Old hands of the radical right who visit this site will know of Searchlight magazine. It has been running for fifty years on and off and since 1975 under the editorship of a now elderly Jewish Marxist, Gerry Gable. He has devoted his life to ‘exposing the evils’ of the diverse racial nationalist movements and individuals which range from fully jack-booted Neo-Nazis to more outspoken members of UKIP. The original Searchlight organisation supplied ‘information’ of the wicked doings of the above to the media including to the BBC, of course. But since it cost the BBC £40,000 in a libel case, the Searchlight organisation decided to split from the magazine.
Nevertheless, Gable and his mainly Jewish Marxists pals, such as the late Maurice Ludmer, were the first sponsors of the Anti-Nazi League and HOPE not hate campaign, with Searchlight splitting from them in 2011. It also fell out with Unite Against Facism (UAF), although I understand that David Cameron, our beloved Prime Minster, has not fallen out and is still a member.
In Searchlight’s Spring issue there is an article by Dr Paul Jackson in which he reviews some of the literature now being put out by the ‘extreme right’ which ‘conveys a sense of purpose to a wide range of more dedicated followers.’ After dealing with a new book on Colin Jordan and then on another on The History of the League of Empire Loyalists and Candour by Hugh McNeile and Rob Black, he has some interesting comments to make on John Bean’s new novel. Paul Jackson writes:
“The history of extreme right activism in the 1950 and 1960s era has also been given a more clearly fictional interpretation by one of the real stalwarts of the British extreme right. John Bean. His new novella, Blood in the Square: Love, Life and Political Conflict in Sixties Britain, sets out a ficticious nationalist group of the early 1960ss, called the National Action Movement, and gravitates around the activities of its General Secretary, Victor Blackwood. The role played by this fictional party is an echo of the British National Party of the era. The narrative gravitates around setting out how this fictional fringe party in the 1960s sought to create a profile and activism distinct from the openly neo–Nazi figures.
“The book plays with the issue of the damaging impact that openly neo-Nazi groups have had on the ‘nationalist’ movement more generally and so on one level it acts as a cautionary tale. The novella also has a level of idealisation of street violence and confrontation, presenting anti-fascists of the era, such as the 62 Group, particularly negatively – which is, perhaps, not too surprising. The book does have a clear propagandistic element to it too, and it is worth noting that Bean is a seasoned author of nationalist materials. For example, he served as editor of the British National Party’s magazine Identity until 2010.
“For followers of the extreme right who are going to read it as a novella rather than an example of extreme propaganda, Blood in the Square does try to develop some literary qualities too. Reviewers of the book from within the movement, such as Colin Liddell writing in the Occidental Observer, have even commented on a level of depth to its characterisation. Whether or not this is actually true is less important than the point that for those active within the extreme right, the reception of Bean’s fictional take on 1960s fascism and anti-fascism has been warmly received, seen by some as a modern classic of the genre of extreme right fiction. “
Blood in the Square is published by Ostarapublications.com at £6.95. Also available from Amazon Books.
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A couple of points. Whereas it is true that Searchlight started out as a Jewish Marxist outfit it, like, Hope Not Hate, should more properly be regarded as a Zionist organization. Whereas Hope Not Hate, for instance, is always ready and willing to spread the dirt on both British and European “Far Right” parties, it never reproaches either Israel or its ZIonist parties. One only has to look into the eastern European ethnic origins of those involved to understand why. Further it is abundantly clear that from the late 1970’s or early 1980’s whereas Searchlight has overtly monitored the British “Far Right” for Britain’s security services, it has also covertly provided the same service in respect of Britain’s “Far Left” – leading to the SWP, for instance, distancing itself from it.
If Searchlight had simply attacked genuinely neo-Nazi groups you can see the point from the Jewish viewpoint. What made it all so absurd was that anyone vaguely right-wing might be roped in and portrayed as some kind of ‘Nazi’. Overstating one’s case only turns it into caricature and that was the mistake Gable made for decades.
Of course a part of the reason was trying to fill a money making magazine each month. Simply not enough Nazis around any more so they had to be invented! It’s a disease on the left and they’ve been rumbled at last as a result of trying it on UKIP.
( Party Official ) True insight from Mike Newland. I am looking forward to our Party's assesments of the General Election result. One thing I do know is the British Democrats will tell it how it really is !
Mike, Searchlght was never profitable it was supported by funds from some very dubious quarters.PIE being one.
Wherever the money came from it was still money!
Maurice Ludmer is another pervert who if he was still alive would have been arrested as a child rapist, like his pal Janner he enjoyed sex with young boys.
The genius idea behind Searchlight was that it exploited the dirty little secret which underpins the popular press.
There are two staples which sell papers – sex and Nazis. Just look at the Mail any day! A press hungry for copy will clutch at any story fed to it which includes the word ‘Nazi’ so it’s a great way to get at people you don’t like.
Isn’t the title “Extreme Right Fiction” a bit disingenuous when the real ‘extremists’ are the Labour and Conservative parties who govern in the interests of nihilistic Liberals, Zionists and International Capitalists.