Contemporary British Fascism

For the first time since the 1970s when the National Front became Britain's fourth largest political party, the recent electoral success of the British National Party has put Britain's extreme right back on the political map. Nigel Copsey provides a clear and comprehensive analysis of the history of the British National Party and its struggle for political legitimacy. With far-right parties enjoying unprecedented success across Europe, this book also locates its subject in the broader international context.

This book examines the domestic evolution and international connections of post-war fascists in the UK. It argues that post-war British fascism became transnational as the radicals increasingly exchanged ideas, money and culture with like-minded foreigners. Using interviews with key figures in several countries, this book traces the history of the National Front (NF) and British National Party (BNP), focusing on the political parties’ youth, music and international outreach. It explores how British fascism grew into an international movement, how fascist youth developed skinhead music as a conduit for their ideas, and how some of those key figures made international connections with people in Iraq, Libya, Syria and the United States. Moreover, it also draws from rare internal party documents, law enforcement records and membership lists to track foreign funding and the parties’ domestic electoral growth. For the first time, this book gained access to both the leadership and rank-and-file of the BNP and NF to explore its culture and international connections. In doing so, it shows the successes, failures and changes that have made British fascism a force in the international extremist subculture.

A history of Fascism in 20th century Britain using the latest findings and research, including extensive use of intelligence records and oral history. Focusing on the BUF, the National Front and the BNP, it explores connections between British Fascism and Nazism, and the relationship between the inter-war tradition and current racist and neo-facist groups.

This clear, balanced survey provides an accessible guide to the essential features of British fascism in the inter-war period with a special attention to fascism and culture. The book explores the various definitions of fascism and analyzes the origins of British fascism, fascist parties, groups and membership, and British fascist anti-Semitism.

This book traces the varied development of the far right in Britain from the formation of the National Front in 1967 to the present day. Experts draw on a range of disciplinary and methodological perspectives to provide a rich and detailed account of the evolution of the various strands of the contemporary far right over the course of the last fifty years. The book examines a broad range of subjects, including Holocaust denial, neo-Nazi groupuscularity, transnational activities, ideology, cultural engagement, homosexuality, gender and activist mobilisation. It also includes a detailed literature review. This book is essential reading for students of fascism, racism and contemporary British cultural and political history.

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.

This book explores the policies and ideologies of a number of individuals and groups who attempted to relaunch fascist, antisemitic and racist politics in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust. Despite the leading architects of fascism being dead and the newsreel footage of Jewish bodies being pushed into mass graves seared into societal consciousness, fascism survived World War II and, though changed, survives to this day. Britain was the country that ‘stood alone’ against fascism, but it was no exception. This book treads new historical ground and shines a light onto the most understudied period of British fascism, whilst simultaneously adding to our understanding of the evolving ideology of fascism, the persistent nature of antisemitism and the blossoming of Britain’s anti-immigration movement. This book will primarily appeal to scholars and students with an interest in the history of fascism, antisemitism and the Holocaust, racism, immigration and postwar Britain.