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Objectives | Union Movement -1948
Several organisations had by this time been calling for Mosley to re-enter the political arena. The two largest were probably Jeffrey Hamm's "League of Ex-Servicemen and Women" and Tommy Moran's "Sons of St.George". In 1948, Union Movement was founded at a big meeting in Farringdon Hall, London. It was made up of 51 separate organisations. Important amongst these were the "New Thought Book Clubs". Union Movement got off to a fighting start. First, the battle for free speech had to be won in order to be able to hold public meetings. This centred at that time on Ridley Road, in Hackney, East London. It was a battle that lasted several weeks and Union Movement's main opponents were the Communist Party and the '43 Group. The name of the latter derived from its founding in 1943 when they campaigned for Mosley's re-imprisonment. After much fighting the right to free speech prevailed. By the mid 1950's Union Movement could put upwards of 1000 men plus a drum and flag corps on to the streets and had premises in Manchester, Birmingham and three or four in London. They had a weekly newspaper called "Union" which was later replaced by the monthly "Action". The former edited by Alexander Raven Thomson until his death and the latter by Robert Row. The National Organiser was Alfred Flockart and Jeffrey Hamm was sent to help in Manchester. In East London a local newspaper was produced called "East London Blackshirt" and because of inside information it received it was able to expose scandal in local government very effectively. It was very popular. Local election results varied but the best were in Moorfields ward East London, Shoreditch, where 33% was obtained. Over 20% in the area was normal. In the mid 1950's a new monthly journal appeared called "The European". It was edited by Mosley's wife Diana and contained articles by people who were quite well known or would become so later. They included the likes of Vivian Bird, Ezra Pound, Alan Neame and Roy Campbell. Mosley wrote the leading article each month. It ceased publication in 1959, and at this time Mosley wanted to draw attention to the government's policy of unrestricted coloured immigration into Britain. He accepted an invitation from the residents of North Kensington, which included the area which had been beset by race riots the previous year, to stand for election to Parliament. At these meetings many questions were asked. These, together with the answers given, were published in book form in 1961 as Mosley - Right or Wrong. During the campaign marches and street meetings were held nearly every night and a special newspaper, called "The North Kensington Leader" was distributed free to every home. In a test vote during a council by-election, in Norland ward, 22% of the vote was obtained. On the day of polling Mosley only received 8% of the vote and this was regarded as very low compared to what had been expected.
In 1966 Union Movement fought three seats in the General Election. Jeffrey Hamm in the North and Dan Harmston, the famous British patriot from Smithfield meat market, in North London and Mosley in East London. In 1970 Union Movement fought the last big election campaign of its existence. The London G.L.C.Elections. This required 32 candidates and election agents. 10,000 votes were cast for the party, and considering the resources available to it, the results were considered good. It was realised however, that the days of traditional street politics were over and that people increasingly watched television as their main source of information. Mosley accepted the challenge. First he tried to break into television. After a landmark court case, he did so, and gained huge audiences. Then he wrote his autobiography which was published by a main line publisher and the book (My Life) became a best seller and semi-classic of its era. Mosley also helped relatively unbiased journalists and writers to have easy access to the facts of his life particularly regarding the B.U.F. and Union Movement. He probably reached more new people during this phase of his life that any other.
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In
August 1946 Mosley's first post-war book was published: it was called
"My Answer". It contained a defence of Mosley's stand for a
negotiated peace with Germany along with a reprint of his pre-war book
In 1962 a new attempt was made to stop Mosley speaking by left wing violence, with police / government connivance. However, this was defeated by means of holding snap meetings in the busy streets without announcing them in advance. This proved that the violence against Union Movement meetings had been organised and that it was not the result of a spontaneous reaction of the British people. Also in 1962, the