The HOPE not hate Archive: The Hidden Hand

In this first episode of a new series where we look at objects in the HOPE not hate archive, Joe Mulhall discusses one of the oldest publications we keep. The Hidden Hand was the newspaper of The Britons, a small, antisemitic group, that flogged it's shabby wares in the violently tumultuous interwar period.

Although marginal, with a small print run, the personalities around The Britons became some of the most influential propagators of antisemitic conspiracy theory in the UK, throughout the 20th century. They were one of the only British nationalist groups to ally with a tiny German party - the German National Socialists, long before the latter had risen to power.

This is the story of how even the most fringe ideas must not be ignored, else their poison spread.