Opposition to the New Party: An Incipient Anti-Fascism or a Defence Against ‘Mosleyitis’?

Abstract

Within histories of British fascism and anti-fascism, opposition to the New Party has attracted scant attention. The preamble to more serious episodes of conflict between Mosley's Blackshirts and their anti-fascist opponents, typically invites only the most cursory of accounts. However, as this article demonstrates, labour movement opposition to the New Party should not be dealt with simply as a form of embryonic anti-fascism. The author argues that it was a dual-faceted phenomenon, and whilst it did share obvious similarities with later campaigns against the British Union of Fascists, it was also dissimilar in other respects.

Keywords:

• Anti-Fascism
• New Party
• Oswald Mosley
• Labour
• Fascism

Notes

 [1] The author would like to thank Janet and Dave Dack for their invaluable help in the collection of research materials, and Dr Graham Ford for giving comment.

 [2] Daily Worker, 23 February 1931.

 [3] Daily Herald, 6 March 1931.

 [4] Daily Worker, 18 March 1931.

 [5] Birmingham Gazette, 21 September 1931.

 [6] The New Times (TNT), 2 July 1932, 3; 3 August–September 1932, 7.

 [7] TNT, 3, 9.

 [8] Manchester Guardian, 29 August 1932; Daily Herald, 29 August 1932; Croydon Times, 3 September 1932.

 [9] For a useful guide to the historiography of British fascism and its different traditions, see Thurlow, Fascism, 1–11.

[10] Mosley, My Life, 286.

[11] Manchester Guardian, 27 April 1931.

[12] Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley, 222–33.

[13] See Chairman's Address in Labour Party Conference Report, 1931, 155.

[14] Francis, Miners, 86.

[15] Brown, So Far, 157.

[16] Socialist Leader, 15 June 1957.

[17] See comments by Herbert Morrison in Birmingham Town Crier, 17 April 1931.

[18] Daily Herald, 11 March 1931.

[19] Melville, The Truth, 30; Melville, ‘Political Upheaval’, 658–67.

[20] Foot, Aneurin Bevan, 133.

[21] Daily Herald, 26 October 1931.

[22] Rust, ‘The Mosley Manifesto’.

[23] Labour History Archive and Study Centre (LHASC): Report of the Central Committee of the CPGB, 14–15 March 1931.

[24] Daily Worker, 27 March 1931.

[25] LHASC: Report of Central Committee, 14–15 March 1931.

[26] LHASC: Report of Central Committee, 14–15 March 1931

[27] Brown, So Far, 157–9.

[28] Manchester Guardian, 8 April 1931.

[29] New Leader, 6 March 1931.

[30] Labour Monthly, 13, 4 (April 1931), 207.

[31] The Fascist Week, 2–8 March 1934.

[32] The People's Defence Force and the National Union for Combating Fascismo.

[33] Copsey, Anti-Fascism, 5–12.

[34] LHASC: Minutes of the Labour NEC, 10 March 1931.

[35] The Times, 18 April 1931.

[36] Manchester Guardian, 27 April 1931.

[37] Glasgow Herald, 23 March 1931.

[38] Hastings, ‘Birmingham Labour Movement’, 78–92.

[39] Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley, 172.

[40] Dutt, Fascism, 265.

[41] Daily Herald, 16 March 1931.

[42] Town Crier, 6 March 1931; 13 March 1931; 27 March 1931; 17 April 1931.

[43] Town Crier, 6 March 1931; Johnson, ‘Birmingham Labour’, 534–6.

[44] Town Crier, 13 March 1931 and 24 April 1931.

[45] Town Crier, 24 April 1931.

[46] Johnson, ‘Birmingham Labour’, 535.

[47] Strachey, The Menace of Fascism, 157.

[48] Manchester Guardian, 1 May 1931.

[49] Mosley, My Life, 284.

[50] Ashton-under-Lyne Herald, 2 May 1931; The Times, 22 April 1931.

[51] Cross, The Fascists, 47.

[52] Worley, ‘What was the New Party?’, 39–63.

[53] Town Crier, 8 May 1931.

[54] Manchester Guardian, 27 April 1931.

[55] Mosley, My Life, 283–4.

[56] Manchester Guardian, 16 May 1931.

[57] Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley, 258.

[58] Manchester Guardian, 24 July 1931. Strachey went on to become a leading figure in co-ordinating opposition to the BUF. See Copsey, Anti-Fascism, 30–41.

[59] Birmingham Gazette, 21 September, 19 and 20 October 1931; Daily Worker, 22 September and 20 October 1931; Action, 8 October 1931; Glasgow Herald, 20 October 1931; Francis, Miners, 87.

[60] Action, 8 October 1931; Daily Worker, 25 September 1931.

[61] Manchester Guardian, 15 October 1931.

[62] Stoke Evening Sentinel, 17 and 26 October 1931.

[63] Manchester Daily Dispatch, 24 October 1931; Manchester Guardian, 15 October 1931; Glasgow Daily Herald, 12 and 14 October 1931.

[64] LHASC: CPGB Central Committee Resolutions, December 1931.

[65] Skidelsky, Oswald Mosley, 248.

[66] Lawrence, ‘The Transformation’, 185–216.

[67] Manchester Guardian, 19 October 1931.

[68] Birmingham Gazette, 19 October 1931.

[69] Copsey, Anti-Fascism, 29–30.

[70] LRD, Who Backs Mosley?

[71] Melville, The Truth, 46.

[72] Sunday Express, 31 July 1932; Jewish World, 26 August 1932.

[73] TNT, 3, August–September 1932, 4–5.