The 43 Group: The Untold Story of Their Fight Against Fascism

by Morris Beckman

UK Jews' war on British fascist party post WWII

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

An absolutely superb story that needs shouting from the roftops. This is the account of the 43 Group, an association of mostly Jewish ex servicemen in post-war Britain (also some women, some gentiles) who were appalled to see the resurgence of British fascism after the war, the indifference or complicity of the police, and the threatened return of Oswald Mosley.

Hard to believe fascists tried to make a comeback immediately post war, but they did, starting in London, exploiting the misery of austerity--sorry, rationing--in order to whip up xenophobia and antisemitism, which was steadily, one might say institutionally, ignored by Labour in governmentt. What's also clear is that while it was mostly working class people on the streets, it was led by a wealthy privileged man who had an entire group of rich well-born cryptofascists waiting for their opportunity. It's pretty much not possible to miss the parallels with now.

The 43 Group was having none of it. They went out on the streets to disrupt fascist meetings and speakers and thuggery with violence--while various disapproving respectable organisations were making non-violent, proper protests to the Home Secretary and signing petitions, all of which were completely ignored. The 43 Group infiltrated the various fascist organisations with moles, faked tickets to get into closed meetings, started their own newspaper, worked with other groups (local community groups, trade unions), had a black cab wing of cabbies who did the transport on jobs like raiding a fascist HQ for propaganda leaflets to burn, and mostly got in there to scare people off. And it worked. Apparently it's less fun parading around in a black shirt shouting Heil Mosley if you're liable to get your head kicked in. Puts people right off.

Despite the pro-fascist policing--including vast numbers of police to protect speakers, information being leaked to the fascists, and even police acting as stewards at fascist demos--the relentless aggressive no-platforming of the 43 Group kicked a hole in Mosley's ambitions. You can't be a little Hitler if you can't hold a demo without a riot, or if your thugs are the ones running away. (Also no-platforming here means they would literally tip over the speaker's platform, which is nice.) By end 1949 British fascism was a busted flush, at least for a while.

This is a terrific story which deserves to be told widely, remembered, and used as a lesson. This account is by one of the members and it's functional rather than literary, but it's vivid, raw, detailed, and powerful.

I am also thrilled to report that one young recruit to the 43 Group was Vidal Sassoon, the hairdresser. Who knew.

[Curt Hopkins Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read. If you enjoyed Inglorious Basterds, this is the real life version -- British Jewish ex-servicemen and their allies kicking the shit out of British fascists in the streets. Their relentless physical attacks on nazis and their strategic assault on them in the press and parliament were instrumental in showing those cowardly shitbirds for what they were and in destroying them as a force in both British politics and in the streets. Until the 60s, and then the 80s, and now -- fascism is an infection that can never be ended once and for all but like all vermin requires occasional fumigation. I encourage anyone who opposes the nazi sewage Trump's given cover to to read this book. Any antifa should study it like a text book.

[X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fascinating, super readable. This book is 75% accessible history book and 25% memoir since the author clearly did extensive research but was also a member of the 43 Group from the beginning. Sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always incredibly relevant - a story about an incredibly successful organized movement to stop anti-Semitic fascists when police and legislators were (mysteriously…) unwilling to take action to do so.

Reading this, it’s wild to think about how the 43 Group almost succeeded TOO well - they stopped post-WWII fascist groups that were active in the UK and then, since their job was done, they disbanded, fading into almost total obscurity. I’m so glad this author put in the time to make a record of what the 43 Group accomplished.

[Brendan Newport · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been an anti-Nazi since the 1980s. I've been fortunate at one stage to actually practice being an anti-Nazi and get paid for it.

Come the early 1990s, it looked like neo-national socialism had been finally banished from Britain. The efforts of the anti-Nazi League, Rock Against Racism, and the collective political and societal will to challenge the BNP (the British National Party) at every opportunity, saw fascism and neo-Nazism banished to the basement.

How wrong we were!

I purchased this book, because, embarrassingly, I knew nothing about the 43 Group. Nor did I know about what happened to Sir Oswald Mosley after he was released from internment. I'd read a review of Morris Beckman's book and got hold of a brand new copy forthwith.

And there it would have sat, on my 'To Read' shelves for at least a year.

Until The Green Party of England and Wales voted to determine Zionism, the movement to establish and support a Jewish homeland, as being racism.

It's not such an unusual position. Neo-Nazis hold to the same position. In the UK, The National Front, the forerunner of the BNP, was deeply 'anti-Zionist', and could trace that belief back to the BUF - The British Union of Fascists - Mosley's political party, right from when The National Front was established in 1967.

The BNP (British National Party) was even more extremist. It's early Leader, John Tyndall (1982–1999): espoused neo-Nazi antisemitism. Tyndall openly called for removing what he termed "the cancer of Israel from the Middle East region," reflecting hardline anti-Zionism and hostility toward the Jewish state. Basically the same view as espoused by The Green Party of England and Wales official policy.

Tyndall's words were repeated, almost verbatim, in the debate at The Green Party conference in Brighton in October 2026. Online, some Green Party members openly support Sir Oswald Mosley's beliefs, and I've found two who refer to themselves as 'Mosleyites'.

So, regrettably, even though The Greens have a Jewish Leader, the spectre of fascism and in particular, neo-national socialism is back, in British politics. We thought we'd got rid of it. This is where we are though.

The 43 Group, established in London at the end of WWII, challenged fascism, then making headway through the leadership of Mosley and the BUF, and numerous other fascist organisations. The Group's tactic was to confront the fascists at every opportunity, and fight and harass them continuously. That the 43 Group succeeded, and when it realised it was no longer needed, it disbanded, is a credit to its 1000-odd members.

They fought fascists in a post-War Britain that wasn't always too friendly to Jews. The mandate Britain had been handed for Palestine saw the deaths of British soldiers and policemen posted there, and that created resentment, which the Mosleyites exploited. As now, the Mosleyites loathed Winston Churchill, seen as a 'Zionist supporter', and hatred of Churchill remains a key indicator that someone is a fascist/fascist sympathiser.

The 43 Group , though it's task was (sometimes) aided by anti-fascist Communists, wasn't helped in that, though many of its MP's were anti-fascist (such as Finsbury constituency MP Platt Mills QC) the ruling Labour government of Clement Atlee was distinctly pro-fascist. For instance, the Home Office was unwilling to release the names of the fascist Right Club;

This reluctance of the Labour party to expose the Right Club always remained a mystery.

Some institutions won't ever change. Oxford University, regarded as a hot-spot for antisemitism in the UK today, follows a 'tradition' established before even the beginning of WWII. Post-War, wealthy students established The Corporate Club, supported by Mosley, seeking a little more brain and initiative into BUF thinking. Except in the late 1940s, the university wasn't shy from stamping-out those activities.

The Corporate Club discussed tactics for the slow infiltration of Mosleyite ideas into the University, but before this really got started, word of this reached the ears of the authorities who banned such activities n the college.
(Page 79)

Trade Unionists of the time were enthusiastic anti-fascists, another facet lost on modern trade unionism in the UK. And they noted that the Metropolitan Police often displayed pro-fascist tendencies.

Mr Silk of the Shop, Distribution and Allied Workers Union, in a report to the General Council of the TUC, pointed out that police shorthand writers at fascist meetings had omitted provocative remarks found in notes made by other writers who had attended the same meetings.
(Page 105)

Mr Weiss of the British Legion said, 'Fascism can only spread with police protection. But with the growing public anger they'll need a Guards regiment to protect them!
(Page 108)

Yet Atlee's Labour government was crucial in bolstering fascist support.

His (Mosley) one source of comfort was the lack of action taken against his Union movement by Clement Atlee's Labour government.
(Page 115)

And The Home Office, and in particular Atlee's Home Secretary James Chuter Ede, were firm supporters of the fascists;

Intelligence continued to pass nuggets of information along the line to the Press and to receptive MPs. This led, for example, Woodrow Wyatt to ask the Home Secretary in the House why 200 'W' petrol coupons were allocated each month to the Union movement to fuel a generating plant controlling the powerful amplification and recording unit in its armoured van. These coupons were allocated in addition to the ordinary supplementary petrol ration allowed to drive the van's engine. No answer was forthcoming.
(Page 117)

Was Ede a fascist, or a fascist sympathiser? Well, he presented as a liberal, but he appeared to have thrived in his role and provided distinct and documented support for Mosley.

Despite the support of the government-of-the-day, the Metropolitan and City Police, the 43 Group, aided by others, not least the residents of London boroughs who were themselves routinely attacked by fascists, thrived. Beckman's meticulously-researched history (and the Group did NOT keep records) details the confrontations, the street battles and the often individual fights that 43 Group members never shied-from, even when they were just trying to go about their daily normal lives. The fascists included amongst their members ex-SS released POWs who stayed-on in the UK, and the 'fascist salute' and 'Heil Mosley' yells were proof that the fascists absolutely identified with National Socialism.

With an Index, Chapter Notes, interesting Appendices and a great photo section which includes moments in the fight against neo-Nazis in the 1980s and early 90s, 43 Group is an important addition to British social history. It's not the only one; I'll read We Fight Fascists: The 43 Group and Their Forgotten Battle for Post-War Britain (2019) by Daniel Sonabend.

The activities of 43 Group would make a terrific TV drama. And indeed, I'm pretty tempted to pursue at least a synopsis for one. Who would buy it though? The BBC isn't a good contender, nor Channel 4, both of which have adopted fascist rhetoric and conspiracy theories of late. Perhaps Kan 11 and Donna and Shula Productions?

[Greg Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Returning home after the end of WW2, Jewish ex-servicemen in London were shocked to find that the immediate post-war years saw a resurgence of fascism on Britain's streets, led by Mosely. They quickly formed the "43 Group", so-called because there were initially 43 members, and included many former commandos. They quickly set about disrupting the fascists' meetings, and were joined by many more members not just in London, but across the country. The police and the state moved swiftly to protect the fascists, but the 43 Group continued their work undaunted.

This is essential reading for anyone who is interested in the history of anti-fascist activity in the UK, particularly post WW2. It is written in a warming style and leaves the reader in no doubt as to the courage of those who, in the face of opposition from the fascists, the police, the state, and even their own leaders in the Jewry, managed to beat down the far-right, often leaving both sides bloody and battle-scarred.

[abclaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

After WWII ex-service men and women, had thought they had seen an end to the Nazis and Fascism. But instead the post-war world saw a resurge in organised fascist thugs and racist/anti-semitic groups. Already the all too worrying signs were showing; the state was defending the far-rights speeches and marches, alongside this organised jewry was ignoring the situation as had been the case in mainland Europe. As a result political similarities were emerging with that of Germany 1933.

Giving an almost fiction like narrative, Beckman and the 43 group come into the scene to try and confront the enemy on their own terms and look to be having fun doing it. This is an history book written the way history should be written, i.e. accessible, and this book particularly is possibly the most important written on the subject of resistance anti-fascism after the Second World War.

[Spellbind Consensus]

* This memoir recounts the post-WWII struggle by a group of Jewish ex-servicemen who, disillusioned by government inaction, organized to combat the resurgence of British fascism led by Oswald Mosley.
* The 43 Group, named after the number of original members, formed in 1946 in London and actively disrupted fascist meetings, propaganda, and recruitment until the early 1950s.
* The book combines first-hand narrative, interviews, and tactical recounting, documenting their organized resistance in vivid and unapologetic detail.

---

### **Key Themes and Examples**

* **Formation of the 43 Group**

* Sparked by the return of Mosley and the British Union of Fascists, Jewish war veterans felt betrayed by a country that had just fought fascism abroad.
* Founding meeting took place at Maccabi House, where members resolved to take direct action due to police and government refusal to act.

* **Direct Confrontation with Fascists**

* The Group employed military discipline in disrupting fascist rallies.
* Tactics included breaking up meetings, infiltrating fascist groups, sabotaging printing operations, and gathering intelligence through informants.
* Example: At Ridley Road, a well-known site for BUF propaganda, Group members repeatedly clashed with fascists in street battles, often outnumbered but tactically superior.

* **Moral Rationale for Militancy**

* Beckman defends the Group’s physical confrontation by citing the silence of legal authorities and the parallels to Nazi Germany’s early years.
* Members saw their actions as a continuation of the war against fascism, one that Britain had failed to finish at home.

* **Solidarity and Diversity**

* Though initiated by Jewish veterans, the Group welcomed non-Jewish allies, including Irish dockers, communists, and other anti-fascists.
* Example: Vidal Sassoon, a teenager at the time and later a famous hairdresser, was a prominent member, representing the Group’s generational and social range.

* **Intelligence and Surveillance**

* The Group’s operations included surveillance of fascist gatherings and publication of newsletters that documented Mosley’s activities.
* Their intelligence efforts revealed plans for violent attacks on Jewish homes and community centers.

* **The Decline and Legacy**

* By the early 1950s, fascist activity diminished significantly due to sustained resistance.
* The Group disbanded voluntarily, but its legacy influenced future anti-fascist movements.
* Example: Later anti-racist groups in the UK, such as the Anti-Nazi League, drew directly from the 43 Group’s tactics.

---

### **Tone and Writing Style**

* **Tone:** Defiant, proud, and unapologetically militant.
* **Writing Style:**

* First-person narrative interwoven with testimonies from other members.
* Clear, direct prose that avoids sentimentality but maintains emotional conviction.
* Rich in concrete, operational detail—meeting descriptions, tactics, names, times, and places.

**How the Style Supports the Content:**
The clarity and conciseness of the prose mirror the Group’s tactical discipline and moral focus. The unvarnished tone reinforces the seriousness of the threat and the justifiability of direct action. The style embodies the Group’s ethos: practical, principled, and prepared for a fight.

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### **Author Qualifications and Their Impact**

* **Morris Beckman** was one of the original members of the 43 Group, making his account not only credible but primary.
* As both participant and chronicler, Beckman provides access to strategies, motivations, and risks with unmatched insight.
* His experience as a Jewish WWII veteran shaped his rejection of passive response to fascism; that sense of historical continuity—between the battlefield and the street—is central to the book’s message.
* Beckman’s writing is not only a record of events, but a call to vigilance. His authority stems from lived experience, political clarity, and moral conviction.

[Dee Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book about the brave men and women who fought the fascists in Britain in the years after WW11. Morris Beckman tells it how it was, warts and all, from his position as part of the 43 group. A recommended read for all who are studying the rise of fascism and racism in today's world.

[Celia Yost · Rating 5 out of 5]

A practical guide to punching fascists. This is essential and unfortunately relevant reading, highly recommended.

[Jari99 · Rating 4 out of 5]

More people should read this book and anything affiliated with the 43 group. Especially in times where the term "imported anti-semitism" becomes ever more prevalent.