The failure of extremism

• The national government was meant to be a temporary solution to the national crisis of economic depression but continued through WW2 until 1945
• One reason why the National government lasted for 14 years was that it held the centre ground while extreme political parties failed to attract support
• Oswald Mosley had been a promising MP before he became disillusioned with the lack of innovation in tackling the economic crisis
• Mosley found the New Party to promote his own ideas at the 1931 election, but only 0.2% of the vote, after the abysmal result, he became disillusioned with democracy itself
• In 1932, Mosley formed the BUF with the aim of emulating Italian dictatorship of Mussolini
• The BUF was racist and antisemitic; in Oct 1936, a BUF march through East London, an area home to too many Jewish and Irish immigrants, turned into a violent clash that became known as the 'Battle of Cable Street'
• The struggle against racism in WW2 made Mosley and the BUF even more unpopular
• Mosley was imprisoned for three years and the BUF was banned, he was released in 1943, when he was not to be a threat to the war effort
• The far left was marginally more successful, the communist party of great britain, gained one MP in 1924 and 1935 and 2 in 1945
• However with the CPGB only getting a maximum of 0.4% of the vote it was clear that British voters rejected communism
• British public rejected communism largely due tot he traditions and strengths of the trade union and Labour movements
• Home-grown socialism was far more practical than communism
• The CPGB gained some support due to the role of Soviet Russia in defeating Nazi Germany
• However, the CPGB clearly placed the needs of Moscow ahead of Britain; until Hitler attached Russia in June 1941, the party had followed Soviet orders to oppose the war
• The only was forward for the CPGB was in a few inner-city councils, and through 'entryism' into the Labour Party: communists would conceal their true loyalties and infiltrate the Labour Party to try and steer national politics further to the radical left