Ever since the 1920s, after the rise of Mussolini in Italy 1923, there has been a presence of this evil ideology in Britain. The former intelligence and Security Head, Ormond Winter, based in Dublin Castle before 1922 went back to Britain and joined the fledgling fascist movement over there. Winter would have been ideally suited to such dictatorial ideologies and principles.
This movement should not be mistaken with Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists (BUF) formed in 1932 by a former labour, conservative and independent MP Sir Oswald Moseley. The organisation Winter gave his allegiance to was a very mixed bag, including some former suffragettes. Other suffragettes, a majority, joined the Labour Party and even the Communist Party, but a few joined Ormond Winter and the fascists. This organisation could have been described as the forerunner to the BUF. BUF membership included the Second Duke of Westminster. After Britain and her allies, the USSR and USA chiefly, defeated the Nazis, the fascist ideology lived on, quite openly and legally despite so many good men, not forgetting the role women played in WWII, sacrificing so much fighting such evils.
During the Second World War against fascism Britain’s former King, Edward VIII, who abdicated late in 1936, sided not so clandestinely with the Third Reich. The former ‘traitor King’ as he was described in a documentary titled Britain’s Traitor King aired on channel four, the former monarch advised Hitler; “the way to beat Britain is to keep bombing her and her people”. This was the former King of the United Kingdom advising the enemy to continue bombing and this was at the time of the “Blitz”! This man was the late Queen Elizabeth II “favourite uncle”, her words not mine, a fucking Nazi!
During the Second World War against fascism Britain’s former King, Edward VIII, who abdicated late in 1936, sided not so clandestinely with the Third Reich. The former ‘traitor King’ as he was described in a documentary titled Britain’s Traitor King aired on channel four, the former monarch advised Hitler; “the way to beat Britain is to keep bombing her and her people”. This was the former King of the United Kingdom advising the enemy to continue bombing and this was at the time of the “Blitz”! This man was the late Queen Elizabeth II “favourite uncle”, her words not mine, a fucking Nazi!
British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, himself holding some fascist views, wanted the former King tried for treason but the establishment overruled him!! All this and the British people, certainly the English, still love the Monarchy - it beggar’s belief. Had the Axis won the war Edward VIII was to be reinstalled as Hitler’s ‘puppet King’. Fortunately for all of us that did not happen. The same ‘traitor King’ once boasted; “I have not a drop of British blood in my veins, I am one-hundred per cent German!” He even reportedly told the Fuhrer where to bomb and passed on many strategic points of interest to the enemy!
After the war Colin Jordan and his henchman, John Tyndall, formed the British National Socialists Movement (NSM) in 1962. Prior to this Jordan was invited to join the short-lived British Peoples Party, a group led by Lord Tavistock, heir to the Duke of Bedford and consisted of former BUF members. This group, the NSM, openly wore the swastika and was opposed by anti-fascists consisting of Jewish groups, communists, socialists and even some liberals. Like most of the fascist leaders Jordan was not the sharpest knife in the draw failing the entrance exams for the Fleet Air Arm and the RAF. He finished up serving in the Army Educational Corps, which may tell us a lot about the level of education received by the troops?
In 1967 Arthur Kenneth Chesterton another former BUF member formed the National Front (NF), an overtly fascist organisation which was at one time during the 1970s led by Martin Webster. The NF were opposed by the Anti-Nazi League, an organisation formed and then disbanded by the Socialist Workers Party and was huge in numbers as opponents of the NF flocked to the ANL.
After the war Colin Jordan and his henchman, John Tyndall, formed the British National Socialists Movement (NSM) in 1962. Prior to this Jordan was invited to join the short-lived British Peoples Party, a group led by Lord Tavistock, heir to the Duke of Bedford and consisted of former BUF members. This group, the NSM, openly wore the swastika and was opposed by anti-fascists consisting of Jewish groups, communists, socialists and even some liberals. Like most of the fascist leaders Jordan was not the sharpest knife in the draw failing the entrance exams for the Fleet Air Arm and the RAF. He finished up serving in the Army Educational Corps, which may tell us a lot about the level of education received by the troops?
In 1967 Arthur Kenneth Chesterton another former BUF member formed the National Front (NF), an overtly fascist organisation which was at one time during the 1970s led by Martin Webster. The NF were opposed by the Anti-Nazi League, an organisation formed and then disbanded by the Socialist Workers Party and was huge in numbers as opponents of the NF flocked to the ANL.
The 1980s saw the rise of the British National Party, formed in 1982 by John Tyndall and taking its name from a group of the same name from the 60s which became defunct. Many former NF members followed Tyndall into the BNP. The BNP created its defence arm, Combat 18, named after the first and eighth letter of the alphabet, AH – Adolf Hitler – and this gang were and are armed. The BNP were opposed successfully by new organisations like Red Action and Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) who ambushed the BNP and their henchmen C18 on regular occasions meeting street violence with street violence. The BNP never knew when or where AFA would turn up, London, Manchester, Birmingham disrupting their meetings and kicking the shit out of them. Always having the art of surprise on their side AFA of the time were very effective against the fascists. Tyndall was succeeded by Nick Griffin as leader of the party and he tried democratic politics coupled with the street fighting of C18 with limited success. They did make inroads on many local councils but this success did not last long as soon as their mask as democrats slipped.
In Ireland while all this was happening in Britain, we too had our share of fascist organisations, not only the Blue Shirts of Eoin O’ Duffy, the perhaps best known of these groups and one of the component parts which formed Fine Gael, but also less well-known organisations. One of these organisations was Ailtin na hAiseirghe (Architects of the Resurrection) founded in 1942 by Gearoid O’ Cuinneagain who, in 1940 founded the short lived Clann na Saoirse, which was connected to the pro-Axis organisations ‘Irish Friends of Germany’. He endorsed ‘Plan Kathleen’, a military plan for the invasion of the six counties by Nazi Germany, sanctioned in 1940 by Stephen Hayes (acting IRA Chief of Staff).
In Ireland while all this was happening in Britain, we too had our share of fascist organisations, not only the Blue Shirts of Eoin O’ Duffy, the perhaps best known of these groups and one of the component parts which formed Fine Gael, but also less well-known organisations. One of these organisations was Ailtin na hAiseirghe (Architects of the Resurrection) founded in 1942 by Gearoid O’ Cuinneagain who, in 1940 founded the short lived Clann na Saoirse, which was connected to the pro-Axis organisations ‘Irish Friends of Germany’. He endorsed ‘Plan Kathleen’, a military plan for the invasion of the six counties by Nazi Germany, sanctioned in 1940 by Stephen Hayes (acting IRA Chief of Staff).
Did the idiot Hayes not realise what he was dealing with? There can be no doubt O’Cuinneagain did, no doubt at all, but a Nazi occupied Ireland would have put the Black and Tans well into the shadows, even de Valera could see that.
Ailtin na hAiseirghe planned for a totalitarian Irish Christian Corporate state and fortunately failed to make any significant impact on main stream politics in the 26 counties. However, the party did last for sixteen years, dissolving in 1958 and in 1945 had upwards of 2,000 members. This was out of a population in the 26 counties of around 4.29 million. Per capita that was larger than the BNP which at its height had reportedly 12,000 members in a UK population of around 67.33 million. So, not all our green fields will not allow fascist seeds to grow and the weeds to expand like bindweed in a garden. So, perhaps the title question, ‘Could the Fascist Right in Britain Spread to Ireland?’ is the wrong question. Perhaps we should be asking how do we stop what may already be here? As we see regularly the presence of the far-right in Ireland opposing asylum seekers and refugees across the 26 counties. That presence, with the potential to grow, is already in our midst.
Today in Britain more sinister fascist and openly Nazi organisations are springing up. Organisations like Britain First led by former BNP councillor Paul Golding and an even more dangerous group styling themselves; National Action. This organisation was behind the murder of Labour MP, Jo Cox, in 2016 as she campaigned for a remain vote in the referendum on EU membership. Led by Chris Lythgoe, National Action are able street fighters and are physically fit. They practice martial arts and kick boxing and are a different league to any organisation in this regard of the past. The organisation, unlike its predecessors and contemporaries recruit in the universities. They want the most agile minds as well as physically fit members and as anti-communists are eager to court the middle-class.
Today in Britain more sinister fascist and openly Nazi organisations are springing up. Organisations like Britain First led by former BNP councillor Paul Golding and an even more dangerous group styling themselves; National Action. This organisation was behind the murder of Labour MP, Jo Cox, in 2016 as she campaigned for a remain vote in the referendum on EU membership. Led by Chris Lythgoe, National Action are able street fighters and are physically fit. They practice martial arts and kick boxing and are a different league to any organisation in this regard of the past. The organisation, unlike its predecessors and contemporaries recruit in the universities. They want the most agile minds as well as physically fit members and as anti-communists are eager to court the middle-class.
Many middle-class students are pissed off with the communist and socialist led Students Union and see National Action as a credible alternative. They, National Action, aim at igniting a race war and style themselves as “White Jihadists”. They hate the Muslims and the Jihadists, a tiny minority within the Muslim population. They style themselves, with totally opposite objectives on the Jihadists of the Muslim variety along similar lines with a view to ignite the ‘white-man’s war of revenge’. They hate Jewish people and claim “Hitler was too merciful” on the Jews. One of their ploys is to infiltrate Palestinian support groups, something the far right have been doing for years, not because they support the Palestinians but simply because they hate Jews!
A brilliant dramatized documentary; The Walk-In is presently being aired on Virgin Media One every Wednesday and Thursday 9pm and it began with the murder of Jo Cox by a member of this neo-Nazi group. National Action are a proscribed organisation, the first far right group to be have been so since WWII. This does not mean they have disappeared, no fucking way unfortunately, they have just gone underground. They do not intend, as far as I can see, to become a mass party openly operating their intentions but are far more clandestine than anything in the past.
The British Government think or pretend to think this banning order against National Action has put the group out of business. This is, of course, bollocks. Could this group move to Ireland? Yes, given their hatred of the IRA and Irish republicanism - in fact Irish independence at all - there is no reason why they could not move over here. Not openly, of course, that would defeat the object, but just stoke up any volatile situations and leave the rest to the Irish right. The Irish right, if ever a fascist takeover is completed, will be very much second to their British masters like National Action, possibly used like the Jewish policemen in the Warsaw Ghetto before they themselves were sent to the camps!!
In the past the Irish in Britain, or a small minority of them, have been used by right-wing groups like the NF because of the inherent racism within these elements. I have witnessed such usage many years ago on the Walworth Road. An Irishman who had a pub and hated black people for no reason, courted the NF who, for the record hated the Irish, and the fascists used him to stoke up racial hatred pretending to be his mate. Once he had outlived his usefulness a gang wearing Union Jack T. shirts and wearing masks kicked the Irish racist half to death! This was once the plan on a wider scale of the far-right in Britain to use racist elements within the Irish community to do the dirty work after which when no longer useful???
For anybody who thinks I am exaggerating, as I have a tendency to do about the level of fascist threats, I suggest you watch The Walk-In. It is compelling viewing and should not be missed by any anti-fascist groups or individuals. This crowd are more organised, more sinister and evil and better on the streets than anything in the past including the BNP of the eighties who National Action describe as “the moderate right.” One member of the group dared to say that “women and children would get hurt. He was seriously reprimanded and told:
For anybody who thinks I am exaggerating, as I have a tendency to do about the level of fascist threats, I suggest you watch The Walk-In. It is compelling viewing and should not be missed by any anti-fascist groups or individuals. This crowd are more organised, more sinister and evil and better on the streets than anything in the past including the BNP of the eighties who National Action describe as “the moderate right.” One member of the group dared to say that “women and children would get hurt. He was seriously reprimanded and told:
if you go out to kill vermin, the Jew, then you don’t worry if they are young vermin or old vermin, they have to be killed. Just like rats, the Jews are vermin.
The group are anti-immigration and want all black people either culled or deported. They also highlight the murder of off duty British Soldier, Lee Rigby who was brutally killed in the street of London in 2013 - ironically the same year National Action were formed - by two black youths. One of the youths were reportedly - reports quickly supressed - known to MI5 who were hoping to use him as a double agent against ISIS. The murder of Lee Rigby is used by National Action members to make out the entire black community are murderers which is of course utter rubbish. Were MI5 aware of what was going to happen to Lee Rigby but allowed it to go ahead in order that they could recruit and turn one of the assassins to a double agent? This threat as I see it is very serious indeed and could easily gain traction among the hitherto non-fascist (which are not the same as anti-fascist) population. I sincerely hope I am wrong.
Are today’s young anti-fascists up to the job? This new group, as I have said, are a league ahead of all the past organisations, smaller but well organised and proficient street fighters. Today’s anti-fascists must be able to match them both ideologically, not too difficult, but physically which may be more problematic! I can only emphasise on people to watch The Walk-In. It is not fiction but a dramatization of events beginning with the murder the of Labour MP, Jo Cox, in 2016.
Are today’s young anti-fascists up to the job? This new group, as I have said, are a league ahead of all the past organisations, smaller but well organised and proficient street fighters. Today’s anti-fascists must be able to match them both ideologically, not too difficult, but physically which may be more problematic! I can only emphasise on people to watch The Walk-In. It is not fiction but a dramatization of events beginning with the murder the of Labour MP, Jo Cox, in 2016.
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| Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist. |
The Far Left are # Saints & Scholars ?
ReplyDeleteI never suggested for a second we are, but we don't go around terrorising ethnic and racial minorities. The fascist threat is real, if you'd ever fought them you would be more than aware, Ron.
ReplyDeleteCaoimhin O'Muraile