Nationalism Today

NATIONALISM TODAY was produced in support of the National Front from 1980 until it fizzled out, around 1986/87. Its birth and eventual demise were a consequence of the fractured and factional nature of British nationalist politics at that period: it was founded, in part, to fill the void left when Spearhead magazine ceased to support the NF following the 1979 splits in the party (Spearhead's editor having founded a breakaway party), and ended following the NF's terminal, internecine infighting in 1986, when it disastrously fell under the control of a small number of self-proclaimed admirers of Colonel Gadaffi.

However, for most of its existence Nationalism Today (NT) was a thought-provoking, innovative publication noted for two unusual and very distinct characteristics.

First: the extreme youth of its writers and editorial team. The three joint editors of its earliest editions had an average age of around nineteen. As time went by it attracted a wider range of contributors, including many venerable 'greybeards' in their twenties. However, the magazine never lost its air of youthful rebelliousness. This proved to be a vice as much as virtue – many published articles took challenging new positions on subjects that had been shamefully ignored by Nationalists in the past, yet other articles sometimes indicated a shallow, naïveté on the part of the authors.

Secondly: NT made a serious attempt to change the whole landscape of British Nationalist politics. It realised that if British Nationalism were to be taken seriously it was not enough to call for the repatriation of immigrants, if all that meant was that Britons could then look forward to being stuck in an all-white dole queue.

NT argued that traditional Nationalist policies, on immigration, the 'Common Market' (as the European Union was then popularly known) and anti-communism were not enough: British Nationalists had to develop 'radical' policies on socio-economic issues. Industrial ownership was a favourite topic for debate: NT regularly called for industry to be organised along the lines of employee co-operatives, and was generally in favour of the principle of Distributism, holding that the widespread distribution of ownership of private property and private enterprise was a public good.

Controversially, at the time, NT argued the Nationalism was, and had to be, as much anti-capitalist as it was anti-communist – both threatened the identity and freedom of peoples around the world. Today the deleterious consequences of globalism and global capitalism are all too apparent and widely accepted by British Nationalists – forty years ago this was not always the case.

Note on publication dates: Issues of Nationalism Today were only dated from issue 23, July 1984 onwards. It is possible that the previous issues were deliberately left undated to disguise the irregularity of publication of the magazine, in its early years. The dates shown here are believed to be broadly accurate.

Roots of Radicalism

Nationalism Today

Issue 1 (January 1970)

Issue 1 (January 1970)

Issue 2 (July 1980)

Issue 2 (July 1980)

Issue 3 (October 1980)

Issue 3 (October 1980)

Issue 4 (January 1981)

Issue 4 (January 1981)

Issue 5 (April 1981)

Issue 5 (April 1981)

Issue 6 (July 1981)

Issue 6 (July 1981)

Issue 6 (July 1981)

Issue 7 (October 1981)

Issue 7 (October 1981)

Issue 8 (February 1982)

Issue 8 (February 1982)

Issue 9 (April 1982)

Issue 9 (April 1982)

Issue 10 (June 1982)

Issue 10 (June 1982)

Issue 11 (August 1982)

Issue 11 (August 1982)

Issue 12 (October 1982)

Issue 12 (October 1982)

Issue 13 (December 1982)

Issue 13 (December 1982)

Issue 14 (January 1983)

Issue 14 (January 1983)

Issue 15 (March 1983)

Issue 15 (March 1983)

Issue 16 (May 1983)

Issue 16 (May 1983)

Issue 17 (July 1983)

Issue 17 (July 1983)

Issue 18 (September 1983)

Issue 18 (September 1983)

Issue 19 (November 1983)

Issue 19 (November 1983)

Issue 20 (January 1984)

Issue 20 (January 1984)

Issue 21 (March 1984)

Issue 21 (March 1984)

Issue 21 (March 1984)

Issue 22 (May 1984)

Issue 22 (May 1984)

Issue 23 (July 1984)

Issue 23 (July 1984)

Issue 24 (September 1984)

Issue 24 (September 1984)

Issue 25 (November 1984)

Issue 26 (January 1985)

Issue 26 (January 1985)

Issue 27 (March 1985)

Issue 27 (March 1985)

Issue 28 (April 1985)

Issue 28 (April 1985)

Issue 29 (May 1985)

Issue 29 (May 1985)

Issue 30 (June 1985)

Issue 30 (June 1985)

Issue 31 (July 1985)

Issue 31 (July 1985)

Issue 32 (August 1985)

Issue 32 (August 1985)

Issue 33 (September 1985)

Issue 33 (September 1985)

Issue 34 (October 1985)

Issue 34 (October 1985)

Issue 35 (November 1985)

Issue 35 (November 1985)

Issue 36 (February 1986)

Issue 36 (February 1986)

Issue 37 (March 1986)

Issue 37 (March 1986)

Issue 38 (April 1986)

Issue 38 (April 1986)