Decca, p.19
Decca, page 19
Their release is being interpreted in this country, even by the reactionary press, as an indication that there is a real cleavage between the will of the people and the actions of the ruling class in England, and that the Government is not truly dedicated to the cause of exterminating fascism in whatever place and in whatever form it rears its head. Unless the Mosleys are immediately put back in jail where they belong, great harm will be done to the cause of friendship between Britain and America.
My personal feeling is that the release of the Mosleys is a slap in the face to antifascists in every country, and that it is a direct betrayal of those who have died for the cause of anti-fascism. The fact that Diana is my sister doesn’t alter my opinion on this subject.
Yours sincerely,
P.S. If you wish to answer this letter, the above is my permanent address in this country.6
To Lady Redesdale
San Francisco
March 27, 1944
Darling Muv,
… The main reason I haven’t written for so long is that you never answered my question about the Mosleys. I see in the papers that they are living in Shipton, so I suppose you do see them. I was so disgusted when they were released, & so much in sympathy with the demonstrators against their release that it actually makes me feel like a traitor to write to anyone who has anything to do with them. However I see that it is difficult for you, & not your fault!
I’m now working for the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee as their San Francisco director. I left OPA in December because the job involved such a lot of travelling & I hate to leave Bob and the Donk so much. The new work is awfully interesting, and most of my friends are out of OPA too, so I don’t think I’d like it much any more. … Donk is going to school now, she started going in Jan. & is being what they call “promoted” this month! (It means going into the next class.) She is so independent these days, can dress herself etc. completely & gets furious if you try to help her do anything. She has a new habit now of threatening to run away if we scold her for anything. The other day she got her little suitcase & packed her doll & nightgown & started for the door. We think she has running away blood in her, & is bound to really do it one day…
I wrote to Tom & sent him a picture of Donk, but he’ll probably never get the letter as I just addressed it Middle East…
The wonderful Mrs. Betts continues to “do” for us & looks after Donk when she gets home from school; I shall miss her terribly if we leave. I get the breakfast at 7:00 a.m. as Donk leaves at 8:00 & Bob soon after; we cook our own dinner too, also out of the American Cook Book, strangely enough. Bob’s sister gave us a Mrs. Beeton7 for a wedding present, very reminiscent of Mrs. Stobie8 & the kitchen at Swinbrook.
Give Blor my love. I will write her soon & send some Donk photos. I would love to see a picture of Emma. I wonder if she is at all like the Donk.
Love from Decca
To Aranka Treuhaft
Stanford University Hospital, San Francisco
May 1944
Dear Aranka,
I just got your wedding announcement & am sorry to see we spelt your new name wrong every time we wrote.9 …
The beautiful Mong10 was born with no trouble at all at 12:10 a.m., May 16th. He started to come about 2 in the afternoon (as I was seeing Bob sworn in to the Calif. bar), but the pains weren’t bad enough to go to the hospital till after supper, about 7 p.m. Bob & I sat around playing cribbage & chatting till midnight; I felt no pain at all & was completely conscious throughout. At midnight there was a mild explosion, which was the water’s breaking, so I scrammed into the delivery room, & ten minutes later the Mong popped out, looking very annoyed about everything, covered with blood & slime but otherwise exactly like old Bob. I didn’t even have to have any stitches! After that we played some more cribbage & Bob left around 1 a.m. I had this marvellous new caudal anaesthetic which numbs you from the waist down but you stay awake all through. Ever since he was born I have felt really swell. I know I could easily get up & go out right now, but they keep you here a minimum of 8 days. I’ve had lots of visitors although there is a rule you can only have your husband & mother for the first 5 days—the trick is, I have them ask for the other girl in the ward who has been here more than 5 days. Also, this room is conveniently located near a fire escape, which means that Bob can get in during non-visiting hours. He has taken pictures of Nick Tito nursing through the window.
The Mong looks just like Bob—he has black hair, with 2 sections of non-hair at the sides, slanting eyes (blue at present, but they’ll probably turn brown soon). His nose is broad at the top like mine & wavy in the middle like Bob’s. He has huge red cheeks & is very fat & large all over. He is also the hospital champ—the biggest baby in the nursery. The nurse says he cries so loud he wakes up all the patients when she brings him down to nurse! …
Dink is [excited].… They say at school that she’s been talking about her baby brother constantly.…
Love from Decca
To Lady Redesdale
San Francisco
June 15, 1944
Darling Muv,
Thanks for your letters. I roared at the Honnish rules,11 so did Bob; the second set was so like the rules for a Union meeting.12
Our baby is wonderful, he weighed over 9 lbs at birth & was weighing over 10 lbs at 3 weeks.… [W]hen I got home Mrs. Betts looked after Nicholas. I’m starting work next week, and she will go on looking after him in the daytime.… I have a new job in Oakland, about an hour away from here by bus & train, so when I start work things will be rather rushed. My new job is financial director for the California Labor School. The school trains union people in organizing, economics etc.,13 & my job is to raise funds to keep the school going, write publicity etc. I think it will be very interesting.
The Donk adores Nicholas, she rushes in to see him every day after school & helps to give him his bottle.… When we get home at night it is like moving an army with all its equipment; Bob carries Nicholas in his cradle, I carry Donk & her clothes for the morning, then we have to get his bottles & her dolls. We have to take them down the fire escape, which is the only entrance to our flat.…
We call the new baby the Mong because of his Mongolian eyes (Bob is partly Mongolian).…
Love from Decca
To Lady Redesdale
San Francisco
August 21, 1944, and thereafter
Darling Muv,
Thank you so much for the lovely blanket for Nick, it is so unlike anything one can get here, & reminds me of children’s parties in England where they arrive swathed in shetland shawls. I got your letter of July 25 too. I roared about the Union of S. African Republics. I meant trade union meetings.
We have found a house at last, have bought it and are moving in this week. The only way one can get a place to live here is by buying it, as no landlords will rent to those with children (I mean in San Francisco, which is fearfully overcrowded). The house has 6 rooms—3 bedrooms. I’ve also found a nurse for the children—she has a husband & 2 children & they are all going to live with us. Her children are school age. So you can see the bedrooms are going to be fairly packed. I’m taking this week off from work to move. Donk is terrifically excited. There’s a little garden where she can probably keep rabbits or dogs, if the nurse is agreeable. … Nicholas is growing at a terrific rate, he is so fat & healthy & already eating pablum, a kind of sawdust which they mix with water & feed to children here. We shall miss the Dann kids (Donny & Kenny) and Mrs. Betts, but this place is getting awfully overcrowded now there are 4 of us…
I see it is now Sept. 25th & I haven’t finished this letter. We are now living in the new house, it is wonderful & convenient compared to the flat.… Bob has just got a new job with a labor law firm (TRADE union clients), it is exactly the job he has been wanting, so we are awfully pleased…
Donk has reached the stage of “being” things, the other day she was a frog, & wouldn’t answer any questions because she said “frogs don’t talk.” Sometimes she says my finger is a German, & then if I’m not careful to keep out of her way she gives it a terrible bite. One of her chief amusements is the way I eat (because Americans hold their fork in the right hand & never use a knife). She tells people “Dec eats that way because she used to be in England.” She also quite often corrects the way I say words like dance, grass etc. At school her teachers say she is the most independent child they’ve ever had there, because she won’t let them help her dress, or go to the loo.
Nicholas is a rather different type, more serious & thoughtful & with a different sense of humour. I can’t tell whether he is going to be independent like Dink, but I think he will be quieter & more studious. He is getting awfully pretty, & has strong eyebrows like Bob.
We are all working hard on the elections, trying to get Roosevelt reelected. Everybody is canvassing in their neighbourhood. Donk & the Ross children are very good at distributing leaflets on the election from house to house, except that if Donk likes the people she usually gives them about 10 leaflets so we run short. She is used to leaflet distribution as she did some last year when the political campaign first started.
Thank Boud for the birthday ‘gram, I loved getting it. I must write to Nancy too, she sent me a book called “Little Lottie.” What I long for is Edgeworth’s Moral Tales, if you ever see a copy for sale do send it. Also, Bob would love to see some pictures of us as children, do see if you can find some.
Love from Decca
To Aranka Treuhaft
San Francisco
ca. April 1945
Dear Aranka,
Thanks for your letter, and for the lovely things you sent.… [Nicholas] can say “Nicholas” in addition to a lot of other words. Dink is learning to read & write. She can write her name & read several words. I am teaching her as they don’t seem to teach them anything like that in her school…
I have enjoyed being home with them very much, & the Dink has been a great help. She knows quite a bit about housework & has been showing me how to do things. For instance, I thought that to clean the stove you just wiped it with a rag, but the Dink showed me how to take the top apart & wash it. She can wash all of the dishes from a whole meal by herself, & dry them.…
We are going to a place south of LA called the “overall wearing ranch,” it sounds marvelous.14 It is mainly a Negro resort, but they take white people, & they specialize in children’s activities, so Dink should have a wonderful time.
Nicholas & I spent a lot of time at Dink’s school.… One day Leadbelly, a famous folk singer,15 was in town & I got him to come over to the school to sing for the children. He entertained them for about 2 hours, & they all sang & even Nicholas was beating time. They had children from 2 or 3 other nursery schools over for the concert…
Nicholas’s tonsils, adenoid etc are all in good shape, the Doc says, also he’s not getting bowlegged. The only way to prevent him from walking would be to chain him to the floor, which the Doc doesn’t recommend. I hope you can come out & see him one day, you would love him. He is exactly like that picture of Bob aged 3.
Love from Decca
To Lady Redesdale
San Francisco
May 15, 1945
My Darling Muv,
I have tried to write several times since getting the terrible news about Tudemy,16 I felt so awful about it & couldn’t think of anything comforting to say, because to me it seems that anyone who was killed in this war has died for the most magnificent cause in history—but I didn’t know if you would agree. Since getting your letter, I think that at last you do agree, and that you see that it would be better for all of us to be wiped out than to live in the same world with the Nazis. Esmond used to say that long ago, in the days of the Spanish war, and how true it is.
I was so pleased with your letter because you sound in good spirits; I do wish we could come to England & bring the sweet children. Perhaps we can soon.
The conference is being very exciting.17 I am working for the Friends of the Spanish Republic, the object being to keep Franco Spain out of the World Security Organization. We are making some headway, many of the delegations are very favourable and the newspapers are writing up the Committee. The Labor School wants me to go back, but I shall only do it if I can arrange an 8 hour day, otherwise I never see the children. I saw Bob Boothby18 for a second, he told me about Nancy being a career woman these days (so incredible!) and we had dinner with Kingsley Martin19 & got him to contribute $1500 to the Labor School. He is going to write an article for Colliers (a big circulation magazine here) & give us the money. It may be $2,000 if we’re lucky. He said he would ring you up when he gets home.
Dinky is in wonderful shape, she is going to a new school (a much better one I think) and she was terribly excited over V-E day. There was no celebrating here at all, not even whistles blowing or anything, I was glad, I don’t think anyone felt like celebrating…
We heard yesterday from Bob’s mother in New York who had read that Giles20 was rescued by the Russians. I do hope it’s true & that we shall soon hear from him. She read it in a New York paper.
Do write soon—Love from Dec
To Nancy Mitford
San Francisco
ca. May 1945
Darling Sooze,
Thanks for your letter. You must have been having a miserable time, I am so terribly sorry and I do wish I were there.21 It seems like a lifetime since that day in 1939 when Tudemy saw us off at the station—he & Nanny & Aunt Puss—and he was one of the few people in England I really looked forward to seeing again. Are you bringing into your book22 about church services at Swinbrook, when we used to make Tud blither by nudging him in the parts about not committing adultery? …23
You would love the amazing Donk, now called Constancia in her new school. Also the beautiful, new improved walking & talking & self-feeding Nicholas Tito (named after Lenin & Marshal Tito to annoy the P’s24). We would come to England if we could afford it. If we do come, can we stay with you? I’ve lost track of who else I’m on speakers & stayers with. At the moment I’m not working because my lade who took care of the children has left. So I’m trying to look after them. Luckily Constancia helps a lot by washing up, making beds, etc. She’s not at all like we were as children, but in some ways a typical nursery school product. Any chance of you & Rodd coming to America? I know you hate foreigners specially Americans but you would adore Bob & Constancia & Nicholas. Do write again soon, and if you ever see Id or Rud give them my love.
Yr loving Susan
To Aranka Treuhaft
San Francisco
September 1945
Dear Aranka,
Thanks for your letter & for the swell package of Hungarian food.…
Labor Day we all paraded with the CIO. Dinky was with the section calling for continued child care; a whole lot of kids paraded all the way up Market Street25 yelling “We want nursery schools.” She wore the red outfit you gave her—very appropriate. Nicholas & I were in the Friends of the Spanish Republic truck & old Bob lined the streets. It was a fine parade, we had wonderful weather and a huge crowd turned out.
I am bent on getting some of the new postwar appliances. I don’t want a Bendix any more since seeing an ad for a Thor combined washing machine & dishwasher. I spent yesterday hunting for one & enquiring for additional fixtures which will put the children to bed. No luck so far. Ask Al whether he thinks the following suggestions would be marketable: an automatic bed maker & an automatic machine for picking up soiled diapers (illustrated below):
To Lady Redesdale
San Francisco
January 3, 1946
Darling Muv,
Thank you so much for the books you sent the children, they are really wonderful. I keep them with our books so that they won’t get torn up.… I got a letter from Hasties, ages ago, saying I had inherited I/6 of Inch Kenneth.26 I sent the stuff to Claud Cockburn, of the Daily Worker,27 as I would like my share to go to the Communist Party. I was expecting to hear from you about it. Did he get in touch with you or with Hasties? …
We have a housekeeper again as I’m working full time. I really got to hate housework while doing it for 3 or 4 months. I am terribly bad at it & much prefer to work…
Love from Decca
To William Gallacher28 San Francisco
March 21, 1946
Dear Comrade,
Several months ago I was informed by my father’s solicitors, Messrs. Hasties of 65, Lincoln Inn Fields, that I had inherited one-sixth of Inch Kenneth, which is an island off the coast of Scotland. The island was the property of my brother Tom Mitford, and because he died without leaving a will my five sisters and myself are the heirs. The sisters are Mrs. Peter Rodd, Mrs. Derek Jackson, Lady Mosley, Unity Mitford and Lady Andrew Cavendish.
I sent the power of attorney to Claud Cockburn, c/o London Daily Worker, and told him that he should arrange to collect my share of the income from the island and turn it over to the Communist Party of Great Britain. I have written twice to Claud, and have sent him cables, but he has not replied. I find it hard to believe that the Party has no use for the money, or that somebody cannot be found to handle the details of collection.29 However, if this is so, please let me know, as the San Francisco Party could certainly use it.
We have no way of knowing how much my share is worth, or whether it should be sold in order to realize a lump sum, and were counting on Claud to find out. The island has a large house on it &, I believe, some cottages.
Please send me a cable as soon as you receive this letter to let me know whether or not the Party is interested in handling my share of the estate and receiving the income. Since I have not heard from Claud at all regarding this matter I thought it best to write to you.
comradely, Decca Treuhaft
Financial Director, Communist Party of San Francisco
To Lady Redesdale
San Francisco
May 2i, 1946
Darling Muv,
Thanks for your airmail letter, and cable. I want to explain how I look on the money to be received from the island. In the first place, I realize that I only got any share of it by a fluke. In the second place, I’m really not a bit interested in getting the money for myself, as we get along perfectly all right on the money we earn by working for it. However, since a share of the island has come my way, I am determined that it shall be put to a good use, and also I feel it’s important to make sure that I get the maximum to be realized from my share. One way to look at it is that my share will go to undo some of the harm that our family has done, particularly the Mosleys and Farve when he was in the House of Lords. To me, it seems that money is an important political weapon—and that’s the only reason why I’m interested in getting any of it, and also why I’m interested in getting a maximum.
