UNDER THE ODALSRUNE BANNER! by a special correspondent
For the benefit of the unenlightened, the Odalsrune is the letter 'O' in the Gothic or Runic alphabet, It is also the symbol of one of the more recent crypto-fascist organisations to emerge from beneath the stones = the so-called British National Youth. This describes itself as "Britain's only patriot movement for young people." Its "faith" is based upon the "eternal principles of folk patriotism, which lie deeply rooted in the ancient history of our _ ., homeland." (a reference to the Vikings?). Its manifesto speaks of the "argent necessity for unity of the White peopk on more than just a purely 'national' level." (One is reminded of Hitler's attempt to 'unify' Europe). One of the movement's aims is the "teaching of self-discipline, loyalty to nation and folk, patriotic duty to the state...."; another is to make illegal the Communist Party and its "friendship and pacifist front organisations..." It is opposed to democracy and goes on to demonstrate this in its "Method of Organisation." To 2 ahr
*..(a) The chief officer of the BNY shall be the National Secretary..(b) A Directorate composed of Department officials ‘shall act as an advisory council to the National Secretary. The Directorate members shall be appointed annually by the National Secretary...(c) Members of the BNY can be expelled at the discretion of the National Secretary..." Certain people are allowed to appeal to the Directorate, but "the final decision still rests with. the National Secretare." We are not told how the National Secretary is appointed.
It. would be tempting to dismiss these people as being purely cranks; but whatever else they lack they appear to have considerable funds. They have a monthly papers The Bugler; a publishing firm, Northland Press, ‘which publishes a review; they have recently bought a house in London, known as the Northland Press London Centre; their London and Middlesex division publishes its own bulletin; the latest issue of its Adult Supporters League Bulletin reports the formation of a film units; and the movement is holding an Easter Camp next year. Their activities include: leaflet distribution calling for an end to coloured immigration and retention of the H. Bomb; a "Buy South African" campaign; a "clean-up TV" campaign (started by the wife of a rector in \olverhampton); and a campaign against cruelty to horses! Their journals report that members have lectured to Boy Scout troops, and distributed literature ( with permission) in London schoolse
In case any reader feels inclined to join the BNY, we are duty-bound to point out that "Beatniks, race-mixers, ban-the-bomb supporters: snd long-haired louts are Not wanted; they can join the rest of the 'great unwashed! rabble in the CND and anti-apartheid mobs," :
It must be stressed that movements like this could exert some influence in particular localities and situations. The recent hysteria in the capitalist press about the "Stanleyville massacre" gives filth like the BNY a stimulus, The fact that the Tory Party in particular localities is playing about with racialism encourages this lunatic fringe. The Labour Government by associating Britain with the Congo operation, by its failure to denounce the essential hypocrisy of the stunt, and by its general policy in relation to the remnants of British colonialism is helping to sow the seeds of racialism in this country. Racialism does not spring from an instinctive xenophobia, it is a reflection in men's minds of economic and political relationships. The idea in men's heads that the black man is inferior to the white man would be impossible unless the black man was held down in an inferior position by white men. It is tragic that the obvious good intentions of Labour (witness ‘filson's spceches and the elevation of Brockway) are being negated by international policies which indirectly encourage racialism in general, and scum like the BNY in particular.