MOSLEY, Oswald ~ The Greater Britain.

FOURTH UK PRINTING. British Union of Fascists, London: 1934.

8vo., brown cloth, lettered with decorative design printed in black to upper cover and spine; together in the repeat printed dustwrapper; THE BOOK very good +, with a light stain to foot and a bleed-through red stain to the upper board; some very light toning and offsetting internally, but otherwise excellent, clean and bright; THE WRAPPER suffering the same fate, with the large red ink stain to the lower panel; spine and ends of folds chipped, the foot of backstrip with a little loss to the publisher's device. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. FOURTH UK PRINTING, dated April 1934, with a wrapper which differs from the Edward McKnight Kauffer design on the first three printings. Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley was a British far-right politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when, disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He became the youngest sitting member of Parliament, representing Harrow from 1918, first as a member of the Conservative Party, then as an Independent, and finally joining the Labour Party. Moseley stood against the future Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at the 1924 general election, and came within 100 votes of defeating him. In 1926 he then returned to Parliament as the Labour MP for Smethwick, and served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Labour government of 1929–1931. In 1928 he succeeded his father as the sixth Mosley baronet. Many considered him to be a rising star and a possible future prime minister. He resigned in 1930 over discord with the government's unemployment policies, and instead founded the New Party, an endeavour which was ultimately abandoned due to poor performance. Perhaps most famously, Mosely founded the British Union of Fascists (BUF) in 1932, after touring Europe and becoming convinced by the manifestos of Mussolini and other “new movements” in fascism. He publicly supported antisemitism and sought alliances both with Mussolini and Hitler. Inspired by Fascist Italy’s economic programme - which he was certain was the way forward for Britain - fascist violence under his leadership culminated in the Battle of Cable Street in 1936, during which anti-fascist demonstrators prevented the BUF from marching through the East End of London. The BUF was made illegal in 1940 and Mosely was imprisoned. After his release in 1943 he spent most of his life in France and Ireland. The present work, the BUF manifesto, outlines Mosely’s vision for a corporate state, the abolition of the party system, and the economic insulation of the British Empire. As a protectionist, anti-communist and nationalistic party which advocated authoritarianism, Moseley claimed that the Labour party was responsible for ‘international socialism’, while his aim was instead ‘national socialism’. First published in 1932, the present example is arguably a more significant edition than its predecessors, printed at a time in which the BUF had become not only more confident, but also more radicalised. Furthermore, it was in this edition that the BUF officially adopted an anti-Semitic policy, openly blaming Jewish people for economic disruption and social decline. This April 1934 edition incorporates a new wrapper design by E McKnight Kauffer, featuring the fasces, the international symbol of fascism. It also has illustrated boards, differing from the first edition (which remained blank). Scarce.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good +
JACKET: Very Good