British Brothers' League
Formation | 1901 |
---|---|
Founder | William Stanley Shaw |
Dissolved | 1923 |
Type | Pressure group |
Purpose | Opposition to immigration |
Location |
The British Brothers' League (BBL) was a British anti-immigration, extraparliamentary,[1] pressure group,[2] the "largest and best organised" of its time.[3] Described as proto-fascist,[4] the group attempted to organise along paramilitary lines.[5]
History
The group was formed in May 1901
The League claimed 45,000 members, although membership was actually fairly irregular as no subscriptions were lifted and anyone who signed the organisation's manifesto was considered a member, with Tory MP Howard Vincent amongst those to do so. As a result of this, attempts to militarise the group were largely a failure, although the movement continued to organise demonstrations against immigrants.[9] The Aliens Act 1905, which restricted immigration, was largely seen as a success for the BBL and, as a result, the movement by and large disappeared.[8]
It officially carried on until 1923, albeit on a tiny scale, and was associated with
The League also left behind a legacy of support for
References
- ^ Albert Lindemann, Esau's Tears: Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews (CUP, 1997)
- ^ J. A. Cloake and M. R. Tudor, Multicultural Britain (OUP, 2001)
- ^ D. Glover, Literature, Immigration, and Diaspora in Fin-de-Siècle England: A Cultural History of the 1905 Aliens Act (CUP, 2012)
- ^ Sam Johnson, '"Trouble Is Yet Coming!" The British Brothers League, Immigration, and Anti-Jewish Sentiment in London's East End, 1901-1903' in Robert Nemes and Daniel Unowsky (eds), Sites of European Antisemitism in the Age of Mass Politics, 1880-1918 (Brandeis University Press, 2014)
- ^ Robert Benewick, The Fascist Movement in Britain (Allen Lane, 1972)
- ^ Richard S. Levy (ed) Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, Volume 1 p86 (2005)
- ^ Benewick 1969, p. 25.
- ^ a b Barberis, McHugh & Tyldesley 2000, p. 175.
- ^ a b Benewick 1969, p. 26.
- ^ Robert Winder, Bloody Foreigners: The Story of Immigration to Britain, Abacus, 2013, p. 258
- ^ Dorril 2007, p. 350.
- ^ Winder, Bloody Foreigners, p. 264
- ^ Thurlow 1987, p. 108.
Bibliography
- Barberis, Peter; McHugh, John; Tyldesley, Mike (2000). Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the 20th Century. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0-8264-5814-8.
- Benewick, Robert (1969). Political Violence & Public Order: A Study of British Fascism. Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0713900859.
- Dorril, Stephen (2007). Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-025821-9.
- ISBN 978-0-631-13618-7.