The Dominion. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1933. THE VOGUE OF THE SHIRT

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 290, 2 September 1933, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1933. THE VOGUE OF THE SHIRT

’ 1 It was Garibaldi who first conceived the idea of associating a coloured shirt with a political movement. That scarlet sartona emblem remained the solitary instance of its kind in history until Mussolini effected his Fascist coup d’etat with a following of Black Various civilised countries since then have witnessed the emergence in their midst of coloured-shirt battalions signifying the presence and activity of that latter-day school .of politics which w/call Fascism.” Brown Shirts in Germany, Grey Shirts in Austria Black Shirts in Britain, Green Shirts in Spain, Blue Shirts in Ireland, White Shirts in Mexico, are among the principal exhibits in this extraordinary vogue of the shirt.; . , . it There are also Fascist groups in Poland, Finland, Japan, and Cuba and no doubt in other countries as well. Most of these have adopted special colours for their revolutionary shirts. Poland, we were told the other day, favours “Cherry,” and if the vogue continues to spread, we may probably hear of nations going apricot, cense, puce, purple, and perhaps spotted and piebald. . . As to how far Fascist doctrine is likely to capture the imagination of the British public it is. impossible to hazard an opinion. 'Without discussing its merits and demerits as a political system, it may be said, and it is generally agreed, that its fundamental appeal is its claim, in the default of .existing democratic systems, to protect the rights, property and, lives of the middle classes against the menace of Communism or extreme Socialism. ’ .... • ' There are so far no indications that such a situation is likely to arise in the United Kingdom. Communism thus far has failed to make much headway with'the British working-classes. Nevertheless, Fascism as a cult has definitely established itself. A cable message during the week threw some light on Sir Oswald Mdsley s British Union of Fascists, the strength of which is stated to be about 5000. Further investigation of the movement reveals, however, that . there are some 400,000 Fascist's in Britain who have repudiated the Mosley or Black Shirt group. There is also reported to be in existence an anti-Jewish organisation of the secret society type, with eleven centres of propaganda and cipher codes of communication. The activities of these various bodies, however; have not been marked by anything more violent than an occasional minor fracas involving a few arrests arid fines, as happened in Piccadilly Circus, London,'one Sunday night , last May, when- some Fascists and Jews came into collision.

Only a plunge of the British economic system into far greater adversity than anything yet experienced would, it is considered, rally a formidable Fascist uprising in the United Kingdom. The latest indications, happily, are that'the worst is over and an upward trend has begun. The British 'people, therefore, are likely to be spared the advent of a shirted'regime so radically opposed to their constitutional habits and so tickling to their sense of humour.