1
The Italian Fascist Party in Interwar Northern
Ireland: Political Hub or Social Club?
JACK CRANGLE1
A visible and proud society of fascists operated within the Italian
communities of Belfast and Londonderry during the interwar years. The
Fascist Party maintained close links with and obtained funding from
Mussolini’s regime. One might expect the presence of a foreign fascist
group in the UK to have provoked considerable alarm. However, the most
striking aspect of the Fascist Party’s existence was the freedom it was
afforded;
journalists
and
government
officials
were
distinctly
unconcerned by the organisation’s presence. Only in the late 1930s, when
British-Italian relations deteriorated, was the British government
panicked into action, culminating in a policy of blanket interment upon
Italy’s entry to World War Two in 1940. This article probes the function
of Italian fascism in Northern Ireland, questioning whether party
members were motivated by fascist politics or simply a desire to socialise
amongst
compatriots.
The
article
contests
that
dichotomous
interpretations of the Fascist Party as either a wholly benign sociocultural group or a subversive radical movement are insufficient.
Introduction
Of Northern Ireland’s three interwar fascist movements, the Italian Fascist Party was
the oldest and most enduring. Established in 1924, Ulster’s two fascio - located in
Belfast and Londonderry - remained in active existence until 1940 when Italy entered
the Second World War.2 Peculiarly, despite being the region’s only fascist group with
direct links to a foreign regime, the Fascist Party was viewed as benign by authorities
and the press. This article will probe the function of the Fascist Party within Northern
1
Jack Crangle is a PhD candidate in the School of History and Anthropology at Queen’s University
Belfast. Any errors are the author’s own. The author can be contacted at [email protected].
2
Fascio is the term for an individual branch of the Italian Fascist Party (fasci is plural).