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ABSTRACT
Historical far-right organisations have long proved pervasive, but are rarely interpreted as competitive political parties. While these minority parties and movements never secured significant representation, they influenced municipal and constituency political activity. Focusing on the ‘textile belt’ of Eastern Lancashire and West Yorkshire, this article seeks to understand how far-right organisations engaged in local electoral politics. It considers the influence of regional economic changes, caused by industrial realignment, and how opponents, primarily local Labour parties, interpreted post-war fascism and the concerns it engendered. The article then examines the growing influence of Labour’s anti-fascist campaigns, the popular appeal of far-right politics, and the composition of such group’s memberships. As far-right institutional archives are limited, the article uses material produced by predominant local Labour parties. Alongside providing new perspectives, it encourages scholars to interpret far-right organisations as electoral actors, rather than mere cultural and political pariahs.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to - The Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire and the Society for the Study of Labour History for research bursaries; Jeremy Sutcliffe for access to Oldham East CLP papers; Bertie Dockerill, Alun Ephraim, Keith Gildart, Lowri Ann Rees, Peter Shapely, and the two CBH anonymous reviewers for comments and encouragement.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Constituency Labour Party Annual Report 1976, January 1977, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Calderdale, Halifax Labour Party papers, HLP/4.
2. Goodwin, New British Fascism, xii, 1–35.
3. Ibid., xii; and Drabik, “Historiographical Essay,” 1.
4. Macklin, Very Deeply Dyed; Jackson, Colin Jordan; and Richardson, British Fascism.
5. Copsey, Anti-fascism in Britain; Renton, When We Touched; and Renton, Never Again.
6. Linehan, “Cultures of Space,” 49.
7. Taylor and Johnston, Geography of Elections, 17–19.
8. Walker, National Front; and Bean, Many Shades of Black.
9. Scott, “Political Sociology,” 368–374; and Billig, Fascists.
10. Fielding, National Front; Taylor, The National Front; Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 47–97; and Scott, “Political Sociology.”
11. Leading scholars of the far right remain contemporaneous political scientists.
12. Copsey, Anti-Fascism in Britain, 133; and Renton, When We Touched, 77–78.
13. Linehan, East London for Mosley, xi.
14. Cole, Political Parties in Britain, 177.
15. Goodwin, New British Fascism, 30–31.
16. Fielding, Labour and Cultural Change, 28.
17. Ball, Thorpe and Worley, “Elections, Leaflets, and Whist Drives,” 8.
18. Tomić, “On the “right” side,” 96–98; and Copsey, “The Radical Right and Fascism,” 112.
19. Mudde and Kaltwasser, “Exlusionary vs. Inclusionary Populism,” 147–174.
20. Kitschelt, The Radical Right, 42–45; and Edgar, “Racism, Fascism,” 111–131.
21. Copsey, “Fascism studies,” 55–56; and Edgerton, Rise and Fall, 423.
22. Griffin, “Studying Fascism,” 1–17.
23. Griffin, “The Origins,” 49–51.
24. Defined in: Tanner, Political Change, 249.
25. Rubinstein, Capitalism, Culture and Decline, 36; and Waddington, The Politics of Bargaining, 98.
26. Davies and Morley, County Borough Elections, 337–338, 463–465; Davies and Morley, County Borough Elections, 11–13, 308–310; 419–420; Davies and Morley, County Borough Elections, 250–252; and Davies and Morley, County Borough Elections, 345–348, 476–478.
27. Savage, Working-class Politics, x.
28. Yin, Case Study Research, 52–53; and Lawrence, Speaking for the People, 6.
29. Richardson, ““Nationalist” economic policy,” 65.
30. The Spectator, 12 September 1868, 7; Arnstein, “The Murphy Riots,” 51–71; and McLean, Rational Choice and British Politics, 6.
31. Payne, History of Fascism, 305.
32. Rawnsley, “Fascism and Fascists,” 47–48.
33. Thurlow, Fascism in Britain, 97–98; and David Mayall, “Rescued from the shadows,” 19–39.
34. Linehan, “What Happened,” 161.
35. Pugh, Hurrah for the Blackshirts, 138.
36. Cross, Fascists in Britain, 60–61.
37. Barrett, “Organised Responses,” 122.
38. Rawnsley, “Fascism and Fascists,” 68.
39. Annual delegate meeting, 5 April 1933, Bangor University Library, Salford City Labour Party papers, 97555/2 (microfilm); Delegate meeting, 14 June 1933, Bangor University Library, Salford City Labour Party papers, 97555/2 (microfilm).
40. Statement facsimile available from: Barrett, “Organised Responses,” 111.
41. Copsey, “Opposition to the New Party,” 471–472.
42. Copsey, Anti-fascism in Britain, 57–58; and Newman, “Democracy versus Dictatorship,” 85.
43. Pugh, Hurrah for the Blackshirts,, 153.
44. Thurlow, Fascism in Britain, 95.
45. Barrett, “Organised Responses,” 111–119.
46. Rawnsley, “Fascism and Fascists,” 199.
47. Pugh, Hurrah for the Blackshirts, 212.
48. Election Newsletter, 1955, Lancashire Archives, Preston Labour Party papers, LAB/1/1.
49. Ibid.
50. Yorkshire Regional Conference Report, 6–7 March 1978, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Leeds, Barkston Ash Labour Party papers, WYL1179.
51. Ansari, Infidel Within, 152–153.
52. Collinson, “Commonwealth Immigration,” 273.
53. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 7.
54. Study Group on Immigration, 27 June 1968, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Study Group on Immigration papers, LP/RD/33/7; Study Group on Immigration: Public Opinion and Immigration by Mark Abrams, January 1969, Churchill College Archives, Mark Abrams papers, ABMS/80; and Collinson, “Commonwealth Immigration,” 173–174.
55. Pitchford, Conservative Party, 166; and Scott, “Political Sociology,” 166–173.
56. National Front Statement of Policy, c.1978, Modern Records Centre, S.E. Taylor collection (National Front), MSS.21/1571/2.
57. Billig, Fascists, 3; and John Bean, Many Shades of Black, 178–179.
58. Hayward, Seventy-sixth Annual Conference, 13.
59. Thurlow, Fascism in Britain, 245–246.
60. Walker, National Front, 16.
61. Lawrence, Speaking for the People, 61.
62. Tanner, “Labour and its membership,” 270–271.
63. Fielding and Tanner, “‘Rise of the Left’ Revisited”, 214. .
64. Fielding, Labour and Cultural Change, 36; Annual Delegates meeting, 21 February 1956, Oldham Labour Party Offices, Oldham West Labour Party collection, uncatalogued; General Management Committee, 22 November 1960, Manchester Central Reference Library, Manchester Moss Side Constituency Labour Party papers, M681/2/3.
65. Tanner, “Labour and its membership,” 257, 259.
66. Ibid., 249; General Management Committee, 9 March 1959, 28 June 1960 Manchester Central Reference Library, Manchester Moss Side Constituency Labour Party papers, M681/2/3; Executive Committee, 18 June 1963, Manchester Central Reference Library, Manchester Moss Side Constituency Labour Party papers, M681/2/4; and Collinson, “Commonwealth Immigration,” 284–286.
67. Fielding, Labour and Cultural Change, 35–60; Bradford Telegraph and Argus, 20 April 1968; Bradford Telegraph and Argus, 22 April 1968.
68. General Management Committee, 22 March 1968, Manchester Central Reference Library, Manchester Moss Side Constituency Labour Party papers, M681/2/4; and Hattersley, “Immigration,” 192.
69. Walker, National Front, 10.
70. Johnson, Please, Mister Postman, 143.
71. Craig, Election results 1950–1970, 95; Craig, Election results 1974–1983, 82; and Fielding, National Front, 230.
72. Organisers report, 30 October 1969, 27 November 1969, West Yorkshire Archive Service/Bradford, City of Bradford (Borough) Labour Party papers, 60D84/1/3.
73. Labour Group, 13 July 1961, West Yorkshire Archive Service/Bradford, Shipley Labour Party papers, 37D83/1/6; Huddersfield East Annual Report, 8 February 1959, 15 February 1960, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield Labour Party papers, HLP 1/55.
74. Annual Report 1964, 1965, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Leeds, City of Leeds Labour Party papers, L853/227.
75. Grayson, Solid Labour, 71–77.
76. Annual Report 1969, 29 January 1970, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Leeds, City of Leeds Labour Party papers, L853/227; Constituency Labour Party officers and MPs meeting, 15 October 1971, West Yorkshire Archive Service/Bradford, City of Bradford (Borough) Labour Party papers, 60D84/1/5.
77. Fielding, Labour and Cultural change, 48.
78. Labour Organiser, 79; Labour Organiser, 136–141.
79. Tanner, “Labour and its membership,” 257–259.
80. Yorkshire Regional Council resolution, 19 December 1970, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield East Constituency Labour Party papers, HLP/1/55.
81. Annual Report 1972, January 1973, Heritage Quay, Colne Valley Constituency Labour Party papers, CVL/GV/2/1972.
82. Haughton and Whitney, Reinventing, 22.
83. Ibid, 81.
84. Edgerton, Shock of the Old, 37.
85. Peacock, Yorkshire Lass, 50.
86. Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 626, 12 July 1960, 1311–56.
87. National Front Statement of Policy, c.1978, Modern Records Centre, S E Taylor collection (National Front), MSS.21/1571/2.
88. Beyond Capitalism and Socialism: Industrial Policy for the Modern Age, c.1970s, Modern Records Centre, S E Taylor collection (National Front), MSS.21/1571/2.
89. Billig, Fascists, 162–164; Spearhead issue 115 (pp. 9–11), March 1978, Modern Records Centre, S E Taylor collection (National Front), MSS/21/1571/1/1.
90. Spearhead issue 110 (pp. 6–9), Modern Records Centre, S E Taylor collection (National Front), MSS/21/1571/1/1.
91. Halifax Evening Courier, 3 May 1976.
92. GMC minutes, 29 May 1975, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Calderdale, Halifax Labour party papers, HLP/3.
93. Scott, “National Front in Local,” 214–238; and Scott, “Political Sociology,” 260.
94. Le Lohe, “Presence of immigrants,” 184–203.
95. Scott, “West Pakistanis in Huddersfield,” 38.
96. Yorkshire Post, 21 February 2016.
97. Joe Hopkinson, “Obligatory Integration” Historians at Work Blog, http://blogs.hud.ac.uk/subject-areas/historians-at-work/2016/05/13/obligatory-integration-the-history-of-bussing-out-in-britain-by-joe-hopkinson/(accessed 27/11/17).
98. Executive Committee, 18 January 1960, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield East Constituency Labour Party papers, HLP/1/55; Huddersfield and Kirkburton Borough Labour Party minutes, 8 March 1959, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield Labour Party papers, HLP/1/13; Borough Labour Party, 7 April 1959, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield Labour Party papers, HLP/1/13; and Borough Labour Party, 17 September 1961, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield Labour Party papers, HLP/1/13.
99. Telegraph and Argus, 20 April 1968, 1.
100. Pitchford, Conservative Party, 166.
101. Renton, Never Again, 17,24.
102. Ibid., 17; and Pitchford, Conservative Party, 166.
103. Taylor, National Front in English Politics, 21.
104. The Times, 28 February 1968, 7.
105. Walker, National Front, 98.
106. Ward, “We have come a long way,” 162.
107. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 7.
108. Taylor, National Front in English Politics, 22.
109. Ibid., 22.
110. Scott, “National Front in Local,” 231–232.
111. Ibid., 231–232.
112. Le Lohe, “Presence of immigrants,” 185.
113. Ibid., 188–189.
114. Edgar, Destiny, viii; and Searchlight, 11 October 2014.
115. Yorkshire Campaign to stop Immigration, 1970, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Huddersfield, Batley Borough Records, KMT1/69/TB865; The Times, 18 June 1970, 9; and Le Lohe, “Participation in elections,” 95.
116. Le Lohe, “Presence of immigrants,” 188–189.
117. Telegraph and Argus, 14 May 1971, 6.
118. Municipal Election Report, 29 April 1971, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Bradford, City of Bradford (Borough) Labour Party papers, 60D84/1/5.
119. Ibid.
120. Walker, National Front, 59.
121. Edgar, Destiny, viii.
122. National Executive Committee, 20 December 1972, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, National Executive Committee minute collection, uncatalogued.
123. Steel, Against Goliath, 90–91.
124. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 8.
125. The Guardian, 11 October 1972, 24.
126. Organisation Committee, 6 November 1972, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, National Executive Committee minute collection, uncatalogued.
127. Labour Weekly, 3 November 1972, 3.
128. Seabrook, “A Change in Atmosphere,” 486–491; and Seabrook, What Went Wrong, 154.
129. Saumarez Smith, Boom Cities, 64–88; Letter to Barbara Castle from a constituent, 19 August 1973, Bodleian Library, Barbara Castle papers, MS. Castle/291/192-193.
130. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 80–86; Kavanagh, Labour Party, 215; Straw, Last Man Standing, 122–123; and Castle, Castle Diaries, 1964–70, 375.
131. Letter to Barbara Castle from John Kingsley Read, 27 August 1973, Bodleian Library, Barbara Castle papers, MS. Castle/291/263.
132. Kitschelt with McGann, Radical Right, 250.
133. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 85.
134. General Management Committee, 28 June 1976, Manchester Central Reference Library, Manchester Moss Side Constituency Labour Party papers, M681/3/5.
135. Hain, Political Trials, 273.
136. Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 913, 14 June 1976, 30–1; Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 994, 26 November 1980, 437–8.
137. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 84.
138. Labour Weekly, 24 September 1976, 5.
139. Smethwick was the location of the infamous ‘race election’ during the 1964 general election.
140. Labour Weekly, 24 September 1976, 5.
141. See note 137 above.
142. The National Front investigated, January 1978, Modern Records Centre, Dr Geoff Pugh papers, MSS.329/2/2/46.
143. Guardian, 12 October 1974, 6.
144. The National Front: Report on the General Elections, 1974, 22 January 1975, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Labour Party Research Department papers. 156/9.
145. Benn, Against the Tide, 109–111.
146. Copsey, “Meeting the Challenge,” 182–183.
147. Copsey, “Meeting the Challenge,” 182–183; and Copsey, Anti-Fascism in Britain, 124.
148. See note 58 above.
149. Ibid.
150. Campaign against racism: reports on selected constituencies, 24 November 1976, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, National Executive Committee minute collection, uncatalogued.
151. Ibid.
152. Letter from Ian Martin to H.R. Underhill, 17 October 1976, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Labour Party Research Department papers, LP/RD/156/6.
153. Letter to Regional Secretaries from H.R. Underhill, 26 October 1976, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Labour Party Research Department papers, LP/RD/156/6; Letter to G.H. Parker from H.R. Underhill, 1 November 1976, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Labour Party Research Department papers, LP/RD/156/6; Press Release: United Against Racialism, 5 November 1976, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, Labour Party Research Department papers, LP/RD/156/6.
154. Labour Weekly, 24 September 1976, 5; Executive Committee, 21 October 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Calderdale, Halifax Labour Party papers, HLP/4; and Annual Report, 1977, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Calderdale, Halifax Labour Party papers, HLP/4.
155. Hayward, Seventy-sixth Annual Conference, 14.
156. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 84.
157. Ibid.
158. Husbands, Racial Exclusionism, 84–85; and Preston Young Socialists: Campaign against Racialism, 1973, Lancashire Archives, Preston Labour Party papers, LAB/1.
159. General Management Committee, 18 May 1976; Lancashire Archives, Blackpool South Labour Party papers, DDX 2100/3/9; Campaign against racism: reports on selected constituencies, 24 November 1976, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, National Executive Committee minute collection, uncatalogued; and Collinson, “Commonwealth Immigration’, 290, 299–300.
160. Preston Young Socialists: Campaign against Racialism, 1973, Lancashire Archives, Preston Labour Party papers, LAB/1.
161. Preston Young Socialists: Campaign against Racialism, n.1973), Lancashire Archives, Preston Labour Party papers, LAB/1; Ward meeting, 8 January 1974, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Huddersfield, Mirfield Branch Labour Party minutes, KC481/1/1; and Executive Committee, 11 November 1973, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield West Constituency Labour Party papers, HLP/1/62.
162. Collinson, “Commonwealth Immigration,” 294–295.
163. General Management Committee, 29 September 1977, Oldham Labour Party Offices, Oldham Metropolitan District Labour Party papers, uncatalogued.
164. Organisation Committee, 1 December 1977, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, National Executive Committee minute collection, uncatalogued.
165. North West Labour Party Conference resolution, n.d. (c.1977), Manchester Central Reference Library, Manchester Moss Side Constituency Labour Party papers, Acc.2002/28/5.
166. Meeting, 8 November 1978, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Kirklees, Mirfield Branch Labour Party minutes, KC/481/1/1.
167. National Front: An Office Note, 30 September 1977, Labour History Archive and Study Centre, National Executive Committee minute collection, uncatalogued.
168. Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 938, 7 November 1977, 326; Parliamentary Debates (Commons), 945, 2 March 1978, 655–6.
169. See note 150 above.
170. Ibid.
171. General Management Committee, 27 September 1976, Oldham Labour Party Offices, Oldham West Labour Party collection, uncatalogued.
172. General Management Committee, 28 October1976, Oldham Labour Party Offices, Oldham West Labour Party collection, uncatalogued.
173. See note 150 above.
174. General Management Committee, 30 September 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Calderdale, Halifax Labour Party papers, HLP/4.
175. Executive Committee, 21 October 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Calderdale, Halifax Labour Party papers, HLP/4.
176. Collinson, “Commonwealth Immigration,” 297–298.
177. Annual Report, 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Calderdale, Halifax Labour Party papers, HLP/4.
178. Huddersfield East Annual Bulletin, January 1978, Heritage Quay, J.P.W. Mallalieu papers, JPM/2/2.
179. See note 163 above.
180. Huddersfield East Constituency Labour Party, 24 March 1977, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield Labour Party papers, HLP/1/57.
181. Huddersfield East Constituency Labour Party, 23 June 1977, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield Labour Party papers, HLP/1/57.
182. Party meeting, 15 September 1977, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield Labour Party papers, HLP1/57.
183. General Management Committee, 24 November 1977, Oldham Labour Party Offices, Oldham Metropolitan District Labour Party papers, uncatalogued; General Management Committee, 22 December 1977, Oldham Labour Party Offices, Oldham Metropolitan District Labour Party papers, uncatalogued; and Scott, “Political Sociology,” 276.
184. See note 163 above.
185. Scott, “Political Sociology,” 276.
186. Ibid.
187. Little Horton branch meeting, 19 July 1977, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Bradford, City of Bradford Labour Party papers, 60D84/6/1.
188. General Management Committee, 19 January 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Bradford, Shipley Labour Party papers, 37D83/1/1; General Management Committee, 28 June 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Bradford, Shipley Labour Party papers, 37D83/1/1.
189. General Management Committee, 26 July 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Bradford, Shipley Labour Party papers, 37D83/1/1.
190. General Management Committee, 6 September 1976, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Bradford, Shipley Labour Party papers, 37D83/1/1; Yorkshire Regional Conference agenda, 4–5 March 1978, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Leeds, Barkston Ash Labour Party papers, WYL/1179.
191. Executive Committee, 24 November 1978, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield, Huddersfield East Constituency Labour Party papers, HLP/1/57; Executive Committee, 22 December 1978, Heritage Quay, Huddersfield East Constituency Labour Party papers, HLP/1/57.
192. Branch meeting, 13 September 1977, West Yorkshire Archives Service/Kirklees, Mirfield Branch Labour Party minutes, KC481/1/1.
193. Correspondence, n.d., Barnsley Archives and Discovery Centre, John Mendelson papers, A/62/L/11/15; Immigration, n.d., Barnsley Archives and Discovery Centre, John Mendelson papers, 360/J11/27.
194. Talk to Bradford school pupils, 3 March 1978, LSE Archives, Merlyn Rees papers, MERLYN-REES/2/7.
195. Renton, When we touched, 77; and Copsey, Anti-Fascism in Britain, 133.
196. Copsey, Anti-Fascism in Britain, 133.
197. Thatcher, Path to Power, 408; Spearhead issue 115, March 1978, Modern Records Centre, S E Taylor collection (National Front), MSS/21/1571/1/1.
198. Speech to Oxford University Labour Club, 20 February 1978, LSE Archives, Merlyn Rees papers, MERLYN-REES/2/9; Speech to Rothwell Labour Club,” 3 March 1978, LSE Archives, Merlyn Rees papers, MERLYN-REES/2/7.
199. Collinson, “Commonwealth Immigration,” 262–263.
200. Edgerton, Rise and Fall, 425.
201. Fielding, Labour and Cultural Change, 28.
202. Jones, Remaking the Labour Party, 111.
203. For BNP, see: Goodwin, New British Fascism, 64; and Copsey, Contemporary British Fascism, 61–63,177.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Marc Collinson
Marc Collinson is an Honorary Research Associate and Tutor at the School of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences at Bangor University. His research and teaching interests include the modern political history of political parties, their role inpolicymaking over decolonisation and migration, and their conceptualisation of, reaction to, and interaction with post-war socio-economic change.