Anti-Socialist Union

The Anti-Socialist Union was a British political pressure group that supported free trade economics and opposed socialism. The group was active from 1908 to 1949, with its heyday occurring before the First World War.

Coming from the same laissez-faire economic position as contemporaries such as the Liberty and Property Defence League and the British Constitution Association, the ASU was established in 1908 by Daily Express Editor R. D. Blumenfeld.^[1] It claimed to be non-political, but its main membership came from the Conservative Party. The ASU campaigned against the social reforms that were brought in by the Liberal Party governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith and denounced them as socialist initiatives.^[1]

The group was active in the election campaigns of January and December 1910, and some of its rallies and meetings ended in violence.^[1]Keir Hardie was a focus of its activity.^[2] Enjoying a circulation of some 70,000 for its journal around that time, the ASU included a young Stanley Baldwin in its membership.^[1] Other leading members in the early years included William Hurrell Mallock, Walter Long and Samuel Hoare.^[3]

The group went on hiatus during the First World War and was revived initially under the name Reconstruction Society before it became the Anti-Socialist and Anti-Communist Union. It attacked such figures as Harold Laski and Maurice Dobb and also attempted to prove links between the Labour Party and the Soviet Union.^[1] By then, however its role had largely been usurped by the British Empire Union, and with no local branch structure, it struggled for influence.^[1] Nonetheless, the group claimed that between 1918 and 1922, it has organised around 10,000 meetings.^[4]

公然と自由貿易運動であったにもかかわらず、ASUは1920年代に台頭し始めたファシスト運動と結びつき、その主な理由は共産主義への共通の反対であった。准将RBDブレイクニーの指導の下、英国ファシスト（BF）はASUと連携し、軍人出身のASUメンバーの多くがBFに加わった。ジョージ・マクギル、ジョン・ベイカー・ホワイト、さらにはブルーメンフェルドといったASUの指導者もBFと関係を持つようになった。^{[ 5 ]} BFの主要イデオローグであるネスタ・ウェブスターもASUのメンバーであり、ASUの出版物の多くを執筆・調査した。^{[ 6 ]}また、ASUの議長はウィルフレッド・アシュリーであり、彼は後に英独友好協会の議長も務めた。^{[ 7 ]}ヨアヒム・フォン・リッベントロップと親しい友人関係にあったハリー・ブリテインは、 ASUの執行委員会のメンバーであった。^{[ 8 ]}

労働者階級の一部で社会主義への支持が高まっていることに対抗するため、このグループは労働者への利益分配制度など、ややコーポラティズム的な取り組みも提唱し始めた。^{[ 7 ]}しかし、一般的にASUはファシズムを否定し、ファシストグループと正式に協力することはなかった。^{[ 1 ]}

同団体は1949年に解散し、資産を経済連盟に譲渡するまで活動を続けた。^{[ 1 ]}