The National Front and the “Political Soldiers”
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“On With the National Revolution!” An analysis of the ideological reorientation of the «political soldiers» in the British National Front, 1980-1990 Yngvild Storli Master’s Thesis in Contemporary History Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Spring 2019 II “On With the National Revolution!” An analysis of the ideological reorientation of the «political soldiers» in the British National Front, 1980-1990 “Legionary life is beautiful, not because of riches, partying or the acquisition of luxury, but because of the noble comradeship which binds all Legionaries in a sacred brotherhood of struggle.” - Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (For My Legionaries, 1936) III © Yngvild Storli 2019 2019 «On With the National Revolution!» - An analysis of the ideological reorientation of the “political soldiers” in the British National Front, 1980-1990 Yngvild Storli http://www.duo.uio.no/ Print: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo IV Abstract The electoral breakthrough of the French Front National in the European Parliament in 1984 marked the beginning of an upsurge in electoral support for far right parties all over Europe. This process is often referred to as “the third wave” of right wing extremist and -radical parties. This master thesis analyzes the ideological reorientation of the “political soldiers”, a faction within the British neo-fascist organization National Front, in the context of the “third wave”. A common denominator among the political parties who gained any form of representation in this period was that they made an effort to distance themselves from their neo-Nazi or fascist pasts and renew themselves as political parties in order to break into mainstream electoral politics. The “political soldiers” however, did the opposite: they abandoned the quest for “legitimacy” and electoral support, and eventually became an elitist, revolutionary cadre organization of so- called “political soldiers”. Influenced by a group of Italian neo-fascists, they adopted a more esoteric form of ideology, inspired by Corneliu Codreanu, Julius Evola, religious Islamic fundamentalism, and to some extent the French Nouvelle Droite. This thesis investigates these influences’ impact on the British activists, and how this reorientation came to expression in their party newspapers and two of their political manifestos. V VI Acknowledgements Writing this thesis has been a pleasure as well as a hassle, but also a privilege. Several people have contributed to its accomplishment. Above all, I wish to thank my supervisor Elisabetta Cassina Wolff for reading my numerous drafts with critical eyes, for providing insightful comments and suggestions, and for always telling me to look “above and beyond” the archive material. Thank you also to Graham Macklin for lending me valuable sources on British fascism, and for pointing me in the direction of the Searchlight Archives at the University of Northampton. Thank you to the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo whose economic support enabled me to travel to England to carry out the archive studies. Thank you to the keeper of the Searchlight Archives, Daniel Jones, for his kind guidance to the “right” boxes. Thank you to my parents for their support and encouragement and for helping me keep up my spirits when the light at the end of the tunnel seemed out of reach. Thank you to Kaia and Henrik for engaging in elaborate discussions, for patiently listening to my countless ups and downs, and for making my home life a pleasant refuge. Thanks also to Maria for thorough and qualified proofreading. Finally, my most heartfelt thanks go to all of my fellow students on the third floor in Niels Treschows Hus, but especially “V. B. gjeng” Adelina, Erlend, Joachim, Kristoffer, Mathilde and Vilde. You have made these past two years inspiring and entertaining. It has been a privilege to go on this journey with all of you. VII VIII Table of contents Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Presentation ............................................................................................................................ 1 The aim of the thesis and historical context ........................................................................... 2 Sources ................................................................................................................................... 4 Literature, theory and method ................................................................................................ 5 1 Interpretations of fascism and the far right................................................................... 8 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 8 Historiography ............................................................................................................. 8 Interpretations of fascism ............................................................................................ 9 Interpretations of the contemporary far right ............................................................ 14 Moving on.................................................................................................................. 18 2 The history of British fascism, the National Front and the “political soldiers” ....... 20 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 20 British fascism: from Oswald Mosley to the National Front..................................... 20 The National Front..................................................................................................... 23 The new generation of radicals .................................................................................. 25 The new generations’ international networking ........................................................ 26 Creating a new platform for ideological development .............................................. 27 The “political soldiers” .............................................................................................. 29 3 The “radicalization” of the National Front .................................................................. 30 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 30 Radicalism and radicalization .................................................................................... 30 Nationalism Today and Rising ................................................................................... 31 Nationalism Today: Developing a new ideological platform .................................... 32 Distributism ............................................................................................................... 35 De-urbanization and reconnection to the divine ........................................................ 38 The new national revolutionary ideology .................................................................. 39 “A Europe for the peoples” ....................................................................................... 42 Influences ................................................................................................................... 44 3.9.1 British influences ................................................................................................ 44 3.9.2 Influences from Italian neo-fascism ................................................................... 46 IX Radicalization? ....................................................................................................... 48 4 The Political Soldier – A statement ................................................................................ 51 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 51 The crisis of contemporary society ............................................................................ 52 Solution: A spiritual revolution ................................................................................. 54 Becoming a “political soldier” .................................................................................. 56 Sources of inspiration ................................................................................................ 59 4.5.1 Corneliu Codreanu’s Legionary Movement ....................................................... 59 4.5.2 Julius Evola ........................................................................................................ 62 4.5.3 The Iranian Revolution ....................................................................................... 65 4.5.4 Influence from the French Nouvelle Droite? ..................................................... 66 Fascism? .................................................................................................................... 69 5 On with the National Revolution .................................................................................. 74 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 74 The road to power ...................................................................................................... 74 Strategies for the National Revolution ...................................................................... 78 The end of