British Fascism: Essays on the Radical Right in Inter-War Britain

237 Pages·1980·8.128 MB·English

by  Kenneth Lunn, Richard C. Thurlow

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
RACISM AND FASCISM
Volume 3
BRITISH FASCISM
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BRITISH FASCISM
Essays on the Radical Right in
Inter-War Britain
Edited by
KENNETH LUNN AND
RICHARD C. THURLOW
Firstpublishedin1980byCroomHelmLimited
Thiseditionfirstpublishedin2016
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©1980KennethLunnandRichardC.Thurlow
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ISBN:978-1-138-93422-1(Set)
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BRITISH FASCISM
ESSAYS ON THE RADICAL RIGHT
IN INTER-WAR BRITAIN
Edited by
KENNETH LUNN AND
RICHARD C.THURLOW
¥
CROOM HELM LONDON
©1980 Kenneth Lunn and Richard C. Thurlow
Croom Helm Limited, 2-10 St John’s Road, London SW11
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
British fascism.
1. F ascism - Great Britain - History
I. Lunn, Kenneth
II. Thurlow, Richard C.
320.5’33’0941 DA566.7
ISBN 0-85664-874-4
Reproduced from copy supplied
printed and bound in Great Britain
by Billing and Sons Limited
Guildford, London, Oxford, Worcester
CONTENTS
Preface
1. Introduction Kenneth Lunn and Richard C. Thurlow 9
Part I: Precursors and Parallel Movements 19
2. Political Anti-semitism Before 1914: Fascism’s Heritage?
Kenneth Lunn 20
3. Henry Hamilton Beamish and the Britons: Champions of
Anti-semitism Gisela C. Lebzelter 41
4. Arnold Leese and the Imperial Fascist League: the Impact of
Racial Fascism John Morell 57
Part II: The British Union of Fascists 77
5. Reflections on Mosley and British Fascism
Robert Skidelsky 78
6. The Return of Jeremiah: the Rejected Knowledge of Sir
Oswald Mosley in the 1930s Richard C. Thurlow 100
7. Anti-semitism and the BUF Colin Holmes 114
8. The BUF, the Metropolitan Police and Public Order
John Stevenson 135
9. The Membership of the British Union of Fascists
Stuart Rawnsley 150
Part III: Wider Context 167
10. The Contribution of British Intellectuals to Fascism
Paul Hayes 168
11. Changing Interpretations of British Fascism: a Bibliographical
Survey Philip Rees 187
12. Post-war Fascism? Neill Nugent 205
Index 228
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PREFACE
As editors, we wish first and foremost to recognise the efforts of the
contributors, who produced their essays within the strict confines
which we offered them. Much praise is due for the typing to Beverley
Eaton, Beryl Moore and Irene Thurlow and to Sybil Lunn for con­
structing the index. We are also grateful to our colleagues, Colin Holmes
and David Martin, in the Department of Economic and Social History
at Sheffield University for their professional criticism and advice.
Fihally, to the publishers we owe our thanks for their original accept­
ance of what was, at first, a fairly tenuous concept, for their patience
with various delays to the manuscript and for the appearance of this
volume.
June 1979
Kenneth Lunn
Richard C. Thurlow