Anti‐semitism and the Jewish community of Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne

After briefly outlining the historical development of the Jewish community in Newcastle‐upon‐Tyne, this article examines the extent to which anti‐Semitism was a major concern in the life of modern North‐East Jewry. The focus of this discussion is on the 1930s and 1940s, a period when anti‐Semitism assumed greater significance. What this artcle revals is that on Tyneside, even though the fear of anti‐Semitism gave rise to active responses from within the local Jewish community, anti‐Semitism remained small scale. The experience of Newcastle's Jewish community should caution us against overstating the prevalence of anti‐Semitism in British society.     

The imperial war museum as a source of information for historians of immigrant minorities: The example of Germans in Britain during the first World War

This article looks at the importance of the Imperial War Museum as a source of information for historians of immigrant minorities with reference to the plight of the Germans in Britain during the First World War. Three classes of documents are considered. First, the memoirs of a German, Richard Noschke, which discuss his experiences both inside and outside internment camps. Second, a number of diaries kept by English people, which deal particularly with ‘spy fever’. And third, pamphlets and journals of the British Empire Union, the most important anti‐alien organization of the war years.     

The ‘Jew wise’: Dimensions of British political anti‐Semitism, 1918–39

‘The Jew Wise’ is an edited version of Chapter 4 of the author's forthcoming Fascism in Britain: A History 1918–85 to be published by Basil Blackwell in January 1987. It examines the extremist racial nationalist tradition in the inter‐war period and, through using reliable declassified intelligence material from MIS, Special Branch and the Board of Deputies of British Jews archive, shows its impact on the authorities and the development of British Fascism. The article presents new evidence on the Britons and the Imperial Fascist League and examines the available material on the activities of Britain's most notorious anti‐Semite, Archibald H. Maule Ramsay, MP.     

British officialdoms and European Jewry during the 1940s

On the eve of the war in Europe, Whitehall, as part of its effort to appease the Arab states, retreated from its support of Zionism. Among other acts, Britain restricted the immigration of Jews to Palestine, which was the main potential haven for Jewish refugees during and after the war. A serious conflict evolved between the Zionists and the British over the immigration issue. British officials who dealt with the Palestine problem tended to regard the Jewish refugees as soldiers in the Zionist battle, and the illegal Jewish immigration to be solely politically motivated. Geo‐political priorities dominated the thinking of these officials, blinding them to the misery of the people involved and obstructing their consideration of the human consequences of their decisions. Anti‐Semitism as such played no meaningful role in the decision‐making process.     

The black community of Salford and Hull 1919–21

Although some attention has been paid to the collective violence which occurred in Liverpool and Cardiff in 1919 other examples of racial violence at that time have been relatively ignored. This study concentrates upon events in two other centres, Salford and Hull. Moreover, by taking a three‐year time span it is shown that such violence continued after 1919. In other words ‘the riots of 1919 were not simply isolated incidents to be touched upon by historians as a convenient way to round off the war period in the history of Blacks in Britain’ but evidence of a persistent anti‐Black sentiment in British society which, at times, in specific circumstances, spilled over into violence.     

MIND THE GAP: Religion and the Crucible of Marginality in the United States and Great Britain

Comparisons between the United States and Great Britain reveal many similarities in broad‐based religious concerns and values. Nonetheless, surveys over the last 40 years document a widening gap between the two countries in individual‐level religious commitment. This article suggests that the residual effect of prior marginalization of certain groups and the way they responded to the crucible of marginality is a critical variable to consider. The structure of the religious market in Great Britain kept peripheral groups from turning to religion for support or encouragement in their resistance to the establishment; this, however, was not the case in the religious economy of the United States. Using data collected in the most recent wave of the World Values Survey, I show that higher levels of religious commitment among particular groups with a history of marginalized status—namely African Americans and Southerners—in the United States and the lack of similar levels among similar groups in the British context—ethnic minorities and residents of Scotland and Wales—explain part of the gap in religious commitment between the two countries.     

The Work of the Russian Liberation Committee in London, 1919–1924

Abstract

The Russian Liberation Committee was one of the most active of the Russian émigré organizations operating in London in the period following the Russian Revolution. It acted as a clearing house for news on the Russian civil war, receiving telegrams from each of the fronts and distributing them to the British press. It also produced a variety of publications of its own, for distribution to the public, government officials and to soldiers in Russia. In this article, the Committee's work and publications are examined for the light they shed on anti-Bolshevik propaganda in Britain, and on the sources of information on the civil war available to the British press. While the Committee's efforts could not alter the pragmatic policy of the British government or the already anti-Bolshevik attitude of the British press, their presence made an important difference to the amount and kind of information that was available in Britain during the course of the Russian civil war.     

Windrushers and orbiters: Towards an understanding of the ‘official mind’ and colonial immigration to Britain 1945–51

In conjunction with the problems created by mainstream British racism, civil service officials encountered real administrative and logistical difficulties following the arrival of black colonial immigrants to Britain in the immediate post‐war period. Despite the collaboration of both Ministry of Labour and Colonial Office civil servants, the post‐war ‘official mind’ proved unable to deal successfully with even the relatively few colonial arrivals, 1948–51. It was this failure, at such a crucial juncture in the history of colonial immigration to Britain, which provided the basis for the evolution of official ambivalence towards the more numerous colonial immigrants of the 1950s.     

The Representation of the Holocaust in the Soviet Press, 1941–1945

Abstract

The article presents the first in-depth examination of the representation of the Holocaust in the Soviet press during the period of its perpetration, 1941–1945. The article illustrates that alongside growing anti-Semitism, both among the population and the regime, Soviet journalists, primarily Il'ya Ehrenburg and Vasilii Grossman, reported on the suffering and murder of European Jewry. The article examines the Soviet presentation of Nazi racial theory and compares it to the representation of Nazi racial theory in the American and British press during the war. The article looks at the reasons behind Soviet press coverage of the Holocaust, such as the use of atrocities to motivate the people to fight. It also examines the way in which the Soviet press used the Nazi persecution of the Jewish population as a means of distinguishing the fascist and socialist systems and highlighting the equality of all peoples, which it claimed existed in the Soviet Union. The article examines the Soviet representation of the behaviour of the Jews under occupation, focusing on the three main attributes — resistance, dignity and the brotherhood of the peoples. In general, the article strives to illustrate that the Soviet press reported on the Holocaust during the war and recognized the racial nature of the Nazi persecution and extermination of European Jewry.     

The Cost of Not Being Christian: Hindus,Sikhs and Muslims in Britain and Canada

This article compares foreign born Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims to native born white Christians on four economic outcomes in two nations: Britain and Canada. For Canada, our data come from the 1991 Census, for Britain from the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic Minorities (1994). Theory and research lead us to predict that, ceteris paribus, non‐Christians will fare better in Canada on three of the four outcomes. In the main, however, this expectation does not hold up. Compared to their British counterparts, Canada's Muslims fare less well on labor force participation and Canada's Hindus and Sikhs less well on unemployment. Compared to their Canadian counterparts, British Muslims fare less well on unemployment. On occupation and earnings, we detect no cross‐national differences. To explain the paucity of cross‐national disparities, we draw on Reitz's argument that Canada's reputation as an attractive immigrant destination has been exaggerated. To explain the few differences we do find, we emphasize cross‐national differences in religious discrimination and our inability to control adequately for differences in sending countries.     

Quakers,colonies and colonials, 1938–48

Scholars have barely scratched the surface of the history of ‘Black’ peoples in the United Kingdom before the brief episode of immigration which began in 1948. For example, very little is known about the response of ‘white’ organizations, whether religious, philanthropic or political, to colonial issues or to ‘colonials’ in Britain. This article looks at the attitudes, as revealed by central committee minutes, of the Society of Friends, a religious body with a strong anti‐slavery and public service tradition.     

Ethnic nominalism and civic religiosity: Christianity and national identity in Britain

The relationship between religion and national identity is a contested topic in public debates about cultural diversity and immigration. In sample surveys only a minority the British population identify themselves as belonging to a Christian religion, and far fewer practise their faith. Nevertheless, nearly a quarter of the population think it is important to be Christian to be truly British. This study explores the complex relationships between religious and national identities in Britain, using data from the 2008 British Social Attitudes Survey. Three different forms of national identity were identified through factor analysis: civic‐symbolic, cultural‐aesthetic and ethnic national identity. Ethnic national identity is the only dimension of national identity that is positively associated with thinking it is important to be Christian to be British. While churchgoing Christians are more likely to feel national in response to secular cultural symbols, they are less likely to associate religion with nationality than those with a nominal Christian affiliation. The results indicate that Christianity has cultural significance for national identity primarily as a proxy for ethnic identity.     

George Thompson,transatlantic abolitionism,and Britain in the American Civil War

The British abolitionist George Thompson was an unequalled public face of the Northern states in Britain during the American Civil War. Capitalising on his reputation from decades of anti-slavery activism stretching back to the 1830s, Thompson lectured convincingly to a variety of British audiences on the emancipationist potential of the war, encouraging them to lend their support to the Northern cause. Revealing his continuing intellectual debt and personal connections to the American abolitionists around William Lloyd Garrison, this article uses Thompson’s activism to emphasise the continuing importance of transatlantic Garrisonian ideology and networks in a period that historians have previously characterised as a ‘rupturing’ in the movement.     

Role with the punches: the construction and representation of Amir Khan as a role model for multiethnic Britain

This article examines the rapid rise to fame of teenage British Asian boxer Amir Khan following his silver medal at the 2004 Olympic Games, and provides a critical discourse analysis of the way that he was subsequently constructed and represented by politicians and the media as a role model for multiethnic Britain. The analysis demonstrates that in the periods directly after both the 2004 Olympic Games and the 7 July 2005 London bombings, the majority of discourses about, and representations of, Khan were inextricably related to contemporary debates around multiculturalism, national identity, and religious extremism and/or deviance amongst young British Muslim men. This article argues that despite the ostensibly positive portrayals of Khan as an individual, a broader, more critical reading of these texts uncovers how they actually reproduce the contradictions and problems inherent to New Labour's policies on citizenship, community cohesion, the ‘war on terror’ and ‘diversity management’. The article concludes that the almost ubiquitous configuration of Khan as a positive role model is in danger of obscuring the continued existence of discourses and practices of racism and social exclusion in contemporary Britain.     

Between Two Cultures? Muslim Children in a Western Liberal Society

SUMMARY: The experiences of Muslim children in Britain highlight some, of the complexities in the nation of cultural development. Their main problem is often described in terms of being trapped between the traditional Islamic values of their parents and the liberal and often secular values of the school. Multicultural education has not been able to resolve this problem fully, but as young Muslims themselves seek far creative ways of combining full British citizenship with their own distinctive religious commitments, there are signs that a new British Muslim cultural identity is gradually emerging.     

Young British religious ‘nones’: findings from the Youth On Religion study

This article contributes to an understanding of diversity in beliefs and practices among young religious ‘nones’ who report the absence of a specific religious faith. It focuses on those describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or otherwise of ‘no religion’ within (a) a large-scale survey of over ten thousand 13–17-year-olds, and (b) interviews, discussion groups and eJournal entries involving one hundred and fifty-seven 17–18-year-olds, in three British multi-faith locations. Compared to the study population as a whole, the young religious ‘nones’ were particularly likely to be white and born in Britain. There was, nonetheless, considerable diversity among this group in beliefs and practices: almost half the survey members mentioned some level of belief in God and most of the interview participants pointed to some presence of religion in their lives. Being a religious ‘none’ is, furthermore, not necessarily a stable identity and some young people had already shown considerable fluidity over their life cycles. Around half the survey members said they had maintained similar religious views to their mothers, but participants in both quantitative and qualitative studies pointed to the impact of their experiences and interactions, as well as the role of science, as factors affecting their beliefs and practices.     

The “Last of the Ordinary Sundays”: How to Prepare for the Air War

How did instructions for war preparations change the contours of the household in Britain during the Second World War? How were readers of instructional leaflets positioned in relation to the presumed safety of the household and the nation? To illustrate the range of imperative instructions that circulated before and during the war, as well as anxious air war anticipation, this piece draws from home front imperatives communicated through a variety of sources, including pre‐war and wartime instructional leaflets, posters, and other literature to demonstrate their reach into the most minute aspects of everyday life to establish a productive link between habit and care.     

A sociology classic revisited: religion in Banbury

This is one of a series of articles which document religious change in Britain by updating the data contained in classic British sociological and anthropological community studies,. The statistical and impressionistic observations on religion in Banbury in 1950 and 1967 in Margaret Stacey's Tradition and Change are augmented with data collected in 2010. The article identifies significant problems in interpreting the original Banbury data and offers some general observations on the advantages and difficulties of piggy‐backing on previous research.     

Militants and the margins: British political Protestantism

While only some sections of the major British denominations have become open advocates of ecumenism, all the mainstream Protestant churches have reacted to the fragmentation of Protestantism into a large number of competing organisations by accepting religious pluralism and by endorsing religious toleration. This is reflected in the absence of mainstream Protestant church support for political Protestant movements in modern Britain. This paper presents evidence for the claim that almost all modern militant Protestant leaders have been either Baptists or independent evangelicals and offers suggestions in terms of class support, the structure of the mainstream denominations, and their socialisation procedures to explain this phenomenon.     

‘A sort of whirlwind’: mapping the changing geography of Presbyterian religious observance in Ireland

Since the European Reformation and the colonisations of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Ireland has evolved a distinctive religious geography which had profound implications for its political development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, leading ultimately to the division of the island along explicitly religio–territorial lines in 1921. Troubled Geographies, a major project funded under the auspices of the Arts and Humanities Research Council's ‘Religion and Society’ programme was the first attempt to seek to understand patterns of change in the island's complex geography of religious settlement in the period since the Great Famine of the mid-nineteenth century up to the most recent published censuses for both Northern Ireland and the Republic. This paper will present findings from a smaller spin-off project funded by the British Academy, which digitised records of attendance at Presbyterian churches across the island over the last 150 years, enabling us to assess how patterns of practice were affected by the momentous events of the period, including partition, civil war, two world wars, the vicissitudes of the global economy and the Troubles of the more recent past. In addition, the use of new quantitative materials such as those in the Presbyterian records enables us to reflect on how patterns of substantive religious practice reflect those on nominal religious affiliation available from successive censuses from either side of the border.