British Fascism The Labour Movement And The State

Considerable attention has been paid to far-right parties and their leaders, Oswald Mosley, A. K. Chesterton, John Tyndall and Nick Griffin. But what about the forces that have been organised in opposition to fascism in Britain? British Fascism, the Labour Movement and the State brings together the leading historians in the field to trace the history of labour movement responses to the far-right from the 1920s to the present. It examines the rise and fall of different fascist groups in terms of wider social processes, above all the hostility of the labour movement, left-wing parties, the women's movement and the trade unions.

No other political party in the history of Britain's fascist tradition has been as successful at the ballot box as today's British National Party (BNP). This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Contemporary British Fascism offers an in-depth study of the BNP and its quest for social and political legitimacy.

This volume examines the varieties of anti-fascism in inter-war Britain. Ordinarily anti-fascism is defined in terms of anti-fascist activism. By extending the scope of the concept, this book breaks new ground. Chapters examine political parties, the state, the media, women, the churches, and intellectuals.

In the years between the two world wars, fascism triumphed in Italy, Germany, Spain and elsewhere, coming to power after intense struggles with the labour movements of those countries. This book, available in paperback for the first time, analyses the way in which the British left responded to this new challenge. How did socialists and communists in Britain explain what fascism was? What did they do to oppose it, and how successful were they? In examining the theories and actions of the Labour Party, the TUC, the Communist Party and other, smaller left-wing groups, the book explains their different approaches, while at the same time highlighting the common thread that ran through all their interpretations of fascism. The author argues that the British left has been largely overlooked in the few specific studies of anti-fascism that exist, with the focus being disproportionately applied to its European counterparts. He also takes issue with recent developments in the study of fascism, and argues that the views of the left, often derided by modern historians, are still relevant today.

The book provides an innovative new approach to understanding the far-right in Britain. Rather than looking at the biographies of the leaders or the historical evolution of the orgainsations or the number of elected representatives, it concentrates instead on the broader impact of the far-right on areas such as the mainstream political parties, governmental policy, local and community politics, the public sphere, culture and transnational forms of right-wing extremism.