Anti-Alienism and the Primrose League: The Externalization of the Postwar Crisis in Great Britain 1918-32

Abstract

Anti-alienism has frequently been the dark underside of organized patriotic movements in twentieth-century Britain. Love of nation has all too frequently been accompanied by an abstract fear of foreigners or a concrete dislike of alien immigrants residing in Britain. Numerous patriotic leagues have used xenophobia and the supposed threat posed by aliens to define themselves and their Conservative creed. Aliens symbolized “the other,” which held values antithetical to members of the patriotic leagues. These currents have usually become even more pronounced in times of tension and crisis. From the end of the First World War through the 1920s, Britain suffered an enormous economic, social, and political crisis. British unemployment never fell below one million as traditional industries such as coal, iron and steel, shipbuilding, and textiles declined. Electoral reform in 1918 and 1928 quadrupled the size of the electorate, and the British party system fractured with the Liberals divided and Labour becoming the alternative party of government. Industrial unrest was rampant, culminating in the General Strike of 1926. The example of the Russian Revolution inspired many on the Left and appalled their opponents on the Right, while many British Conservatives felt that fundamental aspects of the existing system of capitalism and parliamentary democracy were under challenge.

British Right-Wing Anti-semitism, 1918-1930.

“…Wild was the Conservative MP for West Hampton Upton between 1918 He was also co-chairman for the British Empire Union and 'prominently connected' with the National Citizens Union. 12 This evidences his radical right beliefs. His rabid anti-alienism was credited for 'catching the speaker's eye.'…”

“…November 1928), created by Arnold Spencer Leese (1878-1956. 12 The comparative approach comparing the ideology and actions of various sections of the British right-wing has the advantage of observing what variants of anti-Semitism were deemed to be "acceptable" in mainstream discourse and what remained on the periphery of British right-wing thinking.…”

“…14 This study has avoided a 'one-dimensional' focus on only the aggressively anti-Jewish organisations, that was a common feature of studies on British anti-Semitism. 15 Until the 1980s, historians focused almost exclusively on explicitly anti-Semitic organisations (mainly the BUF), who were often uninfluential outside their 'own world of 11 Geiger Martin, "British Fascism as Revealed In the British Union of Fascists' Press" (PhD, New York University, 1963), p.36 12 Arnold Leese refers to himself as an 'anti-Jewish camel doctor' in his autobiography Out of Step: events in the Two Lives of an Anti-Jewish Camel Doctor (1951) 13 Colin Holmes, Anti-Semitism In British Society (1979), p.1 14 Tony Kushner, The Persistence of Prejudice: Antisemitism in British Society during the Second World War (1989), p.3 15 Bryan Cheyette, "English Anti-Semitism: A Counter-Narrative", Textual Practice, 25.1 (2011), p.15 hatred.' 16 A focus on only the extremes to answer the question of how prevalent anti-Semitism was in Britain would, as David Feldman argued, be 'ahistorical' as it would ignore the foundational ambivalences of the British Christian state.…”

“…By way of example, Jews and The White Slave Traffic (1921) by Joseph Banister, an infamous member of the Britons, made this argument. 17 10 Colin Holmes, John Bull's Island (1988), p.113 11 Robert J, Blackman, Sir Ernest Wild K.C (1935) 12 The New Voice (April 1922) 13 Robert J, Blackman, Sir Ernest Wild K.C (1935), p.112 14 HC Deb 15 th April, 1919 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid.…”

“…They also sent volunteers to break up strikes. 12 The MCU wanted to combat Socialism and Bolshevism and reduce immigration as a secondary goal. They ended up with explicitly pro-Nazi sentiments by the late 1930s.…”