White Defence League
Encyclopedia
The White Defence League was a British
far-right political group. Using the provocative marching techniques popularised by Oswald Mosley
, its members included a young John Tyndall
.
's decision to split from the League of Empire Loyalists
in 1957. Jordan had wanted a ban on Jews and non-white members enshrined in the League but this had been rejected by League chief A.K. Chesterton, due to the group's links to the Conservative Party
. Jordan further called for the building of a mass party but this too was rejected due to the Tory links. At the time Jordan was also close to the Britons Publishing Society
and both groups ran out of Arnold Leese
House, the name given to 74 Princedale Road, the Notting Hill home of the late Imperial Fascist League
leader which Leese's widow Mary allowed Jordan to use as his base of operations. Mary Leese also provided most of the group's funding. Because of this shared space with the Britons the WDL was able to publish its own magazine, Black and White News, as soon the group was founded and it reached a circulation of around 800 with a diet of anti-immigration rhetoric. A further WDL paper, The Nationalist, appeared in 1959, focusing more on anti-Semitism
and the desire for racial purity.
and Nazism
. Seeking to distance itself from LEL conservatism
and to build links with like-minded groups in continental Europe
, the party's journals became notorious for their rabid racial hatred. By personal conviction Jordan's main belief was in anti-Semitism but, whilst the WDL did stress the Jews
as an enemy "out-group", the League also emphasised anti-immigration rhetoric. However the WDL has been contrasted with the Union Movement
, a contemporary group led by Oswald Mosley
as, whilst the Union Movement had a coherent ideology that sought to remodel pre-Second World War fascism, the WDL was more crudely racist and had a much less developed political programme. Hans-Georg Betz has characterised the WDL as part of a tendency within British right-wing extremism to place a "recidivist or radical neo-fascism" as the ideological core rather than the populism
of Scandanavian protest parties or the "hybrid appeal" that fuses elements of fascism to populism typified by the likes the Front National (italics are after Betz).
n immigrant Kelso Cochrane
was murdered and local black opinion often suggested that the WDL was responsible although ultimately no one was arrested for the killing. Like the Union Movement, which was also active in the local area, the WDL co-operated with gangs of racist Teddy boy
s who harassed and launched attacks on blacks in the area. Indeed in the run-up to the riots followers of the Union Movement and the WDL had came into immigrant neighbourhoods in the area to indulge in what they called "nigger hunts".
In 1959 the WDL began to co-operate with the National Labour Party
, a group led by another former LEL dissident John Bean
which was also active in Notting Hill
. The WDL helped Bean's group with their election campaigns and the two groups held a joint rally called Stop the Coloured Invasion in Trafalgar Square
in May 1959 with banners that read Keep Britain White. The monitors at the rally wore white armbands emblazoned with a black sun wheel
, the symbol of the Aryan race
. The sun wheel symbol was used as the symbol of White Defence League.
Jordan, who had developed a network of international contacts through The Nationalist, impressed both Bean and Andrew Fountaine
and in February 1960 the two groups fused to form the British National Party
, which was also to be based at Arnold Leese House.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
far-right political group. Using the provocative marching techniques popularised by Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
, its members included a young John Tyndall
John Tyndall (politician)
John Hutchyns Tyndall was a British politician who was prominently associated with several fascist/neo-Nazi sects. However, he is best known for leading the National Front in the 1970s and founding the contemporary British National Party in 1982.The most prominent figure in British nationalism...
.
Formation
The WDL had its roots in Colin JordanColin Jordan
John Colin Campbell Jordan was a leading figure in postwar Neo-Nazism in Britain. In the far-right nationalist circles of the 1960s, Jordan represented the most explicitly 'Nazi' inclination in his open use of the styles and symbols of the Third Reich.Through organisations such as the National...
's decision to split from the League of Empire Loyalists
League of Empire Loyalists
The League of Empire Loyalists was a British pressure group , established in 1954, which campaigned against the dissolution of the British Empire. The League was a small group of current or former members of the Conservative Party led by Arthur K...
in 1957. Jordan had wanted a ban on Jews and non-white members enshrined in the League but this had been rejected by League chief A.K. Chesterton, due to the group's links to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
. Jordan further called for the building of a mass party but this too was rejected due to the Tory links. At the time Jordan was also close to the Britons Publishing Society
Britons Publishing Society
Britons Publishing Society, founded in 1923, was an offshoot of The Britons. According to scholar Gisela C. Lebzelter, The Britons split because:...
and both groups ran out of Arnold Leese
Arnold Leese
Arnold Spencer Leese was a British veterinarian and fascist politician. He was born in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England and educated at Giggleswick School....
House, the name given to 74 Princedale Road, the Notting Hill home of the late Imperial Fascist League
Imperial Fascist League
The Imperial Fascist League was a British fascist political movement founded by Arnold Leese in 1929.-Origins:Leese had originally been a member of the British Fascists and indeed had been one of only two members ever to hold elected office for them...
leader which Leese's widow Mary allowed Jordan to use as his base of operations. Mary Leese also provided most of the group's funding. Because of this shared space with the Britons the WDL was able to publish its own magazine, Black and White News, as soon the group was founded and it reached a circulation of around 800 with a diet of anti-immigration rhetoric. A further WDL paper, The Nationalist, appeared in 1959, focusing more on anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
and the desire for racial purity.
Ideology
Unlike the LEL, which stressed British identity and patriotism, the WDL was fairly open in its admiration for Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. Seeking to distance itself from LEL conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
and to build links with like-minded groups in continental Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the party's journals became notorious for their rabid racial hatred. By personal conviction Jordan's main belief was in anti-Semitism but, whilst the WDL did stress the Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
as an enemy "out-group", the League also emphasised anti-immigration rhetoric. However the WDL has been contrasted with the Union Movement
Union Movement
The Union Movement was a right-wing political party founded in Britain by Oswald Mosley. Where Mosley had previously been associated with a peculiarly British form of fascism, the Union Movement attempted to redefine the concept by stressing the importance of developing a European nationalism...
, a contemporary group led by Oswald Mosley
Oswald Mosley
Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet, of Ancoats, was an English politician, known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists...
as, whilst the Union Movement had a coherent ideology that sought to remodel pre-Second World War fascism, the WDL was more crudely racist and had a much less developed political programme. Hans-Georg Betz has characterised the WDL as part of a tendency within British right-wing extremism to place a "recidivist or radical neo-fascism" as the ideological core rather than the populism
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
of Scandanavian protest parties or the "hybrid appeal" that fuses elements of fascism to populism typified by the likes the Front National (italics are after Betz).
Activities
The WDL gained notoriety after members of the group were widely reported in the press as having taken part in the 1958 Notting Hill race riots. Indeed during that summer the WDL held rallies through immigrant neighbourhoods on a nightly basis. Towards the end of the riots AntiguaAntigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
n immigrant Kelso Cochrane
Kelso Cochrane
Kelso Cochrane was an Antiguan immigrant to Britain whose unsolved murder sparked tensions in London.Cochrane had moved to London in 1954, where he had settled in Notting Hill and worked as a carpenter. He aimed to save sufficient money to study law. After fracturing his thumb in a work accident,...
was murdered and local black opinion often suggested that the WDL was responsible although ultimately no one was arrested for the killing. Like the Union Movement, which was also active in the local area, the WDL co-operated with gangs of racist Teddy boy
Teddy Boy
The British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II...
s who harassed and launched attacks on blacks in the area. Indeed in the run-up to the riots followers of the Union Movement and the WDL had came into immigrant neighbourhoods in the area to indulge in what they called "nigger hunts".
In 1959 the WDL began to co-operate with the National Labour Party
National Labour Party (UK, 1957)
The National Labour Party was a far right political party founded in 1957 by John Bean. The party campaigned on a platform of white nationalism, opposition to non-white immigration and anti-Semitism.-Formation:...
, a group led by another former LEL dissident John Bean
John Bean
John Edward Bean is a long-standing participant in the British far right, who has been active within a number of movements during the course of his life and is the voice behind the BNP election broadcasts.-Early life:...
which was also active in Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
. The WDL helped Bean's group with their election campaigns and the two groups held a joint rally called Stop the Coloured Invasion in Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
in May 1959 with banners that read Keep Britain White. The monitors at the rally wore white armbands emblazoned with a black sun wheel
Sun cross
The sun cross, also known as the wheel cross, Odin's cross, or Woden's cross, a cross inside a circle, is a common symbol in artifacts of the Americas and Prehistoric Europe, particularly during the Neolithic to Bronze Age periods.-Stone Age:...
, the symbol of the Aryan race
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
. The sun wheel symbol was used as the symbol of White Defence League.
Jordan, who had developed a network of international contacts through The Nationalist, impressed both Bean and Andrew Fountaine
Andrew Fountaine
Andrew Fountaine was a veteran of the far right scene in British politics.Born into a land-owning Norfolk family, Fountaine was educated at the Army College in Aldershot and was the son of Vice Admiral Charles Fountaine who had been naval ADC to King George V...
and in February 1960 the two groups fused to form the British National Party
British National Party (1960s)
The British National Party was a far right political party that operated in the United Kingdom from 1960 to 1967. Led by John Bean the group, which was subject to internal divisions during its brief history, established some areas of local support before helping to form the National Front in...
, which was also to be based at Arnold Leese House.
See also
- British National PartyBritish National PartyThe British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
- British National FrontBritish National FrontThe National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
- English Defence LeagueEnglish Defence LeagueThe English Defence League is a far-right street protest movement which opposes what it considers to be a spread of Islamism, Sharia law and Islamic extremism in the UK. The EDL uses street marches to protest against Islamic extremism...
- White supremacyWhite supremacyWhite supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...