National Socialist Movement (1960s)
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National Socialist Movement
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| Leader | Colin Jordan |
| Founder | Colin Jordan |
| Founded | 1962 |
| Dissolved | 1968 |
| Preceded by | British National Party |
| Succeeded by | British Movement |
| Headquarters | Arnold Leese House, Notting Hill, London |
| Student wing | National Student Front |
| Ideology | Neo-Nazism |
| International affiliation | World Union of National Socialists |
The National Socialist Movement was a British Neo-Nazi group formed on 20 April, Adolf Hitler's birthday, in 1962, by Colin Jordan, with John Tyndall as his deputy as a splinter group from the original British National Party of the 1960s.
The 1960s BNP, which had been formed by a merger of Colin Jordan's White Defence League and John Bean's National Labour Party soon became defined by clashes between the two rival leaders. Impetus for the formation of the NSM had initially came from a 1961 letter to Jordan from George Lincoln Rockwell, leader of the American Nazi Party. Rockwell stated that he agreed with the BNP, except over their lack of openness about Nazism.
Bean however felt that Jordan and his ally Tyndall were too open about Nazism and argued that this damaged the chances of the BNP making any political headway, an issue which came to a head in February 1962 when Bean presented a resolution condemning Jordan's open Nazism at a meeting of the party's national council. The resolution was passed 7 votes to 5 and, after a struggle, the party split with around 80% of the membership backing Bean and the rest leaving with Jordan. Jordan managed to secure the support of both Tyndall and Denis Pirie, whilst also gaining control of the BNP's Notting Hill headquarters and the paramilitary Spearhead group, and on 20 April 1962 the new group was inaugurated at a party to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday. As well as Tyndall and Pirie, Roland Kerr-Ritchie and Peter Ling both resigned from the BNP National Council to support Jordan. The new group's membership was largely made up of young, working class activists.
With displays proclaiming "Free Britain From Jewish Control", Jordan spoke at a meeting held in Trafalgar Square on 1 July 1962 which led to a riot. The riot had been sparked after Jordan had made pro-Hitler comments and Tyndall had compared the Jews to "a poisonous maggot" (both comments earning their speakers short prison sentences) leading to nearby crowds of Jewish demonstrators, Communist Party of Great Britain members and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament supporters attacking the NSM supporters. Jordan however believed that a majority of the British people would agree with his opinions, and that, from a British point of view, the Second World War had been a mistake.
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