Test Drive | Page 9

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).