ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the extreme right's interpretations and utilisation of history, and their related attempts to selectively appropriate the past for ideological purposes. In John Tyndall's general ideological writings and speeches, where he set out what he saw as the philosophical underpinnings of racial nationalism, there was invariably an overt historical dimension to the arguments the British national party (BNP) leader espoused. One recurring idea about history in general and the patterns it has taken, put forward especially by the early post-war British extreme right (ER) but still exerting an influence today, concerns the extent to which individuals can take a direct hand in history and bend it to new purposes. Some of the main intellectuals in the National Front (NF) subscribed to a distinctly Spenglerian analysis of the past, and exhibited signs of a love hate relationship with the German writer's pessimistic prognosis about Western history.
