation with acclaimed Australian journalist John Pilger.

PSS For those interested in paradoxes and a much longer view of history, scientists have speculated that Earth’s magnetic field is overdue a flip where the magnetic north and south poles change locations. This has happened 171 times in the past 71 million years, as explained here and here.

* By Madeleine Cox. Madeleine Cox was raised on a farm on Binjareb Noongar country and now, together with her New Zealand/Aotearoa husband, lives with her children in Fremantle/Walyalup. She loves exploring places and ideas, and connecting with people and nature. This has prompted Madeleine to start writing independently, after many years work as a corporate and government lawyer, and service on not-for-profit boards in the health and education sectors. For more articles on Fremantle Shipping News by Madeleine, look here.

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