Book Description
Surveys antisemitism in Britain from the campaign against Disraeli in 1876 until World War II. The pre-World War I period was marked by anti-Jewish sentiments following the great influx of immigrants into Britain. The fear of "Jewish domination" was expressed in British antisemitic writings. World War I brought about a rise in antisemitism; riots broke out in London and in Leeds in 1917. After the war, the myth of Jewish Bolshevism spread. English versions of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and "The Cause of World Unrest" were published in 1920 (chs. 9-10 deal with the subject of the "Protocols" and its influence). The first anti-Jewish organizations arose in England before World War I; after the war the Imperial Fascist League, headed by Arnold Leese, and the British Union of Fascists became the main bearers of racist antisemitism. Anti-Jewish violence in this period was limited to London's East End. Concludes that antisemitism in Britain was of a less severe kind than in some other countries; it was never a vehicle for political success in society, but it was a significant factor.
