British fascism

The division between workers and employers, for instance, would be resolved, they argued, by the "machinery of government" (i.e., the corporate state) providing an "equitable distribution of the proceeds of industry" to those involved.

[31] Support by Catholic Irish in Stepney for the BUF increased after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War that involved clerical traditionalist and fascist forces fighting against an anti-clerical government.

Mosley's BUF believed that culture created national and racial differences—a policy closer to the views on race by Italian fascism rather than German Nazism.

[33] The BUF's ideology was in fact based upon the views on race of Austrian Jewish sociologist Ludwig Gumplowicz and Scottish anthropologist Arthur Keith, who defined race formation as the result of dynamic historical and political processes established within the confines of the nation state and that the defining characteristics of a people were determined by the interaction of heredity, environment, culture, and evolution over a historical period of time.

[32] However, Mosley later prominently asserted anti-Semitism, invoking the theory of German philosopher Oswald Spengler, who described that Magian Jews and Faustian Europeans were bound to live in friction with each other.

Mosley wrote that "biology begins again to teach that the wilful determination of the species to rise above the limitations of material environment is the dominating factor in evolution.

The organised will of devoted masses, subject to a voluntary discipline and inspired by the passionate ideal of natural survival, replacing the will to power and a higher order of the individual superman".

[41] Mosley's pan-Europeanism was inspired by German philosopher Oswald Spengler and his concept of unity of European culture and its primary Faustian symbols.

[48] Mosely tried to assuage the British public's fears about a dictator by saying they could vote the government out if necessary (and the monarch would select new ministers to take their places).

[54] The corporatism of the BUF was often talked about using the metaphor of the (healthy, youthful, athletic) body, in which "[e]very organ plays a part in relation to the whole and in harmony with the whole".

[57] The spread of corporatist policies would have also led to an increased hold on India and British fascists argued that it would have improved working conditions there.

[62] For Mosely, a more perfect system was for the State to manage capitalism,[note 3] with the government regulating "the factors of supply and demand by the manipulation of wages and price levels".

[71] In the period after the First World War, there was unrest and change in the United Kingdom and the British Empire: unrest in Egypt, for instance, civil war in Ireland, the rise of Indian nationalism in the British Raj, strikes in Scotland; the Russian Revolution had begun in 1917 and was inspiring people;[72][73] the labour movement was gaining more importance; more people had been given the right to vote.

[74] According to historian Liam Liburd, organised fascism began in Britain because "the forces of diehard conservatism, a sort of semi-aristocratic movement of ex-military men and of Tory peers", were fearful about these challenges to the British status quo and connected them together with belief in a Jewish world plot.

[72] Historian Camilla Schofield summarizes these "early threads" of British fascism as "imperial anxiety, revulsion towards the undiscipled masses, fear of communism, and antisemitism" and to them adds "stories of a glorious, unblemished past".

[47] The BUF marked itself as a modern movement with an interest in technology,[89] and also saw itself connected and loyal to British traditions and history, like the monarchy[35][70] and the Tudors.

[89][78] The BUF had its peak membership — between 40,000 and 50,000 members — in its first few years of existence, partly because of the support the fascists received from the Daily Mail and the Sunday Dispatch.

[89] It aimed a lot of its attention at recruiting young members and was more than an outlet for political interests, running branch activities, dances, camps.

[89] Bret Rubin contends that, as the BUF's concepts were not taking hold, the group was "pressured to conform to existing fascist stereotypes" in a bid for popularity.

[101] However, Rubin continues, rather than being accepted by mainstream Britain, the BUF became "a safe haven for anti-Semites, lonely military officers, and radical pseudo-intellectuals", and "the average Briton regarded him as a dangerous and violent would-be despot".

[102] At least 6,000 policemen charged with protecting the up-to 5,000 strong fascists' march through a Jewish area of London clashed with an anti-fascist counterdemonstration of at least 100,000 people.

[103] Then the BUF suffered from the Public Order Act 1936, passed in 1937 in part in response to Cable Street,[102] which banned political uniforms and paramilitarism.

[98] Following the start of World War II and fearing a fifth column supporting the Axis powers, the BUF was banned in May 1940 under Defence Regulation 18B; just under 800 of its members were imprisoned, including most of its leadership.

[108] Taking its name from that of a defunct 1960s far-right party, the BNP was created by John Tyndall and other former members of the fascist National Front (NF).

[110] Instead, it focused on street marches and rallies,[111] creating the Combat 18 paramilitary — its name a coded reference to Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler — to protect its events from anti-fascist protesters.

[113] The new leader Nick Griffin sought to broaden the BNP's electoral base by presenting a more moderate image, targeting concerns about rising immigration rates,[114] and emphasising localised community campaigns.

It promotes biological racism and the white genocide conspiracy theory, calling for global racial separatism and condemning interracial relationships.

Under Tyndall, the BNP emphasised anti-semitism and Holocaust denial, promoting the conspiracy theory that Jews seek to dominate the world through both communism and international capitalism.

It promotes economic protectionism, Euroscepticism, and a transformation away from liberal democracy, while its social policies oppose feminism, LGBT rights, and societal permissiveness.

Operating around a highly centralised structure that gave its chair near total control, the BNP built links with far-right parties across Europe and created various sub-groups, including a record label and trade union.