Many factors regarding the state of both the extremist parties and Britain itself contributed to the failure of political extremism. There were reasons both inside and outside the parties concerned.

A major reason with led to this failure was the economic recovery which the country experienced after 1932. The number of unemployed fell from 17% to 15.4% in 1933 and then diminished again to 12.9% by 1934. Although still very high figures, this caused the population to have greater trust in the present government, which seemed to be successfully tackling the problems at hand. So there was no need to turn to extremist policy.

Cyclical unemployment had disappeared and although structural unemployment (in the staple industries such as shipbuilding and mining) remained, general living standards were rising. 2.7 million houses were built in the 1930s, the number of cars doubled and the number of radios sold trebled. All this suggests that the population were recovering well from the depression.

However, some people did turn to the right wing extremism of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) led by Oswald Mosely. The fluctuating membership of this party is a good indication of how unstable it was, having 17,000 members in 1934, when then rose to a peak of 50,000, making it the largest extremist party. However membership then crashed to 5,000 by the end of 1935. In general though, the party still failed to appeal. Although Mosely was a charismatic speaker, he was a poor tactician and administrator. The party also suffered from financial problem, which limited it’s ability to put candidates forward in elections.

The BUF also suffered from divided strategy, being caught between the political and military approaches to rising to power. This indecision had a great impact on the party’s ability to successfully threaten the government. In addition, the BUF attained no regional control, meaning none of their candidates would ever become elected. Media support for the party was lacking after Rothermere withdrew.

To conclude, the BUF failed because of a number of internal difficulties such as poor administration and a lack of unified policy to attract the votes of the unemployed away from Labour.

Another of the extremist parties which saw a limited amount of success was the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). The number of members this party held reached its peak of 16,000 by 1938 after some dramatic rises in the early 1930s. Perhaps the most successful part of this party was the ‘Left Book Club’ which held 50,000 members and promoted Communist ideas through literature. However, this was of little political success because it generated ideas and interest, rather than actual votes for the party.

The party failed due to a number of reasons. There were very few influential Communists in high society or the government, most members were unemployed and poorly educated, although some attained rank within trade unions. The party was unable to draw the votes of the unemployed away from the traditional Labour party and so never received a great deal of support.

The CPGB attempted to merge with Labour and other left wing groups in 1933 but Labour refused to co-operate. This alienated the general public further in regards to Communism, which was seen as a much greater threat than Nazism at the time. The Show Trials in the late 1930s Soviet Russia acted as a warning against Communism and the terror it could cause. The final crushing blow was the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact, which suddenly turned their former enemy into an ally. Later in 1939, Communism was eclipsed by the outbreak of patriotism sparked by the onset of war.

However, perhaps the most important factor to consider is the state of Britain was a whole, during the inter-war period and the mindset of the population. An important fact is that Britain won the First World War and did not suffer from its aftermath in the same way as Germany, for example. The ‘unfair’ terms of the Treaty of Versailles was a key component of Hitler’s ability to bring the Nazis to power and the terrible conditions in Russia during the First World War sparked the Communist revolution. Britain suffered less during the war and the last thing the population wanted to participate in was the military styling and street violence of the BUF, for example. The country was tired of fighting and had no real reason to turn to extremist parties when the National Government seemed to have the situation under control.

Another major difference between Britain and Germany is the adopted political system. The German method of ‘Proportional Representation’ gave minority parties an unbalanced influence within the political system. Whereas the ‘First Past The Post’ system in Britain meant that a party would have to have dominance in one region in order to gain any seats at all. Coalitions within the German Reichstag also caused extremist parties to have a greater influence of policy decisions.

Furthermore, the British army and police were still very loyal to the government after the victory of World War I, rather than the renegade force they became in Germany, or the nonchalant rabble of the Russian army. This lack of military opposition to Communism in Russia allowed them to seize power without hassle. There was no chance of a ‘putsch’ or takeover of the government in Britain, whilst the army and police were still loyal.

In conclusion, although the extremist parties of the 1930s suffered from internal issues and conflicts, the main reason extremism failed was because of the mindset of the British public, and differences between political and social perspective. Communism and Fascism were both very alien concepts to the democratically minded country. Also the conditions of the country were simply incorrect for extremism to take hold. The government in power were satisfying the needs of the majority.

_{Grade achieved: A/B}

_{Teacher comments: Good lines of argument, in particular regarding the European context. Could add: Spanish Civil War (showed the horrors of a Fascist / Communist war), funding and European connections, anti-Semitism and the BUF, more comparison and links between the two parties.}