The Stewards, also informally referred to as Blackshirts, were the paramilitary wing of the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, fo ...

(BUF).David Stephen Lewis. Illusions of grandeur: Mosley, fascism, and British society, 1931-81. Pp. 115-117. They served a similar role as the

Blackshirts The Voluntary Militia for National Security ( it, Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale, MVSN), commonly called the Blackshirts ( it, Camicie Nere, CCNN, singular: ) or (singular: ), was originally the paramilitary wing of the Natio ...

of the

National Fascist Party The National Fascist Party ( it, Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) was a political party in Italy, created by Benito Mussolini as the political expression of Italian Fascism and as a reorganization of the previous Italian Fasces of Combat. The ...

of Italy and also wore black uniforms. The Stewards were officially an organization of guards to protect

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

and eject groups of hecklers from the audience of speeches by BUF officials.David Stephen Lewis. Illusions of grandeur: Mosley, fascism, and British society, 1931-81. Pp. 115-116. In practice, the Stewards physically assaulted hecklers and political opponents with truncheons of rubber or lead.

Violence at Olympia: June 1934

During a gathering of 12,000 BUF members at

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

on 7 June 1934, the Stewards counterattacked an antifascist attempt to disrupt a speech by Mosley. The continuous violent outbreaks between communists and the defending Stewards led to

Lord Rothermere Viscount Rothermere, of Hemsted in the county of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1919 for the press lord Harold Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth. He had already been created a baronet, of Horsey in th ...

, the owner of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'', to withdraw the support of his paper, mainly out of pressure of government officials. The resulting poor publicity from

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

newspapers also led to a decline in BUF membership.

References

Military wings of fascist parties 1930s in the United Kingdom Fascism in the United Kingdom Clothing in politics Anti-communist organizations {{Paramilitary-org-stub