What was so bad about Oswald Mosley?

by The_Manchurian

This isn't me arguing he wasn't bad; rather I have a friend who keeps annoying another friend by saying Mosley was a staunch pro-European and he hasn't heard that he did anything anti-semitic. My other friend isn't a historian and just wants to be able to point to some specific bad things (anti-semitic, anti-democratic, etc) Mosley said, or even better did. I've given him a quote Mosley made about how Jews controlled finance, the Press, etc, and pointed out he wanted to ban mixed marriages, but I'd like more specific quotes, info, etc. If anyone knows where to find on the net copies of his manifestos, that'd be good.

I suspect, since he keeps saying Mosley was a proud European, he's got the info from here; https://www.oswaldmosley.com/

So any historians who can point out the specific fallacies here would have my gratitude.

aquatermain

Top of my head. Mosley wrote a book in 1936 called Fascism: one hundred questions asked and answered. Here's a very poorly formatted link.

A bit on democracy:

"15. What about Dictatorship ?

The Fascist Movement represents Leadership, not Tyranny. It offers to the people a Leadership in national revival which they will accept of their own free will. The Dictatorship is a Dictatorship of the will of the people expressed through a Leadership and Government of their own choice. The only way in which the will of the people can be carried out is through a Leadership which they choose for the purpose and give the power to act.

Fascism offers that Leadership through which the will of the people can be effective. Thus a Dictatorship of the people themselves replaces the present Dictatorship of Vested Interests. Parliament and Government are paralysed by universal talk. Programmes for which the people have voted are never implemented. As a result real Government under Democracy rests in the hands of the great interests, such as International Finance. Fascism restores to power the people.

That power can only be expressed through Leadership voluntarily accepted and chosen, but armed by the people with power to do what they want done."

Just some quotes about judaism and jews in general.

"48. - How will you enforce your banking code?
- The banking code will have the force of law with heavy penalties attaching to it. Any banker who breaks the law will go where the poor go to-day when they break the Law. As most bankers prefer the luxury of their present apartments to a sojourn in gaol, very few will break the law. Furthermore, the worst offenders will already have been deported as falling within the category of Jews who have grossly abused the hospitality of Britain."

"95. - What is the Fascist attitude towards the Jews?
- Jews must put the interests of Britain before those of Jewry, or be deported from Britain. This is not a principle of racial or religious persecution. Any well-governed nation must insist that its citizens owe allegiance to the nation, and not to co-racialists and co-religionists resident outside its borders or organised as a state within the State. The Jews, as a whole, have chosen to organise themselves as a nation within the Nation and to set their interests before those of Great Britain. They must, like everyone else, put "Britain First" or leave Britain."

"97. - Will the Jews then be persecuted or ill-treated?
- It is untrue to suggest that Jews will be persecuted under Fascism in Britain. Bullying or persecution of any kind is foreign to the British character. We shall not keep Jews here to bully them. Those who have been guilty of anti-British conduct will be deported. Those against whom no such charge rests will be treated as foreigners, but in accordance with the traditional British treatment of foreigners within these shores, will not be ill-treated or molested. On the other hand, foreigners who have not proved themselves worthy citizens of Britain will be deported."

"98. - Will they be allowed the right of citizenship or permitted to be officials or M.P.'s in the Fascist State?
- As stated above, the Jews have deliberately maintained themselves as a foreign community in Britain, setting their racial interests above the national interest. As such, therefore, they will be treated, and none can complain of treatment which accords with their own actions. We do not permit foreigners to be M.P.'s or officials, or afforded the full rights of British citizenship, and Jews will not be afforded these privileges. Anyone in the service of the State under Fascism must be entirely British."

"99. - Will Jews, who are deported, be able to take their money with them?
- They will be able to take anything they have honestly earned."

That's just one book. That should be sufficient for your friend to realize that Mosley wasn't a good person, wasn't pro-democracy, and he was most certainly antisemitic.

For an interesting perspective not only on Mosley but on allied fascism in general, I'd recommend Michael Fleming's Auschwitz, the Allies and Censorship of the Holocaust.