British Union of Fascists

[Scout]

I would very much like to see them

Do you per have first issue badge with Kings crown or a photo source?

Ditto that!

Now that its mentioned; strange, that the British Fascist movement is not much touched upon here.


Rotha Lintorn-Orman and the Mitford sisters; quite the odd ladies.

[StefanM]

Ditto that!

Now that its mentioned; strange, that the British Fascist movement is not much touched upon here.

There is also the little discussed subject of fascism in Scotland as described in the recent book:

Fascist Scotland: Caledonia and the Far Right
by Gavin Bowd

[DrPMC]

Firstly, the British Fascists', first pattern badge, with the kings crown, made by J.R. Gaunt.

I don't have one of these but have obtained a picture off the 'net. As already mentioned, the British Fascists got into trouble for using the crown without official approval and so had to withdraw the design and the badges. This suggests that they should be very rare. However, these badges have been copied -- using the original dies, I believe.

[DrPMC]

Turning to the British Union of Fascists (1932-40), Sir Oswald Mosley's movement, later known as British Union.

I've got a couple of the membership badges but find that my basic camera won't take very good pictures of them. So instead I've found some good pictures off the net. They show: The first pattern badge, which is a gilt fasces (1932-34); the second, which is a gilt fasces on a union flag background (1934-35) and the circle-flash, issued from 1935 onwards. The fasces was originally adopted from Italy, and then given the union flag background to make it more patriotic. The circle flash, symbolising 'the flash of action within the circle of unity' was the BU's unique symbol which eventually replaced the fasces. I have also included an armband, which is in my possession. These seem to have been made in various forms but this is probably the most common. These are only the basic examples - there are many other variations and other badges for various special purposes. The standard source is John Millican's book 'Mosley's Men in Black', which is still available and essential for anyone interested in collecting these things.

All of these badges and the armband have been copied but - so-far - the fakes have been very poor copies of the original badges and would fool no one with a degree of knowledge. There have been a lot of copies of the first pattern badge on e-bay, which are castings made from an original, but they lack the crisp detail of the real thing. Armbands have also been copied, most are very different in form and material but there are some very close ones.

[DrPMC]

Finally, I've added photos of some fairly random bits, which at least give a flavour of the extraordinary range of items produced by British Union in its short history. We have:

A circular issued from January 1939 from BU's main publishing arm 'Greater Britain Publications'. 'The Greater Britain' was the name of the book with which Mosley launched fascism in 1932, and gave a detailed blueprint of the fascist new order based on the corporate state.

Front page from a Greater Britain Publications book list from October 1938

A menu for luncheon meeting held at the Criterion restaurant in April 1940. BU organised meetings in all sorts of venues, from street corners and market squares to up-market venues. When they met at the Criterion, the movement only had about a month left before the authorities would pounce and intern around a thousand members without trial and ban the organisation.

Greetings card with BU Honour Standard. The Honour Standards were issued to branches from late 1938 onwards.

Front Cover of the BU pamphlet Strength Through Health, outlining the BU medical policy. British Union produced a plethora of pamphlets on all sorts of policy topics and was perhaps the most sophisticated fascist movement in this respect.

A Mosley Picture Disc - 78 rpm record, made of shallac on carboard. These records (set of 2) have excerpts of Mosley's speech from one of the Blackshirt's Albert Hall meetings. The fascists held meetings in many of the largest venues; for example, apart from the Albert Hall, they had gatherings at Earls Court and - most notoriously - at Olympia in 1934.

I hope these items are of interest. I'm not really a collector as such, but have been researching and writing on this topic for many years so acquired odd items here and there.

Philip C

[StefanM]

Many thanks DrPMC for posting fascinating material and information, thanks also for the "Mosley's Men in Black" recommendation!

Do you know if there were any links or contacts between the BUF and Ramsey's "The Right Club"?

[DrPMC]

Do you know if there were any links or contacts between the BUF and Ramsey's "The Right Club"?

If my memory is correct, I believe that there were 'links' between the BUF and The Right Club, inasmuch as both were in favour of a negotiated peace with Germany and there were also individuals who were involved in both groups. However, as you no doubt know, it was the so-called 'Tyler Kent Affair' which made the Right Club significant (Kent was the cipher clerk in the US embassy in London who was smuggling out secret material and passing it on to Right Club member, Anna Wolkoff who had some notion of passing it to Germany). There is no evidence that the BUF as an organisation were in anyway involved in that, or any similar form of treachery. There are good accounts of the business in Richard Thurlow's book Fascism in Britain, which is the best general survey of the fascism in Britain and A.W.B. Simpson's In the Highest Degree Odious which is the highly detailed and authoritative account of detention under Defense Regulation 18b. There is also Richard Griffiths' Patriotism Perverted which is detailed study about Ramsay and the Right Club.

Regarding fascism in Scotland, there is was a fine article on the subject published in 2008. It is accessible by going to War Diaries of a Little Englander and then scrolling down to the picture of the blackshirt on the right hand side. If you click on the PDF icon on the page that than comes up, you will reach the full text. The author is a much better writer and historian than the person who wrote the book mentioned earlier in this thread.

Glad that the BUF items were of interest - I'll try to put up some more when I can.

[StefanM]

If my memory is correct, I believe that there were 'links' between the BUF and The Right Club, inasmuch as both were in favour of a negotiated peace with Germany and there were also individuals who were involved in both groups.

Thank you for this information, much appreciated...

There is also Richard Griffiths' Patriotism Perverted which is detailed study about Ramsay and the Right Club.

Regarding fascism in Scotland, there is was a fine article on the subject published in 2008. It is accessible by going to War Diaries of a Little Englander

...and for the further recommended reading!

Glad that the BUF items were of interest - I'll try to put up some more when I can.

Will look forward to it


Was there any suggestion that Lord Halifax who was considered one of the main proponents of the prewar policy of appeasement connected with any of these rightist or fascistic groups?

[DrPMC]

Was there any suggestion that Lord Halifax who was considered one of the main proponents of the prewar policy of appeasement connected with any of these rightist or fascistic groups?

To rather belatedly reply to your question, I am confident that the answer is no. Although I'm no expert and its a long time since I've read anything on the subject, I believe that 'appeasement' as practiced by the National Government under Neville Chamberlain was quite different in its motivations and intentions vis-a-vis Germany: whereas British fascists had some degree of ideological affinity to National Socialism in Germany, the appeasers essentially abhorred Nazism and hoped to draw Germany back into the European economic and political system and strengthen the hand of opposition forces. It was also the case that Britain was dreadfully overstretched in the 30s - militarily and financially weak and in no shape to fight a war against both Germany and Japan. In this last respect, the appeasers calculation was correct - waging the war left the country bankrupt and brought about the end of empire.

I've also added another small sample of items relating to the BUF, this time relating to their biggest every rally, which was held at Earls Court. The are various estimates of how many attended, but there is no disputed that it was many thousands. The meeting was also distinguished by the fact that it was entirely peaceful, with no attempts by anti-fascists to disrupt it. There were six groups of five hundred blackshirt stewards in hall, each wearing one the six different coloured badges - a white one being shown here (not mine). Although the meeting was called at short notice, when the hall became available due to a cancellation, publicity was successfully achieved, despite having no exposure in the national papers which followed an informal policy of not reporting anything about the BUF, except when there was major disorder. I've also included several photos of the rally in progress - although they are commonly seen on the net they may be of interest collected with the other items here.

Philip

[Scout]

Great pics. Very interesting. Quite the turnout.