1930s Political Extremism in Britain and Why it Failed
The 1930s were a combustion of political extremism, but Britain managed to maintain democracy
Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia, Mussolini’s Italy. The lead up to the Second World War was full of dictatorial regimes and political extremism. There were some threats to democracy in Britain, too, so why did they fail?
Political extremism in Britain
The British Union of Fascists
A very notable extremist party in Britain at the time was the British Union of Fascists (BUF), later the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists following influence from Germany. After becoming disillusioned with the politically left Labour Party, of whom he was a member, Sir Oswald Mosley turned to fascism. He was influenced by the political ideology after having visited Italy. On returning to Britain, he brought with him elements of Italian fascism, establishing the BUF, whose members wore black uniforms and gave the infamous salute.
At its peak, the BUF had 50,000 members and supporters, mainly young, working-class men embittered with the British parliament. Mosley proposed radical, new ideas — many also racist and anti-Semitic — that appealed to his supporters, and his oratory skills enhanced his figure as a leader.
However, the party was never a true threat to democracy — never having an elected member of Parliament (MP) — and dissolved into a condemned organisation. A large determinant in this was the reputation for violence that the party had acquired. The supporters developed a reputation for thuggery due to their oftentimes violent rallies, such as the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 between the BUF and anti-fascists. By 1935, its membership had plummeted to just 5000, its sympathy towards Nazi Germany also contributing to this outcome. In 1940, Mosley, along with 700 of his supporters, was arrested amid fears of being a threat to British security during the war.
The Communist Party of Great Britain
On the other end of the political spectrum, there stood the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Formed in the 1920s, this party managed to stand until the last decade of the century. They offered a progressive and egalitarian society that grabbed the interest of the young, again mainly working-class, members of society. They saw the Russian Revolution of 1917 as the beginnings of a ‘new civilisation’ and expressed support for the cause, as well as animosity towards fascism. Many of the CPGB’s members travelled to Spain to fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.
Despite being a small party — their membership never exceeded 18,000 members during the decade — they did manage to have some influence as they had a handful of elected MPs. They also aligned themselves with the National Unemployed Workers Movement (NUWM) which had an esteemed following of 50,000. In addition, their party newspaper, the Daily Worker, had a daily circulation of 80,000 copies, whilst the Left Book Club — in which many communist authors wrote — had 50,000 members.
However, like the BUF, they were never a true threat to democracy. They lacked a clear leader and the opportunity never arose for a widespread communist revolution in Britain as the economy began to recover and the brutal nature of Stalin’s communist totalitarianism became more widely known.
Government policies that mitigated political extremism
At the time, Britain had a National Government: a coalition government compounded by different parties and leaders. Together, they implemented legislation and policies to limit the threat of extremism.
The Incitement to Disaffection Act in 1934 enabled the government to prosecute anyone advocating for revolution or violence of any kind. Similarly, in 1936, the Public Order Act banned the wearing of political uniforms, while also giving the police greater powers to control and ban political meetings and demonstrations. Clearly, this was greatly repressing to those seeking revolution in Britain.
The government’s foreign policy of ‘Appeasement’, spear-headed by Neville Chamberlain and Stanley Baldwin, eased the British public during a threatening time of looming warfare. Of course, we now know this policy was undermined, but at the time, it was greeted with positivity in Britain.
The economy
The key reason why political extremism never seized Britain during this time is the economic situation. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 did affect Britain quite seriously — it was the reason the cooperative National Government was formed in the first place — but the economic devastation of Britain was never seen as it had been in other countries. Take Germany, for example. They were reliant on loans from the United States in order to pay the hefty reparations posed on them by the Treaty of Versailles. But, after the United States economy had been battered by the effects of 1929, they couldn’t afford to grant loans any longer and asked for the money back. This ruined Germany and some sources estimate unemployment peaked at over six million (1933) during this time period. Therefore, Hitler’s generalised promises of Arbeit und Brot (‘Work and Bread’) were very appealing to a despairing population. A similar situation was seen in Russia in 1917.
This desperation never took hold in Britain as the unemployment and poor economic situations were pocketed and regional, predominantly in the North. Some areas actually experienced an improvement in living standards and prospered. This meant there was limited support for a revolutionary ideology and faith in democracy was maintained.
As the saying goes, “desperate times call for desperate measures”. Britain was never in a desperate enough situation to justify political extremism. This, mixed with the failures of the extremist parties and the government’s actions to control extremism, meant democracy was maintained in Britain during this turbulent decade.
