The British Union of Fascists' Loudspeaker Vans

Speaker vans parked outside 12 Lower Grosvenor Place, London, the second National Headquarters of the B.U.F (Click to enlarge)

One of the early administrative problems of the B.U.F. was transportation together with the physical elevation of speakers to ensure everyone got a good view and could clearly hear the message. The traditional soap box soon gave way to customised platforms suitable for street corners, but Mosley was attracting thousands to his meetings.

Something much bigger was required. The answer was the purchase of five speaker vans reputably a frustrated export order for Russia.

These vans were an excellent investment with at least one being permanently stationed up north. The remaining four served the larger outdoor London meetings and toured all over the country, often making planned stops for meetings in rural towns and villages not used to recruiting in this revolutionary way.

Mosley speaks from the top of a van at Albert Croft, Manchester in 1936. 

On his far left is Neil Francis Hawkins, the B.U.F. National Organiser. In the middle, wearing jackboots, is John Hone, the Northern Inspecting Officer for British Union

Albert Croft, Manchester in 1936

The tannoy public address system was powered by a massive batch of accumulators inside the back of the van.

Mosley speaking in Bermondsey, South London on 1 May, 1938. 
The speakers can be seen above the driver's cab.

Covering thousands of miles, the use of the vans was intensified in Mosley's British peace campaign leading up to Mayday in 1940, when the government banned street marches. Stationary vans covered with slogans, which were strategically placed all over London, were used to draw attention to Mosley's giant outdoor rally on the evening of the 5th May in Victoria Park Square, just three weeks prior to his arrest and imprisonment.

View image | gettyimages.com

B.U.F. Mobile Defence Squad outside the Black House 1934.
This van - AXL 591 survived the blitz

Amazingly, at least one of these veteran vans, which was parked in a West End mews garage, survived the blitz. It was relivered and pressed back into service when Union Movement was formed in 1948.

From 1950 it was parked in the slip road at the back of Union Movement National Headquarters at 302 Vauxhall Bridge Road. Now beginning to show its age, it was occasionally road taxed and used for major outdoor events.

Because of its old fashioned image it seems not to have been used during the 1959 election campaign or ever again. Its fate remains unknown. Does it still survive, long forgotten, in somebody's garage or barn, or was it driven or towed away to the scrapyard?

Article first published in Comrade - newsletter of the F.O.M.