B.U.F: Oswald Mosley and British Fascism

An Insider's Account of British Fascism

James Drennan was the pen name of W.E.D. Allen, a journalist and political figure who moved in Oswald Mosley's circles during the 1930s. He published B.U.F.: Oswald Mosley and British Fascism in 1934, while the movement was still active and its outcome still uncertain. This gives the book a quality that later histories cannot replicate: it was written from inside the moment, not in retrospect.

What the Book Covers

Drennan traces Mosley's political evolution from Labour rising star to independent maverick to fascist leader. He covers the founding of the British Union of Fascists in 1932, the early rallies, the recruitment of ex-servicemen and disaffected Labour voters, and the internal debates over strategy, uniforms, and the movement's relationship with Mussolini's Italy. The account is sympathetic but not uncritical. Drennan was close enough to the movement to see its internal contradictions, and honest enough to note them.

The book also provides a snapshot of interwar Britain that academic histories often flatten: the economic devastation, the sense among young men that parliamentary democracy had failed, and the appeal of direct action to a generation that had watched the old order collapse in the trenches. Mosley's movement drew from both left and right, and Drennan captures that ideological fluidity.

About This Edition

Author: James Drennan (W.E.D. Allen)
Publisher: Antelope Hill Publishing
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781953730213
Note: Originally published 1934. This edition includes modern editorial context.