Notes Introduction 1 See L. Kibblewhite and A. Rigby, Fascism in Aberdeen - Street Politics in the 1930s (Aberdeen: Aberdeen People's Press, 1978); N. Todd, In Excited Times: The People Against the Blackshirts (Whitley Bay: Bewick Press, 1995); D. Turner, Fascism and anti-Fascism in the Medway Towns 1927-1940 (Kent: Kent Anti-Fascist Action Committee, 1993); and D. Renton, Red Shirts and Black: Fascists and Anti-Fascists in Oxford in the 1930s (Oxford: Ruskin College Library Occasional Publication, No. 5, 1996). See also S. Gewirtz, 'Anti-Fascist Activity in Manchester's Jewish Community in the 1930s', Manchester Region History Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1990) 17-27; and N. Barrett, 'A Bright Shining Star: The CPGB and Anti-Fascist Activism in the 1930s', Science and Society, Vol. 61, No. 1 (1997) 10-26. 2 See J. Jacobs, Out of the Ghetto (London: Janet Simon, 1978); and M. Beckman, The 43 Group (London: Centerprise, 1993). 3 SeeN. Branson, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1927-1941 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1985). 4 See R. Benewick, The Fascist Movement in Britain (London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1972); D. S. Lewis, Illusions of Grandeur (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987); and S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics (London: Macmillan, 1982). 5 R. Thurlow, Fascism in Britain, 2nd rev. edn (London: !.B. Tauris, 1998). 6 C. Bambery, Killing the Nazi Menace (London: Socialist Workers' Party, 1992) pp. 29 and 34. 7 See Lewis, Illusions of Grandeur, esp. ch. 5. 8 Thurlow, Fascism in Britain, p. 256. 9 R. Griffin, 'British Fascism: The Ugly Duckling', in M. Cronin (ed.) The Failure of British Fascism (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996) p. 162. 10 D. Renton, The Attempted Revival of British Fascism (University of Sheffield, PhD thesis, 1998) p. 97. 11 Renton, The Attempted Revival of British Fascism, p. 98. 12 For the purpose of this study, what is determined as 'fascism' relies entirely on anti-fascism. The definition of fascism is therefore implicit to anti­ fascism. Chapter 1 1 [P]ublic [R]ecord [O]ffice CAB 24/162/153, 433 and 577. 2 See for instance, R. Thurlow, Fascism in Britain: A History 1918-85 (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987) p. 68. An exception is K. Lunn, 'The Ideology and Impact of the British Fascists in the 1920s', in T. Kushner and K. Lunn (eds) Traditions of Intolerance (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1989) pp. 140-54. Lunn attempts to provide a corrective to the prevailing view 194 Notes 195 that the British Fascists were a highly insignificant forerunner to Mosley's British Union of Fascists. This perspective has been most recently coun­ tered by D. Baker in his chapter 'The Extreme Right in the 1920s: Fascism in a Cold Climate or "Conservatism with Knobs on"?', in M. Cronin (ed.) The Failure of British Fascism (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996) pp. 12-28. 3 See R. Bosworth, 'The British Press, the Conservatives, and Mussolini, 1920-34', Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. S (1970) 163-81; and R. Palme Dutt, 'Notes of the Month', Labour Monthly, Vol. 7 (7 july 1925), p. 390. 4 This has been suggested by]. Hope, in a footnote to his article, 'Fascism and the State in Britain: The Case of the Britsh Fascists, 1923-31', Australian Journal of Politics and History, Vol. 39, No.3 (1993) 367-80. S PRO CAB 30/69/220. New Scotland Yard Special Branch Reports on Revolutionary Organisations in the United Kingdom, Report No. 241, 31 january 1924. 6 The National Unemployed Workers' Committee was a Communist ancil­ lary organisation. Formed in 1921, it became the National Unemployed Workers' Movement in 1929. 7 PRO CAB 30/69/220: New Scotland Yard Special Branch Reports on Revolutionary Organisations in the United Kingdom, Report No. 241, 31 january 1924. 8 PRO CAB 30/69/220: New Scotland Yard Special Branch Reports on Revolutionary Organisations in the United Kindom, Report No. 270, 4 September 1924. 9 The Daily Herald, S june 1925. 10 Fascist Bulletin, 12 September, 1924, p. 3. 11 There were clashes between left-wing militants and fascists in Hyde Park in july 1924 and at Clapham Common in August 1924. 12 The Plebs League originated at Ruskin College, Oxford. Its function was to popularise Marxist education within the labour movement. 13 The Plebs League, Fascism: Its History and Significance (London: Plebs, 1924), p. 34. 14 SeeK. Lunn, 'The Ideology and Impact of the British Fascists in the 1920s', esp. pp. 145-6. Lunn does point out that social and leisure activities could assume politicising roles. IS Palme Dutt, 'Notes of the Month', p. 395. 16 See T. Bell, British Communist Party: A Short History (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1937) pp. 107-8. 17 Described as such by Herbert Morrison in a letter to the Prime Minister, see Daily Herald, 10 November 1925. 18 According to BF sources, many fascists did co-operate with the OMS as 'British Fascists' during the General Strike, see PRO HO 144/19069/34-S. 19 PRO HO 144/13864/31-2. 20 PRO HO 144/13864/31-2. 21 PRO HO 144/13864/31-2, 43-4 and 47-9. 22 PRO HO 144/13864/81-S. 23 PRO HO 144/19069/154. 24 F. G. Portsmouth in The Fascist Gazette, 8 November 1926. 25 PRO HO 144/19069/85, 9, 19 and 81. 196 Anti-Fascism in Britain 26 The Daily Herald, 21 October 1925. 27 The Daily Herald, 7 and 11 November 1925. 28 PRO HO 144/16069/211-12. Also see Labour Monthly, Vol. 7 (7 july 1925), p. 385. 29 R. Benewick, The Fascist Movement in Britain (London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1972) p. 38. 30 See Introduction to Cable Street Group, The Battle of Cable Street 1936 (London: Cable Street Group, 1995). 31 SeeR. Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley (London: Macmillan, 1981) pp. 355-7. 32 The organisation that Mosley formed in early 1931 following his break with the Labour Party over its refusal to accept his proposal for a radical Keynesian solution to the economic crisis. 33 For a comprehensive list of disruptions, see D. S. Lewis, Illusions of Grandeur (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987) p. 20. 34 N. Mosley, Rules of the Game (London: Seeker and Warburg, 1982) p. 184. 35 Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley, p. 356. 36 john Strachey had resigned from the Parliamentary Labour Party in 1931. He was later to return to the Labour Party and was adopted Labour candi­ date for Dundee in 1943 and served in the Labour administration of 1945-51. 37 The Blackshirt, No.3, 18 March 1933. 38 Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley, p. 353. 39 Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley, p. 358. 40 The Blackshirt, 18 March 1933. 41 The Blackshirt, 17 April 1933. 42 H. Pelling, The British Communist Party: A Historical Profile (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1975) p.77. 43 Pelling, The British Communist Party, p. 76. 44 For an overview of the Labour Party's policy on British fascism, see M. Newman, 'Democracy versus Dictatorship: Labour's Role in the Struggle against British Fascism, 1933-1936', History Workshop, No.5 (1978) 67-88. 45 See R. Griffin, 'British Fascism: The Ugly Duckling', in M. Cronin (ed.) The Failure of British Fascism (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1996) pp. 141-65. 46 R. Palme Dutt, Democracy and Fascism (London: Communist Party of Great Britain, 1933) p. 7. 47 D. Renton, Red Shirts and Black: Fascists and Anti-Fascists in Oxford in the 1930s (Oxford: Ruskin College Library Occasional Publications, No. 5, 1996), p. 21, D. Turner, Fascism and anti-Fascism in the Medway Towns 1927-40 (Kent: Kent Anti-Fascist Action Committee, 1993) pp. 18-19; and N. Todd, In Excited Times: The People Against the Blackshirts (Whitley Bay: Bewick Press, 1995) p. 14. 48 F. Mullally, Fascism Inside England (London: Claud Morris, 1946) p. 30. 49 Mullally, Fascism Inside England, p. 30. SO See N. Branson, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1927-41 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1985) pp. 115-17. 51 The Fascist Week, 2-8 March 1934. 52 For reports of disorders during 1933, see PRO HO 45/25386/25-7. Also see The Blackshirt, 1-7 july 1933. 53 PRO MEPO 2/3069/91. Notes 197 54 See W. F. Mandie, Anti-Semitism and the British Union of Fascists (London: Longmans, Green and Co. Ltd, 1968) pp. 2-6. 55 Anon., Mosley's Blackshirts: The Inside Story of the British Union of Fascists (London: Sanctuary Press, 1986) p. 51; and The Blackshirt, 16-22 September 1933. 56 PRO HO 144/19070/5, PRO HO 144/19070/8-10. 57 S. Cullen, 'Political Violence: The Case of the British Union of Fascists', Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 28 (1993) 260. Also see PRO HO 144/19070/29. 58 On the role of the Daily Mail as a 'recruiting agent' for British fascism, see R. Griffiths, Fellow Travellers of the Right: British Enthusiasts for Nazi Germany 1933-39 (London: Constable, 1980) p. 107. 59 Lewis, Illusions of Grandeur, p. 134. 60 H. Thomas, fohn Strachey (London: Eyre Methuen, 1973) p. 130. 61 Printing and Allied Trades Anti-Fascist Movement, Printers and the Fascist Menace (London: Printing and Allied Trades Anti-Fascist Movement, 1934). 62 Douglas argued that economic depression could be overcome by increasing mass purchasing power through the creation of public credit, that is 'social credit'. 63 Figures given in the Daily Express, 21 February 1934. On background to the Green Shirts, see]. L. Finlay, 'John Hargrave, the Green Shirts, and Social Credit', Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 5 (1970) 53-71. Also see M. Drakeford, Social Movements and their Supporters: The Green Shirts in England (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997).