Children of Blackshirt women live with shame

[space cadet]

By James Maw
Presenter, Mother Was A Blackshirt

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8425252.stm

A woman signs a public petition against the release from prison of Oswald Mosley
Along with most fascists in Britain Oswald Mosley was arrested in 1940

Children of Blackshirt women, who joined Oswald Mosley's pro-Nazi British Union of Fascists, often feel that they have had to live with the burden of the guilt and shame caused by their mother's fascist sympathies.

When I was 11, I was taken by my mother to visit her birthplace in Kennington, London.

As we walked around my mother showed me where the air-raid shelters were during the war, but then she began telling me about the Blackshirt meetings.

At 11 it did not mean much to me but it has played on my mind ever since.

I decided to reopen the case of how the Blackshirts attempted to recruit my mother.

It led me to question how many British women supported Hitler during the war, and what was their fate?

"I could have ended up in prison," my mother said.

And many of these women did.

Now aged 88, my mother told me about the ink factory she worked in as a young girl.

"At first I was packing ink, it was horrible.

"There I met Primrose, nobody liked her, but she invited me home.

"I met her family and I fell for it - they were trying to get me to be a Blackshirt."

In documentaries about the Blackshirts, the pictures I have seen are only of men, marching in the streets in their paramilitary uniforms.

I knew about the daughters of the aristocracy, like Diana Mitford who married Oswald Mosley, but I had not realised that young girls, like my own mother, could have been sucked in too.

But speaking to the historian Julie Gottlieb (author of Feminine Fascism) I was surprised to learn that the first fascist political organisation in Britain was actually founded by a woman.

"It was called the fascisti, then changed its name to the British Fascists and it was founded... in 1923, by a Miss Rotha Lintorn-Orman," she told me.

Mrs I M Swire - a leading figure in the British Union of Fascists - wearing the new uniform of grey skirt with black shirt
The women wore a black shirt and tie, beret and slightly flared skirts

Until then the most prominent political movement for women had been the Suffragettes.

One of the most influential Suffragettes was Norah Elam, who was in charge of propaganda and imprisoned for making inflammatory speeches on women's suffrage.

Sent to Holloway prison in 1914, she shared a cell with Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the British Suffragettes.

But Norah Elam was imprisoned again during World War II, this time with Diana Mosley, wife of the fascist leader.

Like me, Norah's granddaughter and great-granddaughter Angela and Susan McPherson have been on a quest to find out more about their family's history.

They knew little about the colourful past of their granny Norah.

"It was a bit of a shock," they told me. A bit of a shock indeed.

But women like my mother were not interested in politics, as Norah Elam was, so was it the comradeship or merely the appeal of the smart uniform that was the attraction?

Julie Gottlieb described the Blackshirt uniform as "a great marketing tool, and an incredible draw particularly for the youth. Some historians call this period the battle of the shirts".

I felt utterly responsible for what happened in those camps, because I did write 'Perish the Jews' on walls - it is something I will never get over
Diana Bailey

The party grew and even children were recruited to support Hitler's ideology.

Diana Bailey, as a young girl in Bognor Regis, remembers her mother and father in their Blackshirt uniforms.

"We were told to paint slogans on the walls with 'Britain Awake' and 'Perish the Jews'. I was nine years old," she said.

Francis Beckett's mother Anne was also a young working woman, like my mother.

Anne was sent along to Mosley's headquarters by the Pitman's Shorthand temp agency to work as a secretary.

"She wanted to be an actress but she made what she said was a dreadful mistake, she learnt shorthand.

"Pitman's sent her to Black House, HQ for the Blackshirts. She found it exciting.

"She was never a racist but worked amongst racists," Francis Beckett said.

It was at fascist headquarters that Anne joined the Blackshirts and met and later married one of the Blackshirt elite, John Beckett, Francis's father.

Women Blackshirts on parade in Liverpool give the fascist salute
The British Union of Fascists had 50,000 members at one point

John was sent to prison with Oswald Mosley during the war - and his family spent the rest of their lives living hand to mouth.

A former Labour MP, John Beckett should have taken his place in the post-war Attlee government. Instead, he worked as a night watchman for Securicor.

Seeing how easily Francis's mother had become a Blackshirt, I asked my mother if something similar had happened to her, with her factory workmate Primrose and her fascist family.

"They were talking about these meetings - I thought they had got me there for a reason.

"They were talking about Mosley, so after this I left, and later gave in my notice at the ink factory," she said.

So after all these years I can stop imagining my mother sitting in the rows of a mass meeting, 'sieg heiling' their leader and being hauled off to Holloway Prison.

But in talking to these families I can see how life could so easily have been very different for my family.

Diana Bailey continues to live with the consequences of her parents' actions - and says she will never lose her feelings of guilt.

"When Richard Dimbleby went into Belsen I felt the guilt of the whole of the world, I felt utterly responsible for what happened in those camps, because I did write 'Perish the Jews' on walls, it is something I will never get over."

Mother Was a Blackshirt will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Monday 4 January at 1100 GMT.

Or catch-up afterwards on BBC iPlayer (UK only).

[Bill Medland]

It should be noted however that those Blackshirts arrested and imprisoned under Section 18b in 1940
were held, but never charged of any crime, they were just held and nothing more.
They were released after the war with no legal explanation as to why they had been held during the war.

It should also be noted that the first two British subjects killed in action during WW2,
(RAF airmen taking part in the first raid on Kiel) were members of the British Union of Fascists.

Feel free to check out more on the subject by reading the following this link to my website http://bills-bunker.de/63090.html

I also have a "BUF gallery" on the website for those interested in photos covering this topic. http://bills-bunker.de/63691.html

Cheers, Bill

[Bill Medland]

I wanted to listen to the broadcast before I made any further comments.....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8425252.stm

So, having listened, here are my comments..........

Misleading title "Mother Was A Blackshirt" because it turns out his mother was not a Blackshirt after all,
but she almost was ( she went to have tea with a Blackshirt girl)

The content of the broadcast was as I expected, very PC and with lots of mentioning of the words
"crime" and "prison" without saying once that no one was ever charged for a crime under Section 18b.

The programe was viewed using the mindset of today and hindsight. Although it did include a sound clip
of the Womens Drum Corps which I had never heard before, did they really need to include the Bergen-Belsen
clip at the end? Afterall as no British Blackshirts served in the camps.

The programe had a bias, but it may be worth listening to, if you know nothing about the role of women in the
Blackshirt movement.

Cheers, Bill.

[Sven Meyer]

We had that with members of the N.S.B.
Many of them had no trial and simply killed just after the war....

[RudyWerner]

I listened to it and thought it was very biased and totally out of context. Not impressed with Radio 4, started straight away describing the BUF as "Pro-Nazi", which I don't think is very fair. As records show, most members of the BUF actually fought the Nazis in the British Forces during the war.

[space cadet]

My Grandfather had been to Germany before the war and seen at first hand National Socialism and was an admirer of the Nazis. This is a picture of him in the thirties. On the other hand he was not an admirer of the Blackshirts as he felt they were "common" and viewed them in the same light as the BNP are viewed today I suppose. My Grandmother said that he had to reconsider his views at the end of the war once the news of the KZ was broadcast.

[Bill Medland]

I listened to it and thought it was very biased and totally out of context. Not impressed with Radio 4, started straight away describing the BUF as "Pro-Nazi", which I don't think is very fair. As records show, most members of the BUF actually fought the Nazis in the British Forces during the war.

I agree with you fully. Hundreds of Blackshirts fought for Britain in WW2, the first KIA were BUF who served in the RAF.
Some served in the Army and were arrested when they returned from Dunkirk in 1940.

But only a dozen fought for Hitler, six of the members of the BFC were former BUF and several in the Radio Concordia.

[John Wilson]

Children of Blackshirt women live with shame...Do they?
Going by the information, one journalist/writer hippy fukbag is slightly miffed with his mummy and has invented a story about his reasoning for hatred abut all things right wing.
How very nice for the press... and the tossers that employ it.

[Mikkel]

one journalist/writer hippy fukbag

Easy there. The topic of this forum is putting enough right-wing labels on us already.

[Bill Medland]

Children of Blackshirt women live with shame...Do they?
Going by the information, one journalist/writer hippy fukbag is slightly miffed with his mummy and has invented a story about his reasoning for hatred abut all things right wing.
How very nice for the press... and the tossers that employ it.

I understand where you are coming from "John Wilson", but I would not have put it that blunt

When I was working on the articles for my website I worked in collaboration with FOM (Friends Of Mosley),
some of the old former British Union of Fascist members kept in contact with me and indeed sign their mails with
"In Union". Do I feel any shame? No, none because it is history and it should not be brushed under the carpet.

Returning to the BBC Radio 4 programe

It said these people were sent to prison at the start of the war.....this is not true.
None were serving a "prison sentence" because they were simply not charged with an offence, but they were
interned in an internment camp. Although it was not at the start of the war, but in May 1940.

They were interned under Section 18b which was rushed through Parlement in a matter of days, in fact one
of the first things Churchill did when he came to power. Churchill required a coalition Government to run the
country in May 1940, Labour demanded the removal of Sir Oswald before they would enter into a coalition.

It should be remembered that the British Union in 1939 had become a peace movement apposed to Britains
entry into the war, Chruchill could not afford to have a peace movement at large when he was trying to
gear the country up for war. The Labour party still held a grudge against Sir Oswald because in the 1920s
he left the Labour Party and went across to the Tories, before starting his "New Party" in 1930, which later
became the BUF.

They were interned because they formed a Peace Movement in wartime

Sir Oswald Mosley was interviewed by the Chairman of the Committee, Mr Justice Birkett.

SIR OSWALD: "There appear to be two grounds for detaining us- a suggestion that we are traitors who would
take up arms and fight with the Germans if they landed, and that our propaganda undermines the civilian morale."

MR. BIRKETT: "Speaking for myself, you can entirely dismiss the first suggestion."

SIR OSWALD: "Then I can only assume that we have been detained because of our campaign in favour of a negotiated peace."

MR.BIRKETT: "Yes, Sir Oswald, that is the case."

Cheers, Bill.

[geoffpara]

An interesting piece of the history of this country.

It's when I read the additional pieces of information provided by Bill and others that I wonder what is being taught at colleges and universities on their journalism and multi-media courses that someone like this James Maw can come up with what I consider to be such a poorly researched article. I suspect this article is more about getting his name in print (always helps with the CV when looking for the next job) than providing accurate information. James Maw might argue that his article is an example of interpretivism from his perspective but in taking that view it provides too narrow a focus that I believe distorts, or at least glosses over, the recorded facts.

In trying to widen the discussion to cover the areas that James Maw seems to have ignored and to avoid accusations by some that we are biased ourselves it would be advantageous if we could reference the source documents that we refer to. I'm sure there are some that read the posts on this or Pozzi's forum for their own purposes other than to assist in improving our understanding and knowledge of the cultures, conditions, and other factors that determined events from the end of WW1 to the end of WW2.

Personally, I'd like to thank Bill for the info he provides. As always very informative on little known or researched events.

[Bill Medland]

....it would be advantageous if we could reference the source documents that we refer to.

A fair point and one I can answer:

1. E-mail exchanges with John Warburton, President of the FOM (Friends Of Mosley).

2. Back issues of the newsletter "COMRADE" (incorporating ACTION and UNION).

3. The official FOM website http://oswaldmosley.com/ It should be noted that they have given
me full access to their archives and permission to use photos and other material on my own website
Bills Bunker.

Further reading..........

HURRAH FOR THE BLACKSHIRTS! Martin Pugh 2006 ISBN 9781844130870

MOSLEYS MEN IN BLACK (uniforms, flags and insignia) John Millican 2004 ISBN 0-9515253-2-8

Cheers, Bill