ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
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Know the enemy
TONY CONWAY finds contemporary relevance in a study of fascism’s first steps as a political ideology in the UK
RULING-CLASS SPEARHEAD: Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the 'Blackshirts', the British Union of Fascists, addresses a meeting in the East End of London in 1936.
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
MICK McSHANE rubs shoulders with Mod legend Steve Craddock and joins in with the joyous Glasgow choir
DENNIS BROE sifts out the ideological bias of the newest TV series offerings, and picks out what to see, and what to avoid
Fascism in Liverpool 1923-1940: The Flash in the Pan
By Chris Jones
Self-published, £5
THIS admirable short history is, as the date suggests, an analysis of the main fascist parties in Liverpool in the period when fascism was on the March in Europe.
As the author demonstrates, fascism in Europe crossed the sea to disparate communities in Britain, among them the Italian diaspora in Liverpool. While it is asserted that the organisation came from the consulate in Liverpool, the author can find no documentary evidence of this. It is, however, worth noting that Mussolini appointed two ambassadors, both of whom at the time of appointment were fascists.
As the author states, fascism grew quickly in the 1920s as a reaction to the Bolshevik revolution. Leading parliamentarians such as Sir Robert Burton Chadwick were on the Fascist Grand Council.
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