History – 90 pages – my copy (paperback; 2003) borrowed from Plymouth University library during January 2012
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Political extremism has made a come-back, of sorts, in the past decade. We have the efforts of Islamic fundamentalism, as well as the growth of the English Defence League, to talk about in chin-stroking discussion, in heated debate, and to read about in our paper of choice. The focal point of this book is the extremism of Britain’s inter-war period (1919-1939): two decades of chaos and havoc. The same two decades saw the emergence of Hitler in Germany, of Stalin in Russia, of Mussolini in Italy, and of Franco in Spain. Yet in Britain – in our own moderate way - we continued voting and supporting the same parties and the same politicians; of whom none were extremists waging ideological war. Even Ramsay MacDonald, Labour’s first Prime Minister, snuggled up in bed with the Tories in his later parliamentary career. Just why this was: Messrs Thorpe, Harmer, Coleman and Thurlow set out to answer.
The editor of this collection, Thorpe, writes a summarising introduction, as well as the first section: ‘The Only Effective Bulwark Against Reaction and Revolution: Labour and the Frustration of the Extreme Left’. The other sections are equally enlightening, full of probing debate, including Harry Harmer’s ‘The Failure of the Communists: The National Unemployed Workers’ Movement, 1921-1939: A Disappointing Success’; Bruce Coleman’s ‘The Conservative Party and the Frustration of the Extreme Right’, and Richard Thurlow’s ‘The Failure of British Fascism’. Each article – initially presented at a one-day conference held at the University of Exeter during 1988 – brims with brilliant analysis. The reader is given a well versed drilling in the communists of Britain in the 1920s, the rise of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists during the 1930s, as well as the principal figures of the centre parties during the period.
As we all know, such extremes failed in overthrowing or gaining hold on the British state; but what were the reasons for such failure? Thorpe writes on ‘security from invasion, economic and demographic factors, the maintenance of Britain’s self-esteem, and a workable constitutional system’ as helping the country to avoid turning to political extremes for the answers to our ills. Of great interest are the arguments used by Thorpe and Coleman in their analysis of Labour’s relations with the communists and the Conservatives relations with the fascists: the stability of these mainstream parties prevented the growth of the extremes, with one of the key points being the middle class values of the leaders of the centre parties. The likes of Ramsay MacDonald and Clement Attlee were a world away from the horrors of Communist Russia, despite sharing ideological common ground. The middle classes, then, were important in stopping extremism gaining a stranglehold on British politics; yes, the same middle classes who are castigated by the upper crust and the working poor (As many children born between siblings would tell you, it’s not easy being in the middle!).
Without one extreme rising, the other extreme failed due to not being required by the public. For example, on the continent (particularly Italy and Germany), the rise of the communists led to voters moving towards a seen “saviour” - such as a Mussolini or a Hitler – in order to rid them of the far left menace. The two extremes appear to need the other in order to survive, in order to complete them and vouch their entire existence. Without the rise of one, they are both doomed to the history pages as a minor occurrence, no more than a blip on the political landscape.
A small book, but a book busting with information and insight. For fans of political history in this country, the Worm urges you to buy these articles to reflect and look at political extremism from a fresh perspective.
Buy it here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Failure_of_political_extremism_in_in.html?id=9-pPmUVFswIC&redir_esc=y
