Music, youth and international links in post-war British fascism : the transformation of extremism

354 Pages·2017·3.931 MB·English

by  Shaffer, Ryan

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Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and
Popular Music
Series Editors
Keith Gildart
University of Wolverhampton, UK
Anna Gough-Yates
University of Roehampton,
London, UK
Sian Lincoln
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Bill Osgerby
London Metropolitan University, UK
Lucy Robinson
University of Sussex, UK
John Street
University of East Anglia, UK
Peter Webb
University of the West of England,
Bristol, UK
Matthew Worley
University of Reading, UK
From 1940s zoot-suiters and hepcats through 1950s rock ‘n’ rollers,
beatniks and Teddy boys; 1960s surfers, rude boys, mods, hippies and
bikers; 1970s skinheads, soul boys, rastas, glam rockers, funksters and
punks; on to the heavy metal, hip-hop, casual, goth, rave and clubber
styles of the 1980s, 90s, noughties and beyond, distinctive blends of
fashion and music have become a defining feature of the cultural land-
scape. The Subcultures Network series is international in scope and
designed to explore the social and political implications of subcultural
forms. Youth and subcultures will be located in their historical, socio-
economic and cultural context; the motivations and meanings applied to
the aesthetics, actions and manifestations of youth and subculture will be
assessed. The objective is to facilitate a genuinely cross-disciplinary and
transnational outlet for a burgeoning area of academic study.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14579
Ryan Shaffer
Music, Youth and
International Links
in Post-War British
Fascism
The Transformation of Extremism
Ryan Shaffer
Washington
DC, USA
Palgrave Studies in the History of Subcultures and Popular Music
ISBN 978-3-319-59667-9 ISBN 978-3-319-59668-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-59668-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017944093
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
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A
cknowledgements
This book has taken many different twists since I conducted my initial
research. Initially, I planned to write a study about inter-war fascism
and empire, but the project evolved to focus on early post-war fascism
and eventually included contemporary British politics. I discovered that
when studying the National Front (NF), it was necessary to discuss the
British National Party and its more recent developments. This research
was helped through that process by many scholars, including Kathleen
Wilson, Michael Barnhart, Nigel Copsey, Geoff Eley, Cora Granata,
Young-Sun Hong, Jeffrey Kaplan, Robert McLain, Graham Macklin,
Joel Rosenthal, Wolf Schäfer, Pete Simi, Laichen Sun and Nancy Tomes.
Additionally, my friends and family provided encouragement and help
with editing, especially my parents and wife. My peers in the Department
of History at Stony Brook University and the School of Criticism and
Theory at Cornell University also offered advice and ideas that shaped
the research, especially Adam Charboneau and Cristobal Espinoza-
Zuñiga. Numerous librarians and archivists have provided valuable help
in response to my inquiries, particularly Lizzie Richmond and Donna
Sammis. I am also grateful to editors Emily Russell, Carmel Kennedy and
Matthew Worley, as well as the manuscript reviewers, for their interest
and help in the book’s development.
All books are shaped by access to sources. Writing about political par-
ties that are widely criticized, have little electoral success and have activ-
ists who are weary of outsiders posed unique problems. I am thankful
to all the former NF and British National Party activists as well as their
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
opponents who allowed me to interview them. They spoke at length,
giving me insight into their experiences and views. I am grateful to all
the people from across the political spectrum who answered my ques-
tions and provided details never published before. I thank Phil Andrews,
George Ashcroft, Keith Axon, Bart (who did not want his last name
published), Bill Baillie, John Bean, Carl Booth, Andrew Brons, George
Burdi, Garry Bushell, Eddy Butler, Mark Cotterill, Richard Edmonds,
Robert Edwards, Cheryl Glass, Warren Glass, Nick Griffin, Peter Hain,
Patrick Harrington, David Hoffman, Tom Holmes, Gareth Hurley,
Alistair Lewis, Andy McBride, Trevor Maxfield, Tom Metzger, Arno
Michaels, Eddy Morrison, Joseph Pearce, Christian Picciolini, Nick
Price, Peter Rushton, Simon Sheppard, Peter Swillen, Nick Toczek,
Colin Todd, Keith Thompson, Tim Turner, Martin Webster and many
more anonymous people who wished not to be publicly named. Some
allowed me to interview them about their politics, while others provided
documents, publications, music, recordings, photographs or tips about
locating further sources. In some cases, it was the first time these people
had been interviewed and opened their personal archives to a historian.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 The Fascist Tradition, 1967–1977 17
3 Youth Against Tradition, 1977–1983 61
4 An International Youth Movement, 1983–1990 107
5 Building a Street Force, 1990–1999 157
6 Fascist Modernization, 1999–2005 221
7 The Fascist Peak and the Fascist Decline, 2005–2016 273
8 Conclusion 329
Select Bibliography 337
Index 341
vii
A
bbreviAtions
AENM Alliance of European Nationalist Movements
AFBNP American Friends of the British National Party
AGM Annual General Meeting
ANL Anti-Nazi League
APF Alliance for Peace and Freedom
B&H Blood & Honour
BNP British National Party
BUF British Union of Fascists
C18 Combat 18
EEC European Economic Community
EGM Extraordinary General Meeting
EU European Union
GLC Greater London Council
GWR Great White Records
ITP International Third Position
LEL League of Empire Loyalists
MEP Member of European Parliament
MP Member of Parliament
NAR Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari (Armed Revolutionary Nuclei)
NDF National Democratic Front
NF National Front
NFSG National Front Support Group
NFTUA National Front Trade Unionists Association
NPD National Democratic Party of Germany
NSM National Socialist Movement
NUJ National Union of Journalists
ix
x ABBREvIATIONS
NUR National Union of Railwaymen
RAC Rock Against Communism
RAR Rock Against Racism
ROR Rock-O-Rama Records
SHARP Skinheads Against Racism and Prejudice
SWP Socialist Workers Party
UKIP United Kingdom Independence Party
UM Union Movement
WAR White Aryan Resistance
WNC White Noise Club
YNF Young National Front