May 2, 2010 - By BNP News Team
Winston Churchill’s famous remark that “the fascists of the future will be called anti-fascists” is nowhere better illustrated than in the Daily Mirror newspaper, which pretends to be far left but actually openly supported Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts in 1934.
Although it is widely known that the “right-wing” Daily Mail editorially supported the British Union of Fascists during much of the 1930s, it is not so well known that the Daily Mirror was also a pro-fascist publication at that time.
The Daily Mail is, of course, forever tainted by its “Hurrah for the Blackshirts” edition published in January 1934.
However, not to be outdone by its Fleet Street rival in the promotion of fascism, the Daily Mirror responded on Monday, 22 January, 1934 with a piece entitled: “Give the Blackshirts a helping hand.”
The Mirror piece not only urged its readers to join the British Union of Fascists and also helpfully provided office addresses in London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Plymouth and East Anglia to which membership applications should be sent.
The piece and appeal urging support for fascism filled most of page 12 of that edition of the Daily Mirror.
According to the Daily Mirror piece:
“Timid alarmists all this week have been whimpering that the rapid growth in numbers of the British Blackshirts is preparing the way for a system of rulership by means of steel whips and concentration camps.
”Very few of these panic-mongers have any personal knowledge of the countries that are already under Blackshirt government. The notion that a permanent reign of terror exists there has been evolved entirely from their own morbid imaginations, fed by sensational propaganda from opponents of the party now in power.
”As a purely British organization, the Blackshirts will respect those principles of tolerance which are traditional in British politics. They have no prejudice either of class or race. Their recruits are drawn from all social grades and every political party.
”Young men may join the British Union of Fascists by writing to the Headquarters, King’s Road, Chelsea, London, S.W.”
In its bid to further promote fascism, the Mirror’s Sunday sister paper, then known as The Pictorial, followed up with a Hello!-style picture essay showing uniformed blackshirts relaxing playing table tennis and enjoying a sing-song around the piano.
Not content with their already considerable promotion of the Mosley movement the Mirror and Pictorial also planned to run a photographic beauty contest aimed at finding Britain’s most attractive female fascist.
This was, apparently, a promotion too far for Sir Oswald’s tastes.
He is said to have personally objected to the Mirror’s proposal on the grounds that it would trivialise his fascist party.
It wasn’t until around 1936 that the Mirror switched its support for fascism to socialism.
Commentators claim that its change in editorial direction had little to do with politics and everything to do with headed business considerations.
Apparently there was a larger and more profitable market to be exploited amongst the socialist-inclined working class than amongst those of the fascist persuasion.
Considering the Mirror’s pro-fascist record its repeated accusations of “fascist” levelled at the BNP, many of whose members – like recently deceased World War II Wellington bomber crewman Douglas Tidy — actually fought against fascism, is exactly the sort of hypocrisy one would expect from this Labour Party supporting rag.
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