The Return of the Extreme Right? 

Article by Michael Jones. Edited by Jacques Welcomme. Additional Research by Liz Goodwin.

Unlike France, Germany or Italy, the British political experience has been one of organic evolution and progressive adaption, and without any notable social revolution. One could perhaps look back over the Nineteenth century and identify only the relatively mild Chartist movement as an example of long-term, organised popular protest. It would be an exaggeration to suggest that there has been a particularly strong association with extremist political organisations on a mass scale in this country, even during the aftermath of the First World War. Indeed, despite emerging victorious from the conflict, France quickly experienced unrest as a result of strong Socialist influence. During the 1920s and 1930s in Italy and Germany, fascist-authoritarianism held considerable appeal to the masses; indeed, by 1933 the Nazi Party was the largest party in the Reichstag. Historians traditionally cite the dire economic conditions created during the Depression combined with the unrest of the war, as the root of pan-European support for extremism. In Britain, the Depression also hit hard with mass unemployment inflicted across the country, and yet the aristocratic Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists became ever more marginalised as their policies, such as anti-Semitism, increasingly aligned with those of National Socialism. The casual ‘fascism’ condoned by the conservative elite since Edwardian times evolved into something more sinister. The B.U.F’s 1934 membership base 

of 50,000 quickly declined as it became apparent that the Blackshirts were about street politics, anti-Semitism and xenophobia, none of which had  enjoyed widespread prominence in British society over the previous several hundred years. By the late 1930s, it has been suggested that the BUF was little more than a collection of working-class anti-Semites from the East End and northern industrial areas, epitomised by the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, a planned anti-Communist march through a Jewish suburb in London. Mosley never won any parliamentary or council seats and was eventually detained by the government in 1940 for fear he would be a rallying point for pro-German sympathisers. 

History has unfortunately failed to repeat itself. In June 2009, the British National Party set a precedent by winning two seats in the European Parliamentary elections. This came as a shock to many, not least because since 1945, British politics and society have shifted generally to the centre, taking a more liberal, middle-class stance; a development encouraged by the increasing affluence of the electorate. The B.N.P, a legitimate political party, was able to successfully achieve in just a year of recession what Mosley was unable to achieve in the best part of ten years of the Depression, the worst economic decline the world has seen. This poses some interesting questions about the British public. A leaked B.N.P membership list from November 2008 suggested there are about 13,500 paying members; a figure which closely mirrors Mosley’s following circa 1936-7. Despite the fact that only a minority voted for the B.N.P in June (120,139 votes in Yorkshire, less than they gained in 2004), it can be suggested that elements of the British public are willing to bypass traditional party politics and seek a more direct and ‘effective’ solution using the existing political system. The perceived corruption of government, compelled by the recent expenses scandal, and unwillingness by the government to attend to key issues such as immigration, is to blame. Such shortcomings have led to a damage of trust between the electorate and Westminster. Furthermore, a social divide between North and South continues to exist. Lower income per capita in the northern industrial areas apparently translates into right wing votes. Elements of the British public are once again turning to those who offer resolution in times of crisis, but this time there is nothing to prevent B.N.P success. What is disconcerting is the speed with which many people have made this conversion; we can only imagine what might have been if Mosley had enjoyed such enthusiasm. He, unlike Nick Griffin, did not benefit from an increasing apathy toward politics such as the marked failure of Labour’s support base to turn out in sufficient numbers in Yorkshire and Lancashire. This so-called silent majority has allowed those who do care to equip Griffin and Brons with a legitimate mandate to serve. Edmund Burke’s lesson that ‘all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’ has been forgotten.

← Back to Volume 1

← Back to Issue 1