SOCIAL SCIENCE COLLECTION GUIDES TOPICAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES www.bl.uk/socialsciences A timeline of resources on the British National Party INTRODUCTION The following timeline and resource guide is written in the context of the gains made by the British National Party at the June 2009 European Parliamentary Elections, and subsequent wider discussion about the party. Its focus is on the ideological background of the party, its founders and key figures. This resource guide covers four types of material: • commentary and research on the far right and electoral behaviour in the UK; • contemporary news reporting; • publications and websites of the BNP, National Front and other far-right groups (and recordings of members); and • publications and websites of anti-fascist organisations. It is not an exhaustive bibliography, but seeks to describe the rich resources held at the Library to improve understanding of this controversial topic. The guide was compiled as part of a six week research project carried out by Nicole LaLonde, an MA postgraduate student, at the Library. The foreword, written by Nicole, explains more about the origins and aims of that project, and how this timeline has been structured. Many of the sources listed in this guide take a strong political and ideological bias. As with previous guides, no political viewpoint is expressed, although due to the nature of some of the sources covered, and the material being retained unexpurgated as a valid record of what has been expressed, users are warned that certain items contain racist or otherwise offensive material. They may contain text, images and comments that could cause offence, and involve issues of race and racism. Readers are advised to keep these considerations in mind when using this guide. Please note that the British Library neither endorses, nor can be held responsible for, any information provided by external websites or publications listed herein. FOREWORD This bibliography was created as part of a six week research project in conjunction with my work as an MA postgraduate student at Indiana University Bloomington, IN, USA. From the beginning, my purpose was twofold; • to create a final product that highlights the variety of British Library resources; and A timeline of resources on the British National Party Page 1 of 25 Social sciences collection guides Topical bibliographies • to use my research as a case study for that product. Because of this, the work took on a life of its own: I initially planned to look at the emergence of the far-right in European politics, drawn to this topic by the recent European elections of 2009; what I ended with, was a case study of one particular party, the British National Party (BNP), its history, and the implications and significance of its recent political success. I became interested in a placement at the Library after I attended the symposium held there on the 2009 European Parliament elections. I was able to take part in illuminating discussions on the recent elections, as well as learning about some exciting new projects, such as the Library’s involvement in archiving websites connected to the elections, and the new guide to the European Union Collections. I was lucky enough to arrange a research project with Jude England, Head of Social Science Collections and Research, and Ian Cooke, Lead Content Specialist in International and Political studies. Both were interested in a project that would highlight the amazing variety and volume of resources available to researchers through the Library. After much deliberation, the final format of the bibliography follows a timeline. This starts with the European elections in 2009, and then runs from the 1950s up to recent events. I have placed the sources in relation to the events and topics that they cover. In most instances, such as pamphlets and news headlines, the sources were published contemporarily. Sources which analyse earlier periods are positioned in the timeline with the events they discuss. For example: The political breakthrough of the BNP: the case of Burnley by James Rhodes—published in 2004—is categorized under 2001 in the bibliography, which is when the Burnley elections which he is writing about took place. My focus is on the BNP in the last decade. I have restricted the primary and historical sources, pre-BNP, to items that I find relate directly to the history of the Party, past and current members, and events which influenced the ideologies under examination. There are some notable unique sources in the bibliography, including collections from the Library’s sound archive as well as non-mainstream publications by both the far-right and anti-fascist organizations. When I began my work, I was interested in looking at the emergence of far-right parties in the recent European Elections. Some countries, like France and Italy, have long had institutionalised far-right parties, for instance the Front National in France under Jean Le- Pen. Countries for which previously marginalised far-right parties had gained seats in the European Parliament in 2009, included the Netherlands, Romania, and now Britain. Early investigation revealed the breadth of this topic, and, considering the time I had to conduct the research, I knew that I would have to narrow the focus down. Having lived in the UK for three years, and having married a British citizen, understandably my interests were drawn to the case of Britain, where the British National Party had just gained two seats in the European Parliament. Although some have suggested this relatively small representation will have little impact, it must be considered in the context of what the party, and its leadership, has been working toward A timeline of resources on the British National Party Page 2 of 25 Social sciences collection guides Topical bibliographies in the past decade: political legitimacy and respectability. This recent success, when examined in relation to the growing success of the party in local elections as well as its latent support in exit polls, (i.e. there are considerably less people today who would not consider voting for the party), is significant and warrants careful study. Another factor to consider is the limited information gathered about support for the party, compared with others, which leaves a gap of information by which we can judge its potential significance (See John, P. & Margetts, H., 2009. The latent support for the extreme right in British politics, West European Politics, Vol 32 pt 3). Labelling the BNP as 'insignificant' has in some ways restricted opportunities to examine and challenge the party. Perhaps we should be less surprised by their recent national success than many seem to be. I would like to thank Jude England who made this opportunity possible, Ian Cooke who helped me so much along the way, and everyone on the Social Sciences Collections and Research team. I would also like to thank Christian Algar at the Colindale newspaper library for showing me the ropes and Andy Simons in Modern British Collections, whose insight and knowledge on the topic of the far right in Britain has been of great inspiration and assistance to me. It is my hope that through this project I may, at the least, illuminate the immense service which The British Library offers to researchers of all disciplines. Nicole LaLonde, MA Student in West European Politics, Indiana University, October 2009 FINDING ADVICE The following explanation will help you understand how you can tell which books are available in the British Library reading rooms, which ones you need to order up, and which ones you can get on inter-library loan: If the shelfmark of the item in this bibliography says: London reference collection shelfmark – the material will be held at one of the BL London sites. This material can be read in our London reading rooms and ordered over the Integrated Catalogue. Delivery times vary, but the majority of this material will be delivered to the reading room of your choice within 70 minutes. Books printed before 1851, or that are rare or fragile, should be consulted in the Rare Books and Music Reading Room. London open access collections shelfmark – the material will be held at the main BL London site (St Pancras) and will be available to browse from the open shelves in one of our reading rooms. The majority of the open access material in this bibliography will be available in the Social Science Reading Room (denoted by the letters SPIS in the shelfmark). Newspaper Library – These items are available to consult in the Newsroom at St Pancras. Please see: http://www.bl.uk/subjects/news-media A timeline of resources on the British National Party Page 3 of 25 Social sciences collection guides Topical bibliographies UK Thesis – UK university theses can now be searched, and many ordered in digital form, from Ethos http://ethos.bl.uk . If a UK thesis has already been digitised by Ethos, then you will also be able to consult this from PCs in the Library Reading Rooms. Sound archive – Sound and Moving Image items can be requested using our Listening and Viewing Service (see http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/inrrooms/stp/sound/listening.html). Many sound recordings can now be accessed instantly using SoundServer on selected Reading Room PCs. DS shelfmark – the material will be held in Yorkshire at our site in Boston Spa. This material can be ordered to arrive in our London reading rooms via the Integrated Catalogue, but will take at least 48 hours to be delivered. It can also be consulted at our Boston Spa reading room. This material forms part of our Document Supply service and is also available for access via inter-library loan. SPIS Journals Display - this refers to journals and periodicals which are available through open access on the shelves of the Social Science Reading Room.