National Front

The general name taken by right-wing nationalist parties in various countries. Although policies differ from country to country, all agree that the citizens of a particular country should be given priority over foreigners and immigrants to that country. The name is also taken by groups attempting to gain freedom for a particular nation or ethnic group, e.g. the FNLA (Front National de Libération de l'Angola.)

The National Front in the UK

The National Front in the UK is not just a political party, but a political movement. They are not attached to any political party, but seek radical change in UK Government policy on the principle of Racial Nationalism.

History

The British National Front was formed at a meeting in Caxton Hall, Westminster on the 7th of February, 1967 in a merger of Oswald Mosley's British National Party, the Racial Preservation Society and the League of Empire Loyalists. The first Chairman was one Arthur K Chesterton, cousin of G K Chesterton. The three parties differed on some policies, but were unified by the beliefs that the British people should have more power, that multi-racialism and mass immigration were mistakes, that patriotism is laudable and that capitalism, communism and internationalism should all be opposed because they take power away from the people.

In the late sixties, the National Front's growth was slow, but consistent, so that in 1970, they were able to field 10 candidates for the General Election, receiving between 1.8% and 5.6% of the votes.

In 1971, Arthur K. Chesterton resigned as Chairman. He was replaced by John O'Brien, who caused the movement to become more organised in its activities. 6 permanent departments were created: Activities, organising marches, rallies and elections; Administration, doing admin-type things; Branch Development, Finance, Policy and Publicity.

In this year, the last of these departments began work in earnest, adding a broadsheet, Britain First to the movement's publications Spearhead, privately owned by John Tyndall, erstwhile head of the policy department, and Candour, run by A K Chesterton. They also produced recruitment leaflets and stickers to aid their cause.

In 1972, a change of premises to 50 Pawsons Road, Croydon, Surrey was accompanied by a change of Chairman to John Tyndall. From this office, the Front organised an expansion of its activities, mostly with the aim of preventing immigration. This resulted in a large increase of members due to the fact that there was increasing dismay over the numbers of Ugandan Asian immigrants entering the country at the time. The increase in numbers could be seen by the Front's increasing success in local elections - in the 1973 by-election for West Bromwich, the NF candidate gained 16% of the votes.

In 1974, the National Front became involved in the Northern Irish Question, supporting the Unionist Ulster Workers' Strike. Also in this year were two General Elections - the first in February, when there were 54 NF candidates receiving a total of 75 000 votes; the second in October, when there were 90 candidates receiving 113 000 votes.

In 1975, John Kingsley Reid replaced John Tyndall as Chairman shortly, as the Labour Government increased opposition to the movement by banning them from using public halls for meetings.

1976 and 1977 saw increased success for the party as they gained more members and support and beat the Liberal Party in 33 out of 92 constituencies in 1977's elections. Also in this year, a new monthly publication was introduced - National Front News.

Following 1977's announcement that the party would field 300 candidates for the next General Election, in 1979, the movement devoted its time to fulfilling this promise. In the end, they fielded 303, but growing concern from opposition and a speech by Margaret Thatcher saying that she understood the concerns raised by the National Front resulted in poor results in the year of Thatcher's ascension.

The 1980's and early 1990's were unsuccessful for the NF under Thatcher's strong leadership and pseudo-right-wing regime, but after her departure from office, the Front had something of a Renaissance, with a new paper, Flame, and the birth of the Young National Front, along with increased membership.

Policies

As stated before, the National Front believes in Racial Nationalism - the doctrine that nation states which include one race are beneficial because they preserve diversity while minimising racial tension. Contrary to popular belief, the National Front believes that other races should be respected, but that they should remain in their own nations.

The Front claims that it believes in Government for the people, and that it would institute a Bill of Rights guaranteeing rights to Freedom of Speech and Assembly - things they themselves have been deprived of.

The Front would expel people of non-British descent from Britain over a period of years, but would not deny aid to the countries they are sent to. In the meantime, they believe that the British people should be given priority in matters of job selection and social security.

The National Front believes in national independence, and would therefore remove Britain from the European Union, NATO and the United Nations, and ban imports of food and products from other countries which could be produced within Great Britain.

The National Front says that it would institute a stronger law and order system, along with a re-introduction of capital punishment where proof is 100%. They deny, however, that Britain would become a police state, saying that the powers of the police are adequate, but the courts require more power.

Status Quo

Currently, the National Front has no seats in Parliament, despite gaining a large number of votes (see first past the post and proportional representation), but has a large number of members. Much of its activities have recently been focussed on East Kent, particularly Dover, which has become a haven for potential asylum-seekers.

The logo of the National Front in the UK is a red 'N' merged with an 'F' of the same colour:

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LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLj        LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLj       LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLj      LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL                          
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LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt       jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt        jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt         jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt          jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt           jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt            jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt             jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt              jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt               jLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLt                          
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National Fronts and similar organisations in Other Countries

France

France's Front National, probably the most notorious, is synonymous with Jean-Marie Le Pen, so much so that supporters of the Party are called lepénistes. This party is more extreme than the British National Front, but shares many of the same policies.

Belgium

Belgium's Front National has strong ties with that of France and is led by Daniel Feret. Their principal slogan is 'Les Belges d'abord!' (Belgians first!)

Australia

The most prominent far-right party in Australia is Pauline Hanson's One Nation, which is well described in a node on this very site.

If you know of any other countries with similar organisations, please do not hesitate to contact me.