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in some areas of London, notably Hoxton and Stepney
support from sections of the East End working-class
was actually to rise afterward – but the psychological
defeat struck deeply amongst its followers, and seemed
emblematic of the movement’s wider failure. The
early membership height of 50,000 had fallen to under
10,000 by this point. The movement was losing money
continually, despite being bankrolled by both the foreign
Fascist powers and Mosley’s own landed estates.
Uniforms, banners, headquarters and truncheons do not
pay for themselves. Intellectually he was without capital
too. The writers of the day were overwhelmingly Left.
The strangely acidic Wyndham Lewis was one of the
few artists who were taken in for a time by the movement,
but even this support did not last the distance.
Dorril recounts Lewis and Mosley met on several
occasions in the late 30s, but the former was increasingly
alarmed by the latter’s talk of the sad practical
necessities of machine gunning the movement’s foes
in the street “when push came to shove”. When Lewis
came to write the ironically titled ‘The Jews – Are They
Human?’ in 1937 he was sardonically repudiating his
past Fascism. The only noted author to back Mosley
by then was Henry Tarka The Otter” Williamson. With
even his few intellectual allies now taking the piss, who
would take Oswald seriously now?
When Britain went to war with Mosley’s ideological
masters in Germany and Italy, it was the cataclysmic
BUY Stephen Dorril books online from and
close of any last lingering chance of a revival in his
movement. Unity Mitford shot herself in the head,
yet failed to succeed in suicide, dribbling on for years
afterward. While Mosley and his wife claimed they
were still loyal to Britain (whilst agitating for “negotiated
peace”) the authorities had different views, and
imprisoned the pair in Holloway Prison. Sympathy
was not widespread. Nancy Mitford was one of those
who denounced sister Diana and her infamous husband
to the security services. Several BU members
either fled to Germany or had moved shortly before
war was declared, to fight for the Nazi cause. Some
were propagandists like “Haw Haw” Joyce, others like
John Amery joined Waffen SS divisions. In keeping
with the stomach-wrenching nature of their treachery,
none saw active combat against soldiers, yet several
were active in murderous atrocities against unarmed
Jewish civilians. By association, Mosley was seen, by
the vast majority of British people, as the most venal
kind of traitor.
Churchill, one of many who once saw Mosley as
a potential leader of his party and country, decided
to release the man and wife in late 1943 in what he
saw as a humane gesture in relation to the Blackshirt’s
ill- health. The decision sparked mass popular protest
and outrage. The working-classes in particular were
prominent in street demonstrations demanding that
the key should be thrown away, or the noose brought
201
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