This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Negotiating Violence: Public Discourses about Political Violence in Interwar Britain and Germany. Anita Klingler Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2020 1 Thesis Abstract Name of student: Anita Klingler UUN S0901269 University email: [email protected] Degree sought: PhD No. of words in the 100,000 main text of thesis: Title of thesis: Negotiating Violence: Public Discourses about Political Violence in Interwar Britain and Germany. Insert the abstract text here - the space will expand as you type. This thesis analyses public discourses about political violence in interwar Britain and Germany. Much of the existing work on political violence in the aftermath of the First World War has focused on the defeated countries of Central and Eastern Europe. A comparative study on Germany and Great Britain, however, has not previously been undertaken and therefore presents a novel and ambitious addition to the field. The study’s approach is based on the assumption that analysing inherently public discourses, primarily press and parliamentary language, can provide insights into both nations’ identity construction, both domestically and internationally. A series of case studies from the early and late interwar period has been chosen for this purpose. In examining the discourses exhibited in reaction to these case studies, the thesis will find that the language used publicly to discuss political violence in both countries referenced a series of common themes which aided in constructing the desired national narratives and identities. In the aftermath of the experience of extreme violence during the First World War, in particular, these themes revolved around notions of civilisation, justice, law and order, and, especially in the case of the young Weimar Republic, the desire to establish membership in the international community of civilised, democratic nations. Additionally, race, class, nation, gender, and political conviction were recurring rhetorical frameworks, along which public discourses sought to categorise victims and perpetrators of violence, legitimising certain acts of political violence while delegitimising others. While the thesis presents these thematic similarities, crucial differences in the nature, intensity, and contexts of German and British public discourses on political violence were obvious, pointing towards both countries’ divergent paths. The thesis’ undisputed conceptual vanishing point is the rise of Nazism in Germany. Thus, by comparing German interwar discourses on political violence to British ones, the thesis retraces important watershed moments at which language contributed to shifting the boundaries of acceptable uses of violence in the name of politics. Furthermore, by its comparative approach, the thesis actively seeks to Europeanise British history more than it traditionally has been; similarly, by consciously including case studies from the colonial sphere, it seeks to integrate British and imperial histories more meaningfully. 2 Lay Summary Name of student: Anita Klingler UUN S0901269 University email: [email protected] Degree sought: PhD No. of words in the 100,000 main text of thesis: Title of thesis: Negotiating Violence: Public Discourses about Political Violence in Interwar Britain and Germany, Insert the lay summary text here - the space will expand as you type. This thesis analyses how political violence was perceived and discussed in Britain and in Germany in the period between the two world wars. When the First World War ended in November 1918, this did not mean that there was no more violence taking place in Europe, and beyond. Germany and countries of Eastern Europe in particular, experienced a lot of political violence. Britain experienced much less violence, but it was also present to some degree, and it was especially present within the British Empire. A lot of the existing work on political violence in the aftermath of the First World War has focused on the defeated countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Britain is not often included in histories of postwar European experiences of violence. This is why the comparative perspective of this thesis, which looks at both Britain and Germany, is new and can give us new insights. The thesis specifically analyses language which was produced in public forums, mainly in parliament and in the press, in both countries respectively. This is because through public language countries tell themselves and others particular stories about who they are or want to be seen as; they construct identity and self-images through public language. The thesis looks at a number of examples of events of political violence from both countries, from the early postwar period (1919-1922), and from the early/mid-1930s; including events which took place within the borders proper of both countries, as well as looking at violence in areas which were further away. Especially for British experiences of violence in this period, it is important to combine ‘British’ and imperial history in this way, which is still not done very often. In its examination of the public language with which politicians and newspapers reacted to cases of political violence, this thesis finds a series of common themes, which were used in both countries to construct their national identities and tell particular stories. Among those themes, which were influenced especially by the experience of the new and extreme violence of the First World War, were ideas of what it meant to be ‘civilised’, of justice, law and order. For the newly founded Weimar Republic it was especially important to establish its place in the international community of civilised, democratic nations. Other themes which thread through the chapters are race, class, nation, gender, and geographical location; these were used in public language to categorise victims and perpetrators of violence and to present certain acts of political violence as legitimate and others as illegitimate. Besides similarities, though, there were also very important differences in the scale of the violence, as well as in the nature, intensity, and the contexts of the public language in Germany and Britain, which point towards both countries’ different paths, especially the rise of National Socialism in Germany. By comparing how political violence was perceived and discussed in Germany in the period between the two world wars to how political violence was perceived and discussed in British public language, this thesis re-examines a series of important moments where language was used to shift the boundaries of the ‘say-able’ and of acceptable uses of violence in the name of politics. The comparative approach of the thesis also works to integrate British and European history more, which is unfortunately still not done very often. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 5 List of abbreviations 6 Introduction 8 Chapter 1 35 The Enemy Within. Street Violence and Political Assassinations. 1.1 Maintaining Law and Order: Glasgow and Munich 1919. 37 1.2 June 1922. Summer of Assassinations. 56 Chapter 2 83 “Die ich rief, die Geister, werd’ ich nun nicht los.” Paramilitary Violence in Ireland and in the Baltic. Chapter 3 132 The Heart of Darkness. Violence and Race in the Colonial Sphere and in the Metropole. 3.1 Lost Colonies, New Mandates. 134 3.1.1 The British Mandate in Iraq. 134 3.1.2 German Colonial Revisionism. 152 3.2 Darkness comes to the Heart of the Metropole. 159 3.2.1 The French occupation of the Rhineland. 160 3.2.2 The ‘race riots’ in British port cities in 1919. 172 Chapter 4 192 Reacting to Fascist Violence in Germany and Britain in the early/mid-1930s. 4.1 Violence as the Sturmabteilung’s power propaganda. 194 4.2 “A Plague on both your Blouses!”: Debating British Fascist Violence 216 in 1934. Conclusion 245 Bibliography 255 Appendix: Glossary of newspapers 273 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I write these acknowledgements in late May 2020, Scotland remains under an unprecedented lockdown made necessary by a global pandemic. It is difficult to look past these circumstances currently, and therefore, I wish first and foremost to express my gratitude to those – in the health and care services, in education, in transport, in the postal and utility services, and in the food industry – who allow those of us who are decidedly not key workers the privilege to continue to work, safely, from home. I have been very fortunate to be supervised by Dr Stephan Malinowski and Dr Wendy Ugolini. In addition to being inspiringly knowledgeable, both have always been generous and kind with their time and with sharing thoughts and feedback. I am especially grateful for the freedom they have allowed me to take this project where I wanted to take it, and the trust placed in me even if things did not always progress at an ideal speed. I am grateful to Dr David Kaufman, Professor Tim Buchen, Dr Tereza Valny, and Professor Gordon Pentland for their thought-provoking, helpful, and kind comments on various chapter drafts and pieces. I also thank the helpful staff at a number of archives and libraries where I have accessed source material. In the UK, I am grateful to the staff at the National Library of Scotland, the National Archives at Kew, the Imperial War Museum in London, the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King’s College London, and the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster.