What attracted supporters to the British Union of Fascists in the 1930’s?

The 1930’s was a time of economic upheaval, as well as being considered ‘the interwar’ period where society was still remembering the torments of the First World War. With the Wall Street Crash of 1929, much of Europe faced huge problems regarding inflation and unemployment which caused political unrest. In such desperate times, society often turns to the more radical parties to remedy the problems their country is facing, such as the British Union of Fascists. The main cause for their support during this time was primarily due to their willingness to exert solutions to, often hyped up, situations Britain was undergoing.

Sir Oswald Mosley brought together factions of fascist parties that had existed prior to the BUF. By 1934 they already had 50,000 members and was supported financially by the Establishment in Britain and later, Mussolini, a founder of Italian Fascist party of the same era[i]. This obviously expressed co-ordination, bringing together the fascist factions within Britain, as well as being invested in by significant parties internally and externally.  At the time, parties were a degree of disarray from the public point of view.  The National Government was deemed to be breaking down, political figures such as Baldwin was disparaged by his own party. Lloyd George and MacDonald were also being discredited[ii].  This further expresses the co-ordination of the BUF when compared the other significant parties of the era.

The BUF focused a lot of attention on women throughout their campaigning, most importantly citing that they strove for equality of the sexes and understood their importance in the political machine that operated within Britain, and also the Continent[iii]. No other party paid women as much respect and importance as the BUF had done, and it was only a decade since women achieved their first, political right, the franchise. The BUF was therefore an attractive party to suffragettes, and men who sought to seek sexual equality. To further boost their appeal to women, the “equal pay for equal work” was proposed on their manifesto, offering woman the same pay as a man would achieve in the same field of work[iv].  This, therefore, offered women of obtaining a better income and being less reliant on their husbands.

This is one tactic the BUF used to gather support. As a party that was on the extremities of the political spectrum, they were favourable to those who were desperate for a solution, or a remedy to a political unfairness, such as the case with women. Another example would be the party’s campaign outside the Lancashire textile industries, which was in decline and therefore causing workers to lose pay or even their jobs[v]. With such negativity developing within that community, the BUF offered a potential way out with their campaign. It proved to be successful, in that the workers were enticed to become members of the party.

Both Brewer (1995) and Thurlow (1999) both express the idea of a “utopian socialism”, a prospect that was designed to cope with the current collapse of the apparent capitalist economy[vi] as well as to excel the idea of fascist socialism. The BUF appealed to be idyllic in these scenarios because they made this claim to be almost real and achievable.[vii] Socialism proved to be highly desirable since the post-war era and the BUF had the ability to straddle much of the class spectrum. Though their target audience was to the middle classes, due to the fear of Communism that was sweeping the world, the party’s socialism aspect appealed to the lower classes. Mosley, himself, stated to the press that his meetings had been hounded and interrupted by communist members, thus garnering a victimised situation, with the perpetrators being named and shamed[viii]. All classes suffered heavily within the economic decline, a party that offered a viable solution would have been difficult to resist.

Mosley had a great interest in the youth of Britain, much like Hitler’s fascination with the youth of Germany, translating their existence as the future soldiers of Reich. Though Mosley was not as aggressive with this idea, he did utilise the rebellious spark of the youth who had grown to resent the way from their childhood, as well as those who were suffering from its aftermath. As such, the BUF were, again, one of few parties to listen to the youth of their today.  The NUPA Youth Movement were used to defend the meetings of the BUF, and over time, easily evolved into the Fascist Defence Force[ix]. The fact the use of wording “…transformed without difficulty to the Fascist Defence Force” shows a degree of how willing the youth were when it came to supporting the BUF.

Of course, a strong aspect of the BUF’s attractiveness was its nationalism, which overshadowed that of the Conservatism by a long shot. Their attitudes towards Britain were that it should preserve its status as a respectable nation, and a super power within the modern world, as well as maintaining its long imperialistic nature. Griffin (1995) argued that Scotland and Wales were too weak, politically, to create their own nationalistic force and Ireland had become its own state. England was left to produce its own fascist ideology, were it flourished quite readily during the 1930’s period. A lot of this derived from their activism, which many would have seen as patriotism. A member of republic was quoted “I love Britain. I would do anything for her. It was natural for me to be attracted to Mosley’s policy of keeping Britain great.”[x] Though there is not identity to the member of public, it does show that people were attracted to the policies Mosley projected, in regards to nationalism, were accepted and supported.

In conclusion, we have seen that Mosley’s BUF attacked a number of fronts that society had developed problems with. Importantly, the economic crisis throughout Europe played a heavy hand in allowed the BUF to get a grip on the political demographic of Britain. By campaigning at areas of unrest, related to economics, such as the textile industries in the north of England, the BUF seized opportune moments in time where their radical ideas seemed to be the remedy the desperate masses craved for. It would have been these same people, as well as wayward citizens, who would have troubles with the current political system that was the National Government. It was clear to all that the leading political figures were failing to find a cure of the growing anxiety in Britain, and Mosley proved to be an influential character, offering a dream of a utopian society which appeared to be achievable. Combined with this, was the fact that party appeared to be stable and under a strong leader, with Mosley. They were funded both internally and externally by powerful figures, such as Mussolini.

Mosley kept his party as wide as possible, allowing for a range of demographics to become members of his party. These would include the socialists, who were entranced by the BUF’s idea of a utopian socialism as Griffin (1995) mentioned. They also appealed to the Conservatives, and the upper classes that feared the communist threat, as well as having a strong national and imperialistic ideology. Finally, they appealed to the women, with radical propositions regarding sexual equality would have gathered human rights activists, as well as suffragettes who continued their fight since their first victory in 1919. The other group the BUF attracted were the youth of the time, who with their rebellious streak saw an opportunity to express their will, to any degree, with the BUF behind them.

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[i] Griffin, R., Fascism, p. 172

[ii] Pugh, M. The Historical Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun., 1998), p. 529 [Accessed 15 Jan 2010] http://www.jstor.org/pss/2640117

[iii] Gottlieb, J.V., Feminine Fascism – Women in Britain’s Fascist Movement, p. 43

[iv] Thurlow, R., Fascism, p. 65

[v] Brewer, J. D., “The British Union of Fascists: Some Tentative Conclusions on its Membership” in Larsen, S. U., Hagtvet B. And Myklebust, J.P., eds, Who Were The Fascists – Social Roots of European Fascism, p. 545

[vi] IBID p. 546

[vii] Griffin, R., Fascism, p. 172

[viii] Mosley, N., Rules of the Game, Beyond the Pale – Memoirs of Sir Oswald Mosley and Family, p. 274

[ix] IBID, p. 273

[x] Brewer, J. D., “The British Union of Fascists: Some Tentative Conclusions on its Membership” in Larsen, S. U., Hagtvet B. And Myklebust, J.P., eds, Who Were The Fascists – Social Roots of European Fascism, p. 549

Bibliography

Brewer, J. D., “The British Union of Fascists: Some Tentative Conclusions on its Membership” in Larsen, S. U., Hagtvet B. And Myklebust, J.P., eds, Who Were The Fascists – Social Roots of European Fascism, Norway: Reklametrykk (1980)

Gottlieb, J.V., Feminine Fascism – Women in Britain’s Fascist Movement, London: I.B. Tauris (2003)

Griffin, R., Fascism, Oxford: Oxford University Press (1995)

Mosley, N., Rules of the Game, Beyond the Pale – Memoirs of Sir Oswald Mosley and Family, London: Plimco (1998)

Pugh, M. The Historical Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun., 1998), p. 529 [Accessed 15 Jan 2010] http://www.jstor.org/pss/2640117

Thurlow, R., Fascism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, (1999)