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It seems these guys could'nt ride the wave of facism as a political trend in the 1920s and thirties.. Itseems that the government did well to curtail their activities throught the Act banning uniforms at rallies.
But why were they so unsuccessful? Was it because the depression had not incensed the British public as it had the continental peoples?


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well, in germany it wasn't the great depression alone, you have to throw the versaile treaty into the equation.

I seem to recall that the BUF (British Union of Fascists), while finding general support in some of the mainline press, started falling out of favor as they tried to keep up with the Hitlerian changes and actions.  Once Hitler started his European land grab, Czechoslovakia, etc., and then the non-Aggression pact with the Soviet Union (remember, fascists were vehemently anti-bolshevik), BUF support crumbled.  Also, as the BUF increasingly copied the strong-arm tactics of Mussolini's "blackshirts" and the SA, the British public did not welcome that turn of events.

This is similar to what happened in the US with the German-American Bunds.

As myshelf points out, the situation in Germany after WWI was completely different to that in Great Britain, as it then was. This is what led to the rise of the Fascists & under Hitler the German people regained a sense of national pride & put Germany back on its feet. The drastic conditions of the Treaty of Versailles directly or indirectly caused this situation which I feel was almost inevitable.

Despite what we might like to think, there are still active Fascist movements in most democratic countries today as indeed there were throughout WWII. This is all part of the democratic system & the right to free speech, without which we would have no real democracy. It's a Catch 22 situation & this basic right is often used against democracies to fight them from within. In my view this is possibly just as (if not more) prevalent today as during any other period in history.

PS. Change the word Fascist to any movement of extremists as appropriate.

Hagar's thought for the day: I like to think that I've never held extremist views on anything during my whole lifetime. Therefore I have no personal knowledge of how they work. Others might well disagree. From what I can make out, most extremists would not regard themselves as such.

But surely, taking into consideration the Treaty of Versaile does not account for the Italian or Spanish facist regimes. Does it?

But surely, taking into consideration the Treaty of Versaile does not account for the Italian or Spanish facist regimes. Does it?

I agree with Woodie on this one.  The Versailles Treaty cannot be pointed at as the cause for the rise of fascism in the various countries.  The onerous conditions of the Treaty imposed on Germany could be considered to be one of the factors that in the German political mind kept the German nation "oppressed", but one has to look at other roots.

To some degree, I think that fear of rampant socialism /bolshevism may have been a larger factor of the rise of fascism in Italy, Spain and even Germany.  I note that Italy, Spain and Germany were countries with a long autocratic history of monarchies, whereas GB had a strong constitutional monarchy where the people's voice was heard to a greater degree than in the other countries mentioned.

I feel it was more the stability of the democracy in Great Britain that stopped the BUF from really getting anywhere. That and the remilitarisation of Germany under Hitler lead more to fear facism that to embrace it.

I feel it was more the stability of the democracy in Great Britain that stopped the BUF from really getting anywhere. That and the remilitarisation of Germany under Hitler lead more to fear facism that to embrace it.

that stability might have well to do with the isolation of the british isles.

the spanish facists were supported by the germans in their civil war, after the anschluss of the "ostmark" (austria) the italian shared a border to germany ...

that stability might have well to do with the isolation of the british isles.

the spanish facists were supported by the germans in their civil war, after the anschluss of the "ostmark" (austria) the italian shared a border to germany ...

Maybe, but then again, France has a boarder with both Spain and Germany and still didn't become a facist dictatorship. I put that down to a stable democracy.

Could it be said that Facism was a continental Western Europe political trend, during the 20-40s ?



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Could it be said that Facism was a continental Western Europe political trend, during the 20-40s ? A.

Not solely; also, as Hagar says for the U.K., the U.S. even now has its fascist/nazi groups (communist, as well).

True enough!


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Yeah, if you've ever seen The Blues Brothers they see some Illinois nazis and some anti-nazis trying to have a go at the nazis but are being restrained by cops. So they run their car through the crowd of nazis and the nazis jump off the bridge into the water! ;D

There are some d>:(mn nazis where I live too. They do grafiti over walls with swastikas and the large words "WHITE POWER". Morons




Bombardier8)

Bombardier, where do you live? I'm in Australia as well, but have never seen the likes of those!


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Bombardier, where do you live? I'm in Australia as well, but have never seen the likes of those!


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Neo Nazi's are few and far between and rarely come out in daylight. Fortunately.