Nordic League
Nordic League | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | NL |
| Leader | Archibald Maule Ramsay |
| Founded | 1935 |
| Dissolved | 1939 |
| Ideology | Nazism |
| Political position | Far-right |
| National affiliation | Nordische Gesellschaft |
| Slogan | "Perish Judah" |
The Nordic League (NL) was a
Development
The Nordic League (NL) originated in 1935 when agents of
The League sought to unite leading figures from across the far right, as demonstrated in April 1939 when a meeting addressed by Ramsay was chaired by a member of the British Union of Fascists who was supported by former British Fascists president R. B. D. Blakeney and Imperial Fascist League member E. H. Cole.[1] Other leading members included J. F. C. Fuller, the United Empire Fascist Party leader and Nazi agent Serocold Skeels, Henry Hamilton Beamish, Arnold Leese and P. J. Ridout.[3] The latter was credited with helping to popularise the NL's slogan "Perish Judah", which was frequently rendered "P.J." in public.[4]
BUF leader
Front groups
The NL was closely linked to the
Response and demise
The NL came under increasing scrutiny after Kristallnacht, particularly for the violence of Ramsay, William Joyce and A. K. Chesterton in their anti-Semitic speeches.[7] Others such as Elwin Wright, who until 1937 was secretary of the Anglo-German Fellowship, called for the shooting of Jews, whilst Commander E. H. Cole condemned the House of Commons as being full of "bastardised Jewish swine".[7] However, such extremist language worked against the NL because its speakers were seen by the public at large as quite mad and so their pro-appeasement arguments were ignored.[8]
Following the outbreak of the Second World War, two leading members, T. Victor-Rowe and Oliver Gilbert, were interned, and the NL largely went into abeyance, with members joining other, more public, anti-war groups.[8] The League had officially disbanded as soon as war was declared although it continued to meet secretly at Gilbert's house until his arrest in late September 1939.[9] Two of its members, Joyce and Margaret Bothamley, left Britain for Nazi Germany after the outbreak of war.[10] Given the association of the NL with Nazism, BUF organiser Alexander Raven Thomson even suggested that Mosley publicly denounce the League as traitors in an attempt to present a more patriotic image, although Defence Regulation 18B came into force before this could be attempted.[11]
References
- ^ a b Benewick 1969, p. 289.
- ^ a b c Dorril 2007, p. 425.
- ^ a b c Thurlow 1987, p. 80.
- ^ Thurlow 1987, p. 81.
- ^ a b Dorril 2007, p. 426.
- ^ Thurlow 1987, pp. 80–81.
- ^ a b Thurlow 1987, p. 82.
- ^ a b Thurlow 1987, p. 83.
- ^ Dorril 2007, p. 465.
- ^ Thurlow 1987, pp. 170–171.
- ^ Dorril 2007, p. 493.
Bibliography
- 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.