Autobiographies
Enoch Powell's observation that all political careers end in failure is particularly true of British nationalist leaders. Most of them left us their autobiographies, but AK Chesterton and Colin Jordan didn't, and we are waiting for Martin Webster and Nick Griffin.
Oswald Mosley was a rising star in Ramsey MacDonald's government who quit the Labour Party when they rejected his memorandum on unemployment. He founded the British Union of Fascists in 1932 and held some of the largest marches and meetings ever seen in this country. He was detained under Defence Regulation 18B in 1940. He founded Union Movement in1948 and stood for parliament in the 1959 general election in North Kensington. Quote: "Olympia was a decisive battle. I regret having to write in such terms of a legitimate political meeting in our own country, but this was a fact. The most massive and seriously organised attempt ever made in Britain to smash a meeting by violence was heavily defeated. When the attackers had been ejected the meeting continued to a normal conclusion in perfect order. I was able to deliver to the overwhelming majority of the audience the speech they had come to hear. Without the Blackshirts, the meeting would have been a shambles. Why then, in concise repetition of Lloyd George's question, should the defenders rather than the assailants of free speech be blamed? At the time we received from some opponents in all the parties the reply of a vicious political prejudice, and I leave the final answer to history and to the judgement of a new generation."
Jeffrey Hamm was the National Secretary of Union Movement. His autobiography 'Action Replay' covers his early life in Wales, his internment under Defence Regulation 18B, his service in the British Army, his involvement with The British League of Ex-Servicemen, his part in the creation of Union Movement, the 1959 election in North Kensington, and the violent clashes of the 1960s. He was a brave and dedicated man. Quote: "I have fought the fight to the end, I have run the race to the finish, I have kept the faith."
Several Mosley supporters penned their autobiographies. Richard Reynell Bellamy was a leading British Union official whose autobiography 'We Marched With Mosley' covers the pre-war and the post-war movements. Quote: "There were however the psychological effects of detention that left the deepest scars. It would be almost impossible to indicate without fear of contradiction any single prisoner held under Defence Regulation 18B whose mental and physical health and prospects of life were unaffected in some way by the stress and anxieties of political confinement."
Another Mosley stalwart was John Charnley who wrote 'Blackshirts and Roses'. He joined the BUF soon after it was founded and was detained under 18B. He joined Union Movement after the war and took part in the 1959 general election in North Kensington. Quote: "In contrast to many Union Movement members and supporters, I never expected Mosley to win, but his recorded vote of just under 3,000 was a shock to us all and the greatest disappointment of my life."
Admiral Sir Barry Domville KBE, CB, CMG was a high ranking naval officer who belonged to the British People's Party and The Link, which campaigned against WW2. His autobiography 'From Admiral to Cabin Boy' was written in Brixton Prison where he was detained under 18B. Quote: "Nationalism must lie at the root of any patriotic endeavour: the herd instinct as opposed to the Zoo instinct of internationalism. Patriotism in its old-fashioned sense meaning love of one's country, is the only sentiment to which people will respond readily in time of stress."
Arnold Leese published his autobiography 'Out of Step' in 1951. His pre-war Imperial Fascist League was a small party but his influence on the post-war nationalist scene was profound. When Leese died in 1956, Colin Jordan wrote the following tribute in the Britons' publication Free Britain: "The death of Mr Arnold Leese is an irreplaceable loss to the nationalist cause in Britain. In a political field in which there were many comings and goings, he stood his ground from the day he entered it until the day he died. So it seems to me of comparatively minor importance whether you or I agreed or disagreed with some of his views. Transcending that is the tribute we owe him for his heroic fight for the freedom of our country from Jewish occupation and control. Let us salute a great Englishman and a grand old warrior." Leese didn't care for Jews but he was very fond of animals, particularly his cat Nandi. Quote: "As I write, he sleeps, soundly, beside me, in his 16th year, not just a Cat, but One of us!"
One of Leese's disciples was John Tyndall. His autobiography 'The Eleventh Hour' covers his brief military career and his policy of 'economic nationalism', which is Mosley's pre-war program without the benefit of Empire. He wanted to deport all the black and brown people in the UK, but he never explained how it could be done. JT was a dramatic speaker who is revered in nationalist circles. Quote: "Any nation or race, faced with evidence of a conspiracy to destroy it, should recognise such a conspiracy as wholly evil from its own point of view, and should thereupon fight back against it with all means in its power."
John Bean, co-founder of the National Front, was frozen out by the Empire Loyalist faction because he favoured a federal Europe and a planned economy. In his autobiography 'Many Shades of Black' he remembers the good times and the bad. JB was a gifted writer who sometimes exaggerated, but 'Many Shades of Black' is nevertheless a damn good read. I knew JB for sixty years, and I endorse the following quote which applies to the far-right in general: "Looking back at those years of strident action I can see that the analytical logic required by the true politician, of whatever hue, was for me never in contention against all the smothering power of idealistic romanticism."
Rodney Legg was a writer who described himself as 'the last Empire Loyalist'. In his autobiography 'Legg Over Dorset' he covers the merger of the LEL with John Bean's BNP to form the National Front. Quote: "Extremist inmates had taken over the asylum with predictably unstable behaviour that soon began to appal Chesterton. He had always struck me as charismatic, handsome and suave. Even as he controlled the course of that meeting from the corridor he maintained something of that, if visibly dented by a sartorial lapse, though that may have been down to the cold weather. From now on, like Frankenstein, he could only despair at the monster he had created."
Michael Walsh-McLaughlin took over British Movement following Colin Jordan's conviction for shoplifting in 1974. His autobiography 'The Rise of the Sunwheel' describes his early life as a seaman and his career as a street orator and rabble rouser. Quote: "I visited Dachau that was and is described as a death camp by the same smart asses who said that Saddam Hussein had nuclear and biological weapons."
David Myatt made his torturous journey from violent protest to religious contentment. He has been a National Socialist, a Catholic monk, a Muslim convert, and an exponent of something called 'Pathei-Mathos. His autobiography 'Myngath' is brutally frank and well worth reading. Quote: "That despite my racism, my Nazi beliefs and ideals, my political activism, I was not personally offensive to or prejudiced or violent toward or hated individuals of other races that I met, including Jews."
David Myatt's friend Eddy Morrison left us his autobiography 'Memoirs of a Street Soldier'. Eddy meant to update it but he was taken from us before he could do so. Let that be a warning to all of those who have fought the good fight; you won't live forever so write your story now. Quote: "In the course of my career, I have had three broken marriages, so many lost jobs I cannot keep count, jail sentences and community service: injuries and an effect on my health which has had a crippling effect sometimes on the quality of my life. On the other side of the coin however lies the the many great and long lasting comrades I have met and made in the Struggle. In all the wild and sometimes exciting, sometimes downright dangerous times I have had - looking back and even taking into account my mistakes, I do not think I would change any of them. I have learnt from my mistakes and believe what will happen - will happen."
My own brief account was serialised in European Outlook # 66 March 2021 and # 67 April 2021. It's only 5,000 words but it covers my involvement in politics and my life in general. I realised over fifty years ago that the far-right was right about coloured immigration and the Money Power but totally wrong about Europe. Quote: "It never occurred to me that our invasion of Egypt was no different to Russia's invasion of Hungary. The Daily Express said that we were defending democracy and the Soviets were destroying it; and I believed them."
My long-running feature 'Five Questions Answered' has so far recorded the thoughts of 25 respondents for posterity. Don't expire without adding your name to the list. The questions are: Who are you? What do you believe in? If you could direct government policy, what would you do? What are you proud of and what do you regret? How would you like to be remembered?
The End of White Rule in Africa
The white population of southern Africa has been drastically reduced by emigration. It now stands at just over 5 million; 4.6 million in South Africa, 30,000 in Zimbabwe, 100,000 in Namibia, 300,000 in Angola, and 30,000 in Mozambique. The end of white rule started in 1974 with the overthrow of the New State regime in Portugal, and within twenty years it was all over. As the Portuguese left Africa terrorists infiltrated Rhodesia and the Cubans moved into Angola. The white Rhodesians fought magnificently but they lacked manpower, and they were crippled by British and American sanctions. Rhodesia fell in 1978 and South Africa followed in 1994.
In 1973-75, I issued a duplicated bulletin called 'Nation' that was read by Union Movement and National Front supporters in London. One of my correspondents was Roy Chester (pictured) who sent this prophecy from South Africa:
The 8th June 1974 was a day of National Disaster in South Africa, the Springboks were beaten 12-3 by the British Lions.
I listened to the commentary in a local bar and, if I had not known what was happening I would have assumed that we were listening to the declaration of a Third World War.
It is the first time that I have heard eighty minutes of silence in a pub. The landlord was kind enough to lend me a portable to listen to the English service, which I did huddled in a corner with the only other Englishman in the pub. When it was all over at least three South Africans came and congratulated me as though I had some direct part in the victory.
I have written the foregoing to illustrate the almost complete lack of interest shown by the general public in the military take-over in Portugal. Over the next ten years in South Africa we are going to see many changes, and I cannot see Rhodesia surviving unless they come to some agreement with the Blacks.
It goes to prove that as soon as a colony becomes an economic liability and not an asset it is dumped and all the high flown phrases about the sanctity of the homeland are forgotten. One cannot blame troops from Portugal for not wanting to fight a war in a land which must seem very remote from Portugal itself. Guinea-Bissau has been written off as militarily indefensible and Mozambique will follow, which will give terrorists a direct jumping ground into the Transvaal. It is more difficult to predict events in Angola where there is a large proportion of whites in the population and where the terrorists have achieved little or no success in the last fourteen years.
Angola and the enclave of Cabinda are by far the richest and most stable of the Portuguese colonies in Africa, and would seem the best bet for UDI. The difficulty here is that the Portuguese colonies have always been tightly controlled from Lisbon, unlike Rhodesia which always had its own government, judiciary, civil service, army and police, and where UDI was an act of defiance to the British government rather than any change in the nature of the governing body.
On the other hand I cannot see anything other than UDI retaining any measure of white control in the territories. The Portuguese obviously hope to placate the Blacks to such an extent that they will still be able to retain their economic domination in Africa. We'll see what happens but whatever it is it won't strengthen the position of white Southern Africa.
Friends of Mosley - oswaldmosley.com
Majority Rights - https://majorityrights.com
Nation Revisited - https://nationrevisited.blogspot.com
Comments - Scroll down to the Comments section at the end of this blog to leave your comments and suggestions.
European Outlook
All articles are by Bill Baillie unless otherwise stated. The opinions of guest writers are entirely their own. The editor reserves the right to shorten or otherwise amend articles submitted for publication. We seek reform by lawful means according to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19:
Chesterton did write autobiography but never published.
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