A new pamphlet, The New Home Front, seeks to find lessons in the UK WWII effort for today’s need for transformative social and economic change. Written by Andrew Simms (of nef fame) and Caroline Lucas MP, it finds many useful comparisons – and certainly shows how quickly change can happen, but it’s ultimately left me feeling unsatisfied.
In my eyes, there are three key differences;
- There was an enemy. He was evil, he had a moustache, and his name was Hitler.
- There was a war on – and everyone knew it. Everyone knew someone in the army, and very soon everyone knew someone who had died. The war experience was real every moment of every day – what you could buy, where you could go, what work you did, what was on the radio, who was famous, what politics was about. There was little escape from the reality of war.
- The systemic goal changed. Rather than growing the economy, the primary goal between 1939-1945 was to defeat the Axis forces. This meant new priorities emerged, new decision-making processes, some things sped up – others slowed down. Rover’s factories only produced/repaired cars for the war effort and airplanes. The system re-organised in order to achieve the new goal.
When comparing those three to our situation –
- We are the enemy. My consumption, my lifestyle, the economic/social systems in which I live are the enemy. It’s difficult to hate myself and my life all the time.
- I only have to think about climate/poverty/all the other shit going down if I want to. *Oh look, the latest US series is on a box-set and there are cheap holidays in Slovenia this winter!*
- The systemic goal has not changed.
Solitaire Townsend, my old boss at Futerra, used to talk about the look of incredulity her grandmother gave her when she compared climate change to WWII. “You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about”, she would say. I’m certainly not applying this to the New Home Front project – I wish it every success – but I want to be realistic about it’s limitations.
If this topic grabs you, this book by historian Paul Addison is very good.
“Cutting spending on low carbon technologies now would be like cutting the budget for Spitfires in 1939.” Tim Yeo, Conservative MP