If there was anything which highlights the need to examine the history of fascism, it is perhaps the exchange of comments on a social media platform after I posted a story on part two of Britain's Fascist thread on Radio 4.
It came in the form of a defence of Spanish Fascism, and the Nationalist military rising which took place in Spain in 1936.
Out of the blue the contributor, attacked the International Brigade for desecrating churches, and went on to praise the Spanish Fascist Party while suggesting there was no difference between the legitimate democratically elected Republican Government and the Bolsheviks.
It all played out with a series of assertions and rebuttals, until I took that simple and obvious decision that you don't debate with those who seek to paint Fascism in a favourable light, whether it be .... Spanish Fascism, Italian Fascism or that brand peddled by the Nazi Party.
And for those that doubt the ever present dangers of Fascism, just check Campaign Against Antisemitism,* which posts daily reports of antisemitic, behaviour and its links with Fascist ideology.**
All of which brings me to part three of Britain's Fascist thread, on Radio 4 today, at 11.00 am, in which "Historian Camilla Schofield explores a century of British fascism.
From the formation of the British Fascisti in 1923, through the BUF, the National Front and the BNP, the history of fascism in Britain is, in a sense, an unbroken thread.
But if the politics – or anti-politics – has remained more-or-less consistent, with a lineage of hatreds, pseudo-science, failed leaders and tactics, the means by which fascism is calibrated and communicated in the 21st century has fundamentally changed".***
Picture; demonstration at Belle Vue, Demonstration against Oswald Mosley, 1962, m07971, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass
*Campaign Against Antisemitism, https://antisemitism.org/about/
**One day's reporting, https://antisemitism.org/the-time-has-come-for-a-reich-empire-with-muslims-and-jews-exterminated-reads-graffiti-on-welsh-war-memorial/?mc_cid=bd62743f4f&mc_eid=5199852f38
***Britain's Fascist thread, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ss3c
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