The Anti-Socialist Union was a British political pressure group that supported free trade economics and opposed socialism.
Coming from the same laissez-faire economic position as contemporaries such as the Liberty and Property Defence League and the British Constitution Association, the ASU was established in 1908 by Daily Express Editor R. D.
The ASU campaigned against the social reforms that were brought in by the Liberal Party governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith and denounced them as socialist initiatives.
It attacked such figures as Harold Laski and Maurice Dobb and also attempted to prove links between the Labour Party and the Soviet Union.
[8] In an attempt to counter the growing support for socialism in sections of the working class, the group also began to advocate some vaguely-corporatist initiatives such as profit-sharing schemes for workers.