British fascism

British Union of Fascists
Abbreviation	BUF
Leader	Oswald Mosley
Founded	1 October 1932
Dissolved	23 May 1940
Merger of	• New Party  • British Fascists (majority)
Succeeded by	Union Movement
Headquarters	"Black House", King's Road, Chelsea, London SW3, U.K.[1]
Newspaper	• The Blackshirt (1933–1936)  • Action (1936–1940)
Elite unit	"I" Squad[2]
Paramilitary wings	• Fascist Defence Force  • Stewards
Autonomous wing	Ulster Fascists
Grassroots wing	January Club
Membership	40,000 (c. 1934)[3][4]
Ideology	British Fascism  • British nationalism  • National conservatism  • Social conservatism  • Right-wing populism  • National syndicalism[5]  • Fascist corporatism  • Non-interventionism[6][7]  • Antisemitism[8]
Political position	Far-right
Religion	Church of England
Colours	Red,   white and   blue   Black (customary)
Slogan	"Vote British and Save London"
Anthem	"Comrades the voices"
Party flag
Other flags: (1932–1933) (1933–1935)

British Fascism is the form of fascism promoted by parties in the United Kingdom. ^[9] British fascism is based on British Nationalism. ^[10] Examples of British Fascist movements are British Fascists (1923-1934) and the British Union of Fascists (1932-1940). Some recent examples are National Front (1967-present) and Britain First (2011-present). ^[11][12][13]

Ideological origins

British Fascism is based upon Italian Fascism and British Traditions.^[9]

British Fascism claims that both it Economic and Political agenda represent Tudor England.^[9] It claims its centralized national authoritarian state is based upon the Tudor System.^[9]

British Fascism also claims the legacy of Oliver Cromwell.^[14]

English Political theorist Thomas Hobbes in his work Leviathan (1651) created the ideology of Absolutism which was highly influential in the fascist ideology.^[15]

British fascism claims its corporatist economic policy is based upon the medieval guild system.^[9]

Beliefs

Nationalism

British Fascism is based upon British Nationalism.

Foreign polices

British Fascism was Non-interventionism and argued war should only be used in defense of Britain or the British Empire. It believed the only threat to the British Empire was from the Soviet Union. ^[16]

Corporatist policies would also be spread to the empire.^[17]

Totalitarianism

British Fascism is Totalitarian. The BUF declared support for a totalitarian state with Mosley describing it as "a nation emerges organised in the divine parallel of the human body as the name implies. Every organ plays a part in relation to the whole and in harmony with the whole".^[18]

Corporatism economy

British Fascism is against laissez-faire and promotes a corporatist economic system.^[9]

Traditionalism

British Fascism supports the British Monarchy.

References

1. Linehan, Thomas P. (1996). East London for Mosley: the British Union of Fascists in East London and south-west Essex. London: Cass. p. 254. ISBN 0714645680.
2. Martin Pugh, Hurrah For The Blackshirts!: Fascists and Fascism in Britain Between the Wars, pp. 133-135, Random House
3. Powell, David (2004). British Politics,1910-35 - The Crisis of the Party System. Routledge. p. 181. ISBN 9780415351065.
4. Webber, G. C. (1984). "Patterns of Membership and Support for the British Union of Fascists". Journal of Contemporary History. 19 (4): 575–606. doi:10.1177/002200948401900401. JSTOR 260327. S2CID 159618633.
5. A Workers' Policy Through Syndicalism. Union Movement. 1953. ISBN 9781899435265.
6. Oswald Mosley. Fascism: 100 Questions Asked and Answered. Question 88
7. Mosley, Oswald (15 November 1967). "David Frost Interviews Sir Oswald Mosley". The Frost Programme (Interview). Interviewed by David Frost.
8. W F Mandle, Anti-Semitism and the British Union of Fascists
   Robert Benewick The Fascist Movement in Britain, pp 132-134
   Alan S Millward, "Fascism and the Economy", in Walter Laquer (ed) Fascism: A reader's Guide, p 450
   Nigel Copsey, Anti-Fascism in Britain, p 38 and pp 40-41
9. Thomas P. Linehan. British fascism, 1918-39: parties, ideology and culture. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press, 2000. p. 14.
10. Richard C. Thurlow. Fascism in Britain: from Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts to the National Front. 2nd edition. New York: I. B. Taurus, 2006. p. 133-134.
11. Bienkov, Adam (19 June 2014). "Britain First: The violent new face of British fascism". Politics.co.uk. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
12. Foxton, Willard (4 November 2014). "The loathsome Britain First are trying to hijack the poppy – don't let them". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 January 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
13. Sabin, Lamiat (25 October 2014). "'Fascist' group Britain First to start 'direct action' on Mail and Sun journalists over Lynda Bellingham post". The Independent.
14. Julie V. Gottlieb, Thomas P. Linehan. The culture of fascism: visions of the Far Right in Britain. New York: I. B. Taurus, 2004. p. 152.
15. Contemporary Political Theory: New Dimensions, Basic Concepts and Major Trends. 12th Edition. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 2007. p. 705.
16. Oswald Mosley. Fascism: 100 Questions Asked and Answered. Question 88
17. Oswald Mosley. Fascism: 100 Questions Asked and Answered. Question 83
18. Roger Griffin. Fascism, Totalitarianism And Political Religion. Oxon, England, UK; New York, New York, USA: Routledge, 2005. P. 110.