Britain for the British

This thesis aimed to assess the way Oswald Mosley and his party attempted to implement its theories of nationalism and fascism, in order to achieve its aspirations. This thesis investigated the ways in which the British Union of Fascists tried to create anti-democratic, anti-Semitic and anti-war feelings, in the hope of potentially threatening the peace and stability of the country. It attempted to discover to what extent the party actually posed a serious danger to the government of Great Britain. It analysed the ways, in which the party attempted to implement their nationalist ideas and examined how B.U.F.'s Nationalist ideas created as much opposition as support and the role this played in the parties' lack of success. A number of major theories of nationalism were investigated to see, which were most directly linked to the ideas of the British Union of Fascists. This thesis analysed large quantities of information to endeavour to discover the manner in which the organisation attempted to implement nationalism and the type of nationalism that they used to try to win over the support of the Great British public. The thesis also assessed the effectiveness of this nationalist approach to see to what impact it had on the British Union of Fascists chances of attaining their goals. A range of primary and secondary sources were used in an attempt to discover the answers to its objectives. These included newspapers, journal articles, speech transcripts, government reports and documents, publications by the party and video clips. These sources are be complemented by a number of contemporary books and articles written about Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists in the years following the Second World War. The sources were compared and collated to provide an overall view of the situation and events that occurred at the time, which allowed a complete picture to be drawn and analysed throughout the thesis. The thesis concluded that the British Union of Fascists attempts to amass the widespread support of the British public using nationalist ideas ended in complete failure. The party only managed to gain small pockets of support, never enough to challenge the government of Great Britain. The country had a strong, established and stable democratic parliamentary system which was ultimately able to fend of the threat of all extremist organisations. The nation did not have the necessary social, political and economic conditions for an organisation like the British Union of Fascists to stand a realistic chance of taking political power. The nationalist approach of the party enticed some members of the population to join the party. However, it also alienated many potential followers and actually created significant opposition to the organisation as well. Fascism stood very little chance of being successful in inter-war Britain, even with a strong emphasis on nationalist rhetoric.