ABSTRACT
While Fascism in Britain dates back to the early 1920s, its most important expression in the inter-war period, the British Union of Fascists, first saw the light of day in October 1932. Led by the former Labour Minister, Sir Oswald Mosley, by the middle of 1934 the BUF had gained in the region of 40,000 members. But the movement’s growth was to be short-lived and the violence at a meeting in Olympia addressed by Mosley led to widespread denunciation and a haemorrhage of members which pushed the BUF back to the political margins. Despite decline, however, the movement continued to be active and, relying heavily on anti-semitism, it succeeded in building up significant support in the East End of London. Changing its name first to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists, then to British Union, it vehemently opposed war with Nazi Germany and, towards the end of the 1930s, apparently enjoyed a revival. But the coming of war was to prove fatal to the movement, and in mid 1940, viewed as a security risk, the organization was proscribed by government order and many of its activists interned.
