A Low Dishonest War

Auden's phrase "a low dishonest decade" is - rightly - taken to mean The Dirty Thirties, but he first used that phrase in a poem written during the opening days of WWII , which he correctly saw as a direct consequence from the debased (lack of) ideals of the 1930s.

Indeed 'a low dishonest war' did follow the low dishonest decade,  because most of humanity fails to rise to the challenge and change its spots.