British Fascist Organisation (Press, 21 October 1947)

On 18 October 1947, the leader of the British League of Ex-Service-men, Edward Jeffrey Hamm, faced legal action following a controversial meeting in East London. The incident occurred at the East London Jewish centre in Dalston, where supporters of Hamm's league found the platform occupied by the Revolutionary Communist Party. The Communists had arrived early in the morning, sustaining themselves with tea from local residents, and maintained a presence overnight to challenge Hamm's meeting. During Hamm’s speech, which lasted over an hour, he declared himself a British nationalist and a Fascist, prompting significant interruptions from the Communists in attendance. The unrest led to the arrest of a female audience member by the police. Following the uproar, Hamm was brought before a magistrate in North London, who bound him over for 12 months after hearing that Hamm had used insulting language likely to incite a breach of the peace during a prior meeting on 14 September. Hamm, 32 years old, defended himself by claiming that he had previously been detained by British authorities during World War II and sent to South Africa. He denied that the league's purpose was to provoke the Dalston community and asserted that it did not endorse Nazi ideology. Furthermore, he stated that the disturbances stemmed from a group opposing his meetings, who were based in Bayswater. Hamm voiced a belief that Communism was influenced by Jewish interests but firmly denied that racialism was part of his league's agenda. The magistrate determined that Hamm's remarks during a separate speech on 21 September did not constitute an offence, as they did not specifically target Jews. However, he found Hamm's description of the meeting's disruptors as “pale pink palpitating pansies” during his September 14 speech unacceptable, as it crossed the limits of free expression. As Hamm left the court, the crowd expressed mixed reactions of boos and cheers, reflecting the divisive atmosphere surrounding the East London political tensions at the time.

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