The World In A BLUE SHIRTCompiled and edited by Bill Ickes in Pennsylvania, United States of America.Written: December 2008.A review of the "Political History of the Blue Shirt

BLUE SHIRTS

1. CHINA ~ ?

2. EGYPT ~ ?

3. ITALY ~ Camicie Blu

4. FRANCE ~ Chemises Bleues

5. SPAIN ~ Camisas Azul

6. PORTUGAL ~ Camisas Azuis

7. IRELAND ~ Léine Gorma

8. NICARAGUA ~ Camisas Azul

9. CANADA ~ Blue Shirts

10. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ~ Blue Shirts

11. ROMANIA ~ Camasa Albastru

12. GERMANY ~ Blau Hemden

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CHINA

In the 1930', Chiang Kai Shek [Jiang Jie - Shi] attacked the corruption of the existing Chinese government by forming a fascist revolutionary group called, "The Blue Shirts Society" also known as "Society of the Practice of Three Principles of the People". This group, also called "Blue Jackets" {lan-i-shang} formed in April, 1932 as part of Chiang's Kuomintang (KMT) Party, it was led by Teng Jie. Members wore Blue Shirts, lived a disciplined lifestyle, and took over police departments in major Chinese cities. They fought against prostitution, gambling, and drug dealers. Chiang Kai Shek replaced Teng Jie with He Zhongnan (1933), who was then replaced with Liu Jian Qun (1934).The Blue Shirts Society held their only National Congress in Wuhan in 1938. After World War Two and the rise of Mao Tse-Tung, the Blue Shirts went with Chiang to Taiwan.

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EGYPT

In the 1930's, the Wafd Party of Egypt established the "Blue Shirts" as an organization for its younger members. The group leader was Ahmed Bilal, who said that the Blue Shirts began with a November 1935 student uprising which wanted the restoration of Egypt's 1923 Constitution. At that time, the British had a High Commissioner governing Egypt. The Blue Shirts group meanwhile carried clubs and small knives, and sometimes fought with police. Egypt's Interior Minister, Ibrahim Abaza, monitored their camps, and accused them of "abusing public order". These Blue Shirts went out of existence by 1938.Another National Party group, the Falcons led by Hafez Ramadan, also wore blue shirts.

ITALY

Enrico Corradini (1865 - 1931) was an Italian novelist, journalist and nationalist, and a follower of Gabrielle d'Annunzio. Together with friends Giovanni Papini, Vilfredo Pareto, and Giuseppe Pressolini, he established a right-wing newspaper, Il Regno, as the voice of their Assoziazione Nazionale Italiana (ANI).They promoted Italian Imperialism and the Italo-Turkish Was of 1910.Their weekly newspaper, L'Idea Nazionale, advocated Militarism, Populism, and Corporatism. Corradini's ANI members wore Blue Shirts (camicie blu), and merged with the Fascist Party in 1923.

FRANCE

The Mouvement Franciste was founded in September, 1933 by Marcel Bucard as a French fascist and anti-Jewish organization. These Blue Shirts ("Chemises Bleues") opposed the Edouard Daladier government, edited a newspaper, Le Francisme, held rallies, used the straight-arm Roman salute, and received aid from Benito Musssolini of Italy.In 1941, the Chemises Bleues reorganized as the Parti Franciste and were among the top three (along with Jacque Doriot's French Popular Party, and Marcel Deat's National Popular Reassembly) supporters of the occupying Nazis, and that would be the German Nazis.Other French Blue Shirts groups were:Parti Populaire Français, established 1934 by Jacques Doriot; they wore dark Blue Shirts, jackets, trousers, and cap.Les Compagnons de France (July 1940 to January 1944) was a boys' work and social group and wore a dark Blue Shirt.Jeunes de L'Europe Nouvelle, were the youth of the "Group Collaboration" and wore dark Blue Shirts.Jeunes du Maréchel led by Jacques Bousquet, they wore dark Blue Shirts and matching pants.

SPAIN

Falange Española, the largest and most important of Spain's nationalist political parties, was started in 1932 by José Antonio Primo de Rivera. They were

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socialists, they opposed the Monarchy, and they wore Blue Shirts and forage caps.The Falange promoted the Corporate State and National Syndicalism, joined with other Spanish Nationalists, and fought against leftists. Their blue-colored shirts were representative of industrial workers. Primo de Rivera was executed in November 1936.

PORTUGAL

Francisco Rolão Preto set up a fascist group, the National Syndicalists, in 1932. It was the major Portuguese fascist gang, with 50,000 members and 18 newspapers. Based on Monarchism and Lusitanic Corporatism, they promoted corporatism (as opposed to capitalism and communism).They wore Blue Shirts (camisas azuis) and an arm-band with the "Order of Christ Cross" [the design was a white "plus sign" ( + )within a red angular Maltese-type cross].Portuguese leader, Antonio Salazar, put Preto out of the country in 1934, and attacked the Syndicalists which dissolved in 1935.

IRELAND

An Irish Republican Army officer, police commissioner, a compatriot of Michael Collins himself, the youngest army General in all of Europe, the Founder of the Army Comrades Association (February 1923) (which was renamed the National Guard in July of 1933, and later became the Young Ireland Association), this man was EOIN O'DUFFY.His ACA (Army Comrades Association) members wore Blue Shirts, held rallies and marches, used the Roman straight-arm salute, fought against leftists, and were later outlawed by Irish State President Eamon de Valera.In the mid-1930's, Cardinal Joseph MacRory asked Duffy to help Spain's Nationalists (then led by Francisco Franco). In 1936, Duffy took 750 of his "Blue Shirts" (as they have always been and still are to this day called) to the Spanish Civil War. They were The Irish Brigade. Duffy and his men refused to fight against the Basque People.

NICARAGUA

Anastasio Somoza Garcia, "Tacho", was appointed National Guard director by his uncle, President-elect Sacasa in the late 1920's. Somoza helped the U.S. Marines during the U.S. occupation of Nicaragua, 1928-1933. In February 1934, after a dinner celebrating peace talks with the Sandinistas, Somoza murdered Sandino and massacred Sandinista farmers.Somoza became President in 1937 and, to show sympathy with the German Nazis, he formed a Blue Shirt group. But after the U.S. Declaration of War (1941) his Blue Shirts faded away. Somoza was shot dead in September 1956 by Rigoberto Lopez Perez.

CANADA

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On February 22, 1934, Adrien Arcand held the first meeting of the Christian National Socialist Party (Parti National Social Chrétien, the PNSC) in Montreal, Quebec. After mergers with other parties, Arcand, Joseph Farr, and Joseph Ménard set up the National Unity Party (1938) known as the "Blue Shirt". They fought minorities and leftists, advocated: a Corporatist State; compulsory work; and all services provided by the state. In May 1940, the leaders were arrested and jailed till the end of World War Two.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Two Broadway plays were lovingly written by Morrie Ryskind and George Kaufman, with lyrics provided by Ira Gershwin, and marvelous music created by George Gershwin. The first of these plays was "Of Thee I Sing" which premiered on December 26, 1931. It was soon to be sequeled by "Let 'Em Eat Cake" in 1933. These two wonderful plays chronicled the adventures American President John P. Wintergreen.The story (through both plays) in short is this:

It is Election Year, bachelor candidate Wintergreen's party platform is based on Love. That's love, L O V E , Love. So, a beauty contest is held in Atlantic City to choose a Bride for solo John. And who should win but Diana Devereaux, but she is rejected by Wintergreen because she is French! He picks instead, Mary Turner ("who can make corn muffins"). Well, Diana then sues for Breach Of Promise, and somehow the United States Senate begins Impeachment proceedings against President Wintergreen, but he is miraculously saved by his wife, Mary, having a baby.

Later . . . . in the second play,

The now-former President moves to New York where he and wife Mary make and sell blue shirts, yes, that's Blue Shirts, the Blue Shirts that Mary makes, the Mary-Blue Shirt. And they make them in their store called: "Shirts By The Millions".Then, astoundingly enough, a newspaperman named Kruger predicts a Revolution. So John Wintergreen decides to lead it, with men in Blue Shirts. Wintergreen bribes the Army to overthrow the then current President Tweedledee, and he wins the Revolution.HooRay! The White House is then painted blue and the flag of the Revolution is a Blue Shirt on a white background, and President Wintergeen asks General Throttlebottom to "put Blue Shirts on everyone".See some excerpts from one of the plays in the references below.

ROMANIAThere are a few brief references to Atte Cusa (A. C. Cuza) setting up some Blue Shirts.

GERMANYThe Frei Deutsche Jugend (1946 to 1990) were a youth group for ages 12 to 26. They were a training ground for East Germany's army, economy, and government. They wore Blue Shirts

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with an insignia patch. Important to note they were almost the only LEFTIST group wearing Blue Shirts!

>>>>>Also there may be one reference to: Moustapha El – Ouakil and Le Chemises Bleues.>>>>>

REFERENCESBelow are a few web addresses for National Blue Shirt related stories, there are not very many. Also, here are Internet articles, and some paragraphs cut from articles. Note - when searching the Internet many sites will cut and paste “Wikipedia” topics onto their pages, even though they are not specifically covering the subject. Searches were in December 2008.

=CHINA[1,370 Search Results for: "blue shirts" + china + "Chiang Kai-Shek"]

http://www.thenation.com/archive/detail/13529417http://wais.stanford.edu/China/china_shirtsandpolitics121601.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Shirts_Society

“”Here is material on the Chinese Blue Shirts Society””

http://wais.stanford.edu/China/china_shirtsandpolitics121601.htmlCHINA: Shirts and politicsThe Following by: Ronald Hilton - 12/16/01

"Red shirts? Black was the color of the Roman Catholic Church, red of its enemies. The Italian hero Giuseppe Garibaldi (today he would be called an international terrorist) helped Uruguay achieve its independence from Argentina and adopted the poncho as his dress. "Poncho" originally meant a natural colored wool shirt. Later, in 1860, he lad his 1.000 Redshirts in the invasion of Sicily, which ultimately led to end of the papal states and the unification of Italy. However, later red became the color of the Communist revolution, so Mussolini's anti-Communist fascists became Black Shirts. Hitler's became Brown Shirts, Brazil's Green Shirts, while in Argentina they became the Descamisados, the shirtless ones, which they were not. They simply did not wear that bourgeois symbol, a tie. "

"But Blue Shirts? I had never heard of them until I received this from Paul Simon: "They were here in China. Chiang Kai Shek was a big fan of the fascists, at least according to well respected China expert Sterling Seagrave. Seagrave asserts that Chiang patterned his "new life movement" after the Nazi party and modeled his "Blue-shirts" on the Sturmabteilung. Mussolini provided a bomber factory, and German advisors helped the KMT in their war against Mao in the 30's. Only when Japan and the Axis began to get cozy did Chiang and the Euro-Fascists get a quickie divorce, according to The Soong Dynasty. My comment: This is not the man we thought we knew, the constant democrat whose defeat was due to

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the American "commies who lost China". We must check to see what Chinese and American history textbooks say."

Ronald Hilton - 12/16/01>>>>>""Here is the wikipedia entry on the Chinese “Blue Shirts Society”.Also, remember when searching the Internet that many sites will cut and paste wiki topics onto their pages, even though they are not specifically covering that subject. Also, for this particular entry there are Chinese Language Characters which are replaced by the Question Marks below. The abbreviation "BSS" is used for "Blue Shirts Society" The Chinese and Irish Blue Shirt groups seem to have the most literature about them. This article is one of the longest describing one of these organizations. It is a good introduction to Political Blue Shirts since it shows the typical orientation of most of these groups. They are mostly Nationalist, Conservative, Anti-Communist, Anti-Foreigner but necessarily racialist, even Pro-Labor and opposed to crime.This is almost the whole Wikipedia article, rather long, but, since China is an important nation today and the Blue Shirts are mentioned very much throughout, I did not cut much."" - Bill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Shirts_SocietyBlue Shirts SocietyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (December 2007)

For other uses, see Blue shirts.

The Blue Shirts Society (??? in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the BSS) also known as the Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People (??????? in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the SPTPP), the Spirit Encouragement Society (??? in Chinese) and the China Reconstruction Society (????? in Chinese ? hereinafter referred to as the CRS in short), was a secret clique in the Kuomintang (KMT). Under the direction of Chiang Kai-shek it sought to lead the KMT and China by following the ideology of Fascism and was a secret police or para-military force.

Although in its early stage the society's most important members came from the Whampoa Military Academy, and part of it constituted the Whampoa Clique of the KMT, its influence had extended from the military to the political system, the economy and the social life of 1930s China as well. The rise and fall of the Blue Shirt Society was rapid, but obscure, and was seldom mentioned again by either the KMT or the Communist Party of China after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the following KMT domination on Taiwan.

Contents1 Birth2 Rise and Achievements3 Fall4 Legacy5 References

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BirthAfter the Northern Expedition, Chiang and the KMT took over most of China's territories. But the government established by the KMT was far from the republic envisioned by Sun Yat-sen. In some degree the social crisis was deepening rather than disappearing. Firstly, the tension between Japan and China increased day by day, for Japan's ambition to dominate China was never satiated with the conquest of Manchuria. Secondly with the split of the first KMT-CPC alliance which contributed to the downfall of the warlords, the KMT and the CPC (Communist Party of China) turned against each other. The CPC had developed its power base both in the cities and in the countryside, which was a great threat to the KMT’s governance. Finally, the KMT itself was divided into several cliques, resulting in power struggles among Chiang, Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei. The courage and passion previously shown in the Northern Expedition subsequently disappeared. Ordinary Chinese people and even some KMT members were disappointed to find out that, although they had brought down the old warlords, the KMT's power structure resembled that of the defeated warlords. China was still scourged by corruption, poverty, and civil wars from time to time. Chiang, the man people once regarded as their savior, did little to quell such discontent and concentrated on the power struggle.

As the base of Chiang's rule, some Whampoa graduates felt that it was time to take action. This feeling was especially strong among those who had studied in Japan but subsequently developed an intense hatred of the Japanese due to their encroachments upon China. Consequently, in July 1931, Teng Jie (?? in Chinese) and Xiao Zanyu (??? in Chinese), were sent back to China to report on the threat from Japan and the forthcoming war to KMT leaders.

When Teng and Xiao arrived in China, they were upset to find out that the KMT, the party which used to be progressive and energetic, was now gravitating toward decadence. After careful thinking, Teng designed a blueprint to reform the KMT, in which he suggested that only a great and powerful leader could save China and the KMT. The leader could rule by all means, even as a benevolent dictator. Chiang was the sound candidate and therefore the only hope in Teng’s plan. Teng decided to dedicate all his life to this grand plan. In the following months, Teng traveled around Nanjing, which was the capital of the KMT government at that time, seeking support from his Whampoa schoolfellows.

Teng was lucky to get acquainted with Zeng Kuoqing (??? in Chinese), who was among the first graduates of Whampoa, and later was appointed to be in charge of the Whampoa Alumni Association. Zeng showed great enthusiasm and passion for Teng's plan and spared no effort to support it. However, because the KMT banned the freedom to organize political parties, Teng and Zeng had to do this job all in secrecy. Zeng used his influence and personal relations among Whampoa graduates to organize a periodic party to discuss Teng’s plan and its enforcement. Of course, they also needed to enroll new members.

After several months of hard work, they found sympathizers who became the members of this group. Among them were Whampoa graduates, the most prominent figures were He Zhonghan (??? in Chinese), who was regarded as one of The Three Most Outstanding among Whampoa graduates (the other two were

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CPC members Jiang Xianyun (??? in Chinese) and Chen Geng (?? in Chinese), the patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group at that time; Hu Zongnan (??? in Chinese)?the rising young general of Chiang’s army; Deng Wenyi (??? in Chinese)?another patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group and a secretary of Chiang; Feng Ti (?? in Chinese), the Commissar of the 1st Division of the KMT army. Except for these young elites of the KMT, there was one person unknown to the public, but later he became prominent and notorious as the Beria of China, his name was Dai Li (?? in Chinese).

In September 1931, in the third meeting of this group, they decided to set up an organization to reform the KMT and fight against Japan. Under the direction of He, this group was named the Society of the Practice of Three Principles of People (??????? in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the SPTPP in short). Teng was elected General Secretary. The party also issued guidance on the establishment, discipline and organization of this group, and confirmed that its main missions were as follows:

1. using secret measures to fight against the Japanese, the CPC, other cliques of the KMT and to ensure the Whampoa clique's domination of the KMT and China;2. using the public image of the Whampoa Alumni Association to enroll new members and to set up a formal, well-organized and highly disciplined group.The funds were mainly raised by Deng, who could make use of his charge of a KMT propaganda tool- the Party Book Shop. Furthermore, to avoid being arrested under the KMT's ban on political organizations, members decided to keep secrets from Chiang temporarily, although they had regarded Chiang as their spiritual mentor and the leader of their group from the very beginning.

Before long, Kang Ze (?? in Chinese) joined the group. He published a newspaper China Daily with the permission of Chiang, which became the mouthpiece of the SPTPP.

In December 1931, under great pressure from opponents both inside and outside the KMT, Chiang had to resign. In his hometown in Zhejiang, Chiang began to show great interest in Mussolini's fascism. Deng then let Chiang know of the existence of their group. Chiang summoned He, Teng and Kang to meet with him. In this secret meeting, Chiang did not blame them for their secret actions, and instead expressed his support. Moreover, he announced his will to be the group's mentor and leader, and he preferred a more formal and disciplined organization like those in Italy and Germany. Thus they decided to draft specific rules and articles to guide the party as soon as possible.

With support from Chiang, these young and ambitious talents moved quickly. In writing the articles of the association, Teng designed a hierarchical organization style, the top was Chiang, and the base was the elite among Whampoa graduates. New members could only be accepted with two recommendations and approval from Chiang himself. Members were not allowed to resign unless the party itself faced dissolution. If there was any violation of discipline, members would receive severe punishment and even suffer execution.

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In 1932 Chiang regained power thanks to the power struggle between his opponents. He sped up the reform of the SPTPP . In a secret meeting in February, Gui Yongqing (??? in Chinese)? a member of the SPTPP, recommended Liu Jianqun (??? in Chinese) to Chiang. Liu, He Yingqin’s (??? in Chinese) secretary at that time, later contributed much to the group.

Liu was greatly influenced by the book The Truth of Fascism written by a famous liberal Italian leader, which made him the earliest member of the SPTPP to advocate fascism. Liu was in fact the most enthusiastic advocate of fascism in China. He wrote a pamphlet called Some Opinions On The Reform of the KMT. In this pamphlet, Liu proposed that the reform of the KMT be enforced by way of a group consisting of elites, which should be established and organized along the lines of Mussolini’s MVSN or Blackshirts. Members wore blue shirts to pledge their allegiance which distinguished them from others. According to the group, the leader should encourage members by his sublime and super spirit. Under the direction of the leader, all members should live in a simple and highly disciplined way as dervishes. All cadres should be treated as equally as ordinary members, whose incomes and lives should be under strict supervision. Any violation should be severely punished. Only by these measures could this group lead the people. In return, the people should entrust their property and their families to the country and the supreme leader. People had great responsibilities varying from military service to absolute obedience of orders including surveillance of their neighborhoods. In order to bring up this obedience, everyone's lives should be divided into several stages, among which he should join the child group of the BSS, when he reached youth and qualified, he became a formal member of this group. Thus, China would be turned into a militarized society by a three level organization of Leader-BSS-People.

Chiang met with Liu and appreciated his theory, this meeting made a great contribution to the evolution of the SPTPP into the BSS. In March 1932, on the cover of another existing club called the Spirit Encouragement Society (??? in Chinese)?the SPTPP walked out of the shadow and officially announced its establishment. Although Liu’s proposal that members wear blue shirts and name their society after the blue shirts was not accepted, the SPTPP was known as the BSS from then on. In this ceremony, Teng was elected General Secretary, with He, Kang as Standing Secretariat. The BSS consisted of six divisions, which were the secretariat, organization, propaganda, military, special agency and logistics. The era of the secret society in China reached its peak, and the BSS began its infiltration of the Chinese political system and even of everyday life.

Rise and AchievementsChiang was busy carrying out his Suppression of the CPC’s Red Army in the countryside. With Chiang’s permission, the BSS took over the defense of the capital, and most of the prominent Whampoa graduates who now got promotions as commanders became BSS members. Besides increasing its influence in the army, the BSS took over the police and other security services in China's major cities. Furthermore, it recruited members in the youth leagues of the KMT too, which had great influence in labor unions, publishing houses and schools. The force of the BSS had extended to every block of all major cities in China. A new structure of power had emerged, the BSS was the core of the Whampoa Clique, it

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coexisted and competed with the other two cliques which had a longer history and were much well- known, the CC Clique led by Chen Lifu (??? in Chinese) and Chen Guofu (??? in Chinese)?whose orbit was dealing with party issues; the Politics Research Group (??? in Chinese) led by Yang Yongtai (??? in Chinese) and Zhang Qun (?? in Chinese), whose orbit was daily KMT government running.

Liu’s pamphlet was accepted as the guidance of the BSS, and part of it was revised to be the Regulation of Life Discipline. In accordance with this regulation, BSS members would be paid a low wage, and part of it would be donated to the BSS. Gambling and opium were banned. Anti-corruption laws and laws prohibiting male BSS members from having a mistress were strictly abided by. The practice of BSS members was quite distinct from that of other corrupt KMT bureaucrats.

After the BSS’s Organization Construction and Spirit Construction, now it was time for Action Construction. In June 1932, an anti-graft campaign was launched under the direction of BSS member, Deng Wenyi. He led the special force mainly composed of BSS members who cracked down on corrupt police officers in Wuhan. After several arrests and executions, the police force improved its working style greatly. Then Deng waged war against organized crimes such as prostitution, opium and gambling. After 3 months of hard work, the mess was cleaned up and Deng later won Chiang’s appraise. Chiang wanted this effort to be promoted around the country. Chiang later launched a campaign in Nanjing to purify the capital, although it ended with less significant success.

At the same time, the BSS played an active role in the Suppression of the CPC as well. Zeng Kuoqing using his status in the Whampoa Alumni Association, wrote a letter to Xu Jishen (??? in Chinese), who was commander of Zhang Guotao’s 4th Red Army and a whampoa graduate also, asking Xu to defect to the KMT’ s camp. Xu didn’t reply. But when Zhang got this letter, this raised his suspicions and he decided to carry out a purge. Thousands of commanders and soldiers were tortured and executed, which greatly weakened the CPC’s resistance to KMT forces. This plot was just a warm-up for the BSS. In October 1932, Hu Zongnan led his army mainly consisting of BSS members in a cruel and decisive battle against Xu Xiangqian in Hekou Anhui. In contrast to other KMT armies, this army was fearless and picked, and it had more advanced weapons and strong support from other armies also led by BSS members such as Yu Jishi (??? in Chinese) and Huang Jie (?? in Chinese), Xu’s failure was unavoidable. After more than 10,000 casualties , Zhang and Xu led their army in an inner retreat. Hu and his troop kept tracking them closely. When Zhang and his army reached Sichuan and set up another base. Hu remained in Gansu nearby, and began his era as King of Northwestern China.

Coinciding With the BSS's ever-increasing power and influence, disagreements among the leaders of the BSS mounted. Chiang, only regarded the BSS as a tool for his dictatorship, hence he would not allow the BSS to be more powerful and influential than himself, so he used his usual tricks to manipulate these protégés. As a young man with high ethics and ideals, Teng couldn’t accept this fact. He preferred a government run by a political institution rather than government run by a supreme leader. The conflicts between him and Chiang were frequent. Then

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Teng’s sack was destined. In 1933, Chiang chose He Zhonghan to succeed Teng as General Secretary of the BSS.

In 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. Fascism then became popular around the world. The BSS found more room for prosperity. As a more ambitious and skilled politician, He won the power struggle with Liu Jianqun, who was regarded as the Chinese Strasser due to his power of instigation in the training of new members. Then He decided to set up a propaganda network, which was run by Kang Ze, who was regarded as the Goebbels of the BSS. And the special agency under the direction of Dai Li, who was regarded as its Himmler and his deputy Zheng Jiemin (??? in Chinese) evolved into a network infiltrating every corner of China. The most important work of He was to extend the BSS’s influence into Northern China, which was under direct threat of invasion by Japan at that time. In 1933 the Japanese army invaded Rehe. KMT armies mainly consisting of BSS members fought against them along the Great Wall, although they suffered more than 65,000 casualties , the BSS promoted its prominence. And He made the most important decision, to change the BSS from an elite group into an anti-Japanese mass movement. He decided to send Liu to set up a Northern China division of the BSS, which was called the China Reconstruction Society (????? in Chinese? hereinafter referred to as the CRS in short). Most of the members would work in the universities and student groups to enroll new members and carry out campaigns against the Japanese. In the summer of that year, the CRS had divisions in 24 provinces of China with more than 40,000 members. With the CRS controlling the political training system of the KMT, new recruits were always available. With thousands of members, political instructors and different organizations, the BSS had set up a huge kingdom under the direction of He.

Besides the achievement of setting up the CRS, the other blueprint of He was the Second Stage Revolution. First to ensure the reunification of China. The BSS used its influence in Northern and Southwestern China, to persuade local warlords to pledge allegiance to Chiang. And the reform of the KMT armies was carried out by those BSS members such as Gui Yongqing who studied in Germany to train new armies, and to establish an air force and an armored force. Along with the war against corruption, opium and poverty, the reconstruction of rural areas was undertaken, roads were built and bank loans were provided to peasants. The most significant part of this movement was Kang Ze’s New Jiangxi Style and Special Detachment (??? in Chinese? hereinafter referred to as the SD in short).

In 1933 during the 5th Suppression campaign against the CPC, in order to maintain law and order in the territory that used to be the CPC’s base, Chiang decided to set up a paramilitary force modeled after the SS of Nazi. Kang was appointed to lead this SD, which was the only direct military group in the BSS. At first, the SD was a copycat of the SS. Its members came from the trainees of KMT officers. It was organized like the SS and members even dressed in uniforms resembling those worn by SS members. But soon the SD had more power than its mentor, in that it was a monstrous integration of military, political, police, military police and secret policy power. At its peak it had 24,000 members and three divisions of regular troops. The SD mobilized those peasants who lived near Soviet Territory occupied by the CPC in Jiangxi and Northern Anhui to be

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categorized into groups and confined them in places where they had limited access to the outside world. Every family in this group that could prove itself to be made up of good citizens needed to have the guarantee of four other families, and they had to promise not to collaborate with the CPC, accommodate any suspect, or provide any support to the CPC. Once there were any violations such as not reporting on CPC actions, the whole family would be executed, and the other four guarantor families would be executed as well. The SD set up hundreds of concentration camps around Shangrao, Jiangxi, where they tortured and executed residents and CPC captives. Under this system of cruelty, the network worked quite well as a deterrence. Fewer and fewer peasants supported the CPC. Kang and his SD also crack down on the merchants who used to smuggle materials to the CPC by implementing cruel measures, and peasants were organized into groups to build roads to blockade the Soviet Territory. With the shortage of supplies, accompanied by heavy attacks from the KMT army, the CPC suffered great losses and had to launch its now-famous Long March in order to retreat.

At the same time, Kang and his SD started the New Jiangxi Style. They provided compulsory education and free medical treatment to peasants. With the effective anti-corruption campaign, they provided loans, seeds and pesticides to peasants also. When Mao Zedong led the Red Army on the Long March, spring plowing, trade and bazaars began to flourish again in the territory that used to be occupied by them. But the other side of the story was full of blood and tears. The SD spared no effort to terminate CPC members and supporters. They had committed countless massacres in CPC occupied territories. The most extreme case occurred in Mount Dabie, which used to be the base of the 4th Red Army of the CPC in Northern Anhui. In that incident, more than half a million were massacred. At the same time, in accordance with SD and New Jiangxi Style, Kang reached the peak of his career, and he earned enough capital to challenge He as the only leader of the BSS.

Xiao Zuolin(??? in Chinese), one of the BSS members from the early stage, drafted a plan called the Whole New Culture Movement and proposed the establishment of an organization called the Chinese Culture Academy to increase the BSS’s influence in culture. Xiao got Deng Wenyi’s support and began to carry out his plan. By taking over several newspapers and journals, and by enrolling its members in universities ,this academy succeeded in the fields that used to be dominated by members of the CC Clique. Above all, its scheme of a new culture movement was adopted by Chiang.

On February 19th 1934, Chiang announced the start of the New Life Movement at a meeting in Nanchang, in which he planned to reconstruct the moral system of the Chinese and welcome a renaissance, and reconstruct Chinese national pride as a result. In March, Chiang issued his guidance consisting of 95 rules of the New Life Movement, which was a mixture of Chinese traditions and western standards. It was a vast propaganda movement, with war mobilization and military maneuvers seen on a scale that China had never experienced before. But because its plan was too ambitious and its dogmatism too rigid , and because its policies created too much inconvenience in the everyday lives of the people, this movement was destined to fail just like prohibition. Nearly three years later in

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1936, Chiang had to accept the fact that his favorite movement had failed. Although this movement had no happy ending, the BSS showed its influence again. It took over the movement very soon. Deng, Kang and Jiang Xiaoxian (??? in Chinese), Chiang’s nephew and bodyguard, also BSS members were appointed General Secretariats of this movement, and the limitations on and supervision of life styles was enforced by the BSS. By controlling the mouthpieces of the KMT, the BSS openly expressed advocacy of fascism in its publications.

FallAs a professional politician, unlike Teng, He never concealed his ambition for power. He used his relations to foster a Hunan Clique in the BSS, which aroused the suspicion of Chiang, who was concerned that the BSS might use its abuse of power to threaten his governance one day. So Chiang decided to take action and let his protégés know that their leader was still Chiang and that nobody else was the paramount leader of the BSS. In 1934 Chiang used the excuse of corruption and malfunction of the BSS after its quick expansion to dismiss He as General Secretary of the BSS. Liu Jianqun was appointed to succeed He. With the rise of Kang and the SD , and the Southwestern Clique behind him; and the Zhejiang Clique led by Hu Zongnan and Dai Li, BSS faced the same fate as the old KMT.

At the same time, with the continuation of the New Culture Movement, the BSS spread its influence into the cultural centers of Shanghai and other major cities, which used to be the CC Clique’s power base. Though cultural conflicts occurred on paper, they were in fact bloody struggles for power. Chen was greatly irritated, but he was still waiting for a good chance to fight back.

In June 1934, the Nanchang Airport ,which was built by donations from Chinese all over the world for training the KMT air force, was burned down. The Aviation Commissioner, Xu Peigen (??? in Chinese) ,who was also a BSS member ,was the primary suspect. Deng was sent to investigate this case. He reached the conclusion that the fire was accidentally caused by a cigarette that had been dropped by a soldier. But Chen Lifu and Yang Yongtai argued that Xu masterminded the fire to eliminate evidence of his corruption, and that Deng had colluded with Xu in the cover-up. Upon Yang's suggestion, Xu was kept in custody, Deng was sacked and all his titles were removed. The Chinese Culture Academy was banned. Dai Li was recommended by Yang to investigate this case. Dai saved no time in taking over Deng’s investigation agency and integrated it into his own special agency, which later evolved into the Military Statistical Bureau, the notorious secret police agency of the KMT. Of course, Dai left the BSS to set up his own kingdom.

Taking advantage of this heavy blow to the BSS, the Politics Research Clique began to consummate the Administrative Office System, which was to add a new level of administration offices between the provincial level and the county level although the two level system had been followed in China for more than one thousand years. With the appearance of new offices, the Politics Research Clique was able to control the county level which used to be absent. Many bureaucrats who used to be loyal to the CC Clique and the BSS defected to the Politics Research Clique. The Politics Research Clique began to take over the promotion

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of, Categorizing, and the Guaranteeing of Group Systems, and then the security forces, the police and the militia step by step.

Liu was replaced by Feng Ti under the excuse that he had health problems and was sent to Northern China to work with Zeng Kuoqing for the BSS there. In 1935, two chief editors of pro-Japanese newspapers were assassinated. The Japanese troops in Northern China thought that these actions were taken by the BSS. They argued that it was a violation of the Tanggu Accord between China and Japan which was signed in order to keep the status quo of Northern China. Under the leadership of Yoshijiro Umezu (????? ),who was commander of Japanese troops in Northern China at that time, the Japanese spy agency under the direction of Kenji Doihara (????? ) provided information about its Investigation of the BSS as the appendix of a memo sent to He Yingqing, who was the commander of Northern Chinese troops at that time. He agreed with all of the recommendations proposed by the Japanese in this memo, which later was called the He-Umezu Accord. According to this accord, all forces having relations with the BSS including military police, regular forces such as the 2nd Division and the 25th Division should be evacuated from Beijing and out of Hebei province. The BSS had to retreat from Beijing in humiliation.

When Feng Ti took over civilian military training for the KMT, he used this opportunity to enroll new members into the BSS. Hu Zongnan, Dai Li and other former BSS members also strengthened their grip on power by enrolling members into their own force. The pyramid of the BSS had been set up again. On the top were hundreds of whampoa graduates. below were more than 30,000 mid and low level officers, university teachers and public servants. And below them were more than 200,000 members of the CRS. At the bottom were hundreds of thousands of boy scouts. With the organization undergoing such a huge and rapid expansion, corruption and inefficiency plagued BSS divisions all over the country. Furthermore in 1935, there was a serious security leak in the headquarters of the BSS, and the BSS was involved in the assassination of Wang Jingwei, under heavy pressure, Feng Ti was sacked. And Liu Jianquan took over, then Zheng Jiemin succeeded him in turn.

In 1936 Deng Wenyi became the General Secretary of the BSS. In December 1936, the Xi'an Incident took place in this chaotic atmosphere. After Chiang was arrested and kept in custody by General Zhang Xueliang’s army, there were disagreements between KMT leaders on whether to solve this incident by peace talks or by military action. In the meeting held by the BSS, He Zhonghan and Deng expressed their determination to use military action and called for the mobilization of BSS members around the country. 176 young generals issued a statement to denounce Zhang Xueliang and announce war on his army. Under the direction of He, more than 2000 officers and BSS members held a meeting pledging their allegiance to Chiang and agreeing to mobilize military action against general Zhang. Gui Yongqing led an army of more than 12,000 men in heavily armored vehicles across the Yangtze River as avant-couriers. But this reckless action received a cold shoulder from Chen and other KMT leaders, even He Yingqing, who was in charge of the KMT military didn’t agree with the BSS’s movement and sent them no support troops.

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Chiang’s wife Soong May-ling came to Xian for peace talks. Due to the efforts of the CPC delegation led by Zhou Enlai, who wanted to set up an alliance with the KMT against the Japanese, Chiang was released several weeks later. After his release, Chiang took revenge on his protégés’ for their reckless action and lack of control which might have wreaked havoc on his governance and might even have killed him in the Xian Incident. Deng was sacked with all titles removed again and he was replaced by Kang Ze. He was out of favor with Chiang and had to travel around Europe. In March 1937, Chiang issued his order that all activities of the BSS should be temporarily suspended.

With the Chinese-Japanese general war breaking out on July 7th 1937, Japanese troops conquered vast areas of China quickly. Before Nanjing fell to Japanese troops, Kang led the retreat of the BSS from its headquarters. In 1938 the BSS held its first and last national congress in Wuhan. In this congress members of the BSS and SPTPP were permitted to have their memberships automatically transferred to the KMT , members of the CRS could be transferred to the Youth League of Three Principles of the People (??????? in Chinese, hereafter referred to as the YLTPP in short ). Most of the 500,000 members of the BSS and CRS didn’t transfer to the KMT, they chose the YLTPP instead, which was the basis of another new and rising force within the KMT and the reason why Hu Zongnan kept the position of Director of the YLTPP all along, and Kang only acted as his agent. But the biggest winner was Dai Li, his new spy agency, the Military Statistical Bureau was set up, and he took all the agents of the BSS, CRS and SD, which made him almost more powerful than Himmler. He kept his control over this secret empire until his death in an airplane crash in 1946, but only on the condition that Chiang never express doubt about Dai’s loyalty, otherwise he would have been purged without any mercy just like his BSS fellows.

This was the end of the BSS. But Kang still wanted to keep it alive under the cover of the YLTPP. In the following 7 years he endeavored to increase YLTPP membership from 400,000 to more than 1.5 million. Kang used the SD style to re-organize the YLTPP and turned it into a group that was much more efficient and disciplined than the KMT, which aroused Chiang’s suspicion again. Moreover, when Chiang sent his son Chiang Ching-kuo to the Soviet Union where he learned numerous CP political organization and propaganda skills, he sought to take over the YLTPP after his return home. Kang was reluctant and tried to resist junior Chiang’s efforts. Consequently, Kang’s fall was destined. In 1945 Kang was sent to Europe. During the Chinese Civil War, many members of the YLTPP were killed or captured in the battles against CPC armies. When the fall of the KMT became an undeniable fact, some YLTPP members fled to Taiwan, those left behind were purged after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Some of them were executed, others were thrown in jail, others were discriminated against, but few were lucky enough to survive the Cultural Revolution. Only those prominent YLTPP figures such as Kang survived the purges as the best examples of the CPC’s clemency toward successfully modified war criminals.

LegacyThe following were some of the most prominent and earliest members of BSS.

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Teng was later appointed as mayor of Nanjing temporarily. He went to Taiwan with KMT troops and later retired from the position of chairman of Central Trust Bureau of KMT.

He lived in idleness for quite while and then was appointed as director of Labor Bureau. When KMT retreated to Taiwan, he was Minister of Communication and Policy Counselor, but never gained great power as before.

Liu's wife was an agent working for Kenji Doihara, and later brought many confidential documents with her on defecting to the Japanese. Liu had to be a fugitive to escape from the hunting of his former colleague Dai Li. Liu became a monk and spent years in Guizhou before Chiang found him by chance. Chiang showed his mercy by asking Liu back to politics. Liu was once vice-speaker of the KMT Congress. When he went to Taiwan, Liu lived in poverty and unknown to outside world. Before his death in 1960's, Liu's last contribution was providing valuable details for an article on the BSS written by an American professor.

After several times rise and fall, Deng showed little interest in politics. He arrived in Taiwan and retired as Director of Political Work Bureau.

Feng Ti was appointed as commander of guard for Changsha, but was executed in 1938 as scapegoat for a big fire set by KMT force to resist the invasion of Japanese army which killed thousands of civilians.

Kang was sent to the battlefront after his return from Europe and was POW. Although KMT propaganda departments pictured him as a martyr, Kang lived well in custody and confessed to CPC. In 1963 he was released in CPC amnesty and died 4 years later.

Hu’s troops were annihilated by CPC armies. When he retreated to Taiwan, he was impeached by 46 members of Control Yuan for his incompetence in military command. Although Hu was released with no charge, he was appointed a defense commander for a little island and never returned to the central stage of political stage. After his retirement, Hu died in peace in 1962.

Zeng was a POW in the civil war, and later released by the CPC. He died in 1983.

Gui later became commander of the KMT navy, then went to Taiwan and died during his term as Chief of Staff of KMT army in 1954.

Dai Li became head of secret police and espionage of the KMT, and died in an air crash in 1946. Zheng succeeded Dai in leading the secret police for the KMT. He died in 1959 in Taiwan.

ReferencesDing, San. Lanyishe suipian. Beijing: Renmin wenxue chubanshe, 2003. ISBN 7-02-004232-5Eastman, Lloyd E. The Abortive Revolution: China under Nationalist Rule, 1927-1937. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.

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Wakeman, Frederic, Jr. "A Revisionist View of the Nanjing Decade: Confucian Fascism." The China Quarterly 20, no. 150, Special Issue: Reappraising Republic China (1997): 395-432.Chung, Dooeum, "Elitist Fascism: Chiang Kaishek's Blueshirts in 1930's China." Ashgate 2000, ISBN 10 - 0754611663, ISBN 13 - 9780754611660.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Shirts_Society"

Categories: History of the Republic of China | Secret societies | 1932 establishments | Military wings of political parties | Terrorism in China

This page was last modified on 5 November 2008, at 21:24. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.END OF Blue Shirts and CHINA===>EGYPTOnly two Web results, which are reproduced below.http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/748/chrncls.htmhttp://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/725/chrncls.htm

= EGYPTBlue Shirts In Egypt""Here is an article by Yunan Labib Rizk in the Egyptian newspaper, Al Ahram, and then an excerpt. Blue Shirts are mentioned about thirty times here. This is almost the whole article because there it is the only item I found, and it is well written. Egypt is another very old culture, like China, and we might not think BLUE would be a color associated with a political group in Egypt (or China). Green and Red might seem better choices. However, it is important to learn that the first Synthetic Color was actually “Egyptian Blue”! "" - Bill

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/748/chrncls.htm

The Colour of ShirtsUnique in modern Egyptian history were the Green Shirts and the Blue Shirts, paramilitary youth groups inspired by the success of fascist youth groups in Europe.Professor Yunan Labib Rizk describes the political climate, at home and abroad, which produced their rise

El-Nahhas would forbid youth organisations from carrying weapons, demonstrating in the streets or appearing in public wearing blue shirts

Al-Ahram: A Diwan of contemporary lifeThirty years ago The Egyptian Historical Periodical featured an article of mine entitled "Shirts of different hues". At the time, I thought this study was the final word on the subject. I had combed through recently declassified British

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documents as well as Al-Sarkha and Al-Jihad, the mouthpieces of the Green Shirts and the Blue Shirts. However, under much more recent inspection of contemporary editions of Al-Ahram, I realised that there was still much more to be said.At least the introduction to that study still applies, which is why I will dust it off and use it here: "For about four years, from the end of 1933 to the end of 1937, political life in Egypt saw the rise of paramilitary youth groups known as the Green Shirts, founded by the Young Egypt Society, and the Blue Shirts, founded by the Wafd Party for its younger members." It was my opinion that this phenomenon was unique in modern Egyptian history, at least as an overt form of political activity, and that in order to understand why such groups came into being at that particular time it was important to identify and understand the features of the political climate that were conducive to their rise.On the one hand, it was a reaction to the government of Prime Minister Ismail Sidqi whose abrogation of the 1923 Constitution and subsequent repressive policies had profoundly rocked society. These policies in effect set the tone for an era in which other political forces began to resort to unconventional weapons. The palace, having failed in its bid to create effective royalist parties -- the Ittihad (Union) in the 1920s and the Shaab (People's Party) in the early 1930s, parties the Wafd Party ridiculed as "artificial" -- cast about for a new way to solicit support and demonstrate its clout. One solution was to mobilise a new generation of youth, a generation that palace officials believed was totally different from that whose consciousness shaped and was shaped by the 1919 Revolution and thus whose loyalties were naturally disposed towards the Wafd Party.The Wafd Party, in turn, realised that in relying exclusively on its popularity as the "underdog" could actually be a source of vulnerability, as was amply demonstrated by the highly unpopular actions the Sidqi government took against it. At the same time, Wafd leaders were alarmed by their adversaries' unconventional use of "youth organisations", which inspired them to resort to the same tactics. The result was the Blue Shirts, made up of Wafdist youth.At the same time, the new generation of youth felt that the 1919 Revolution had so far failed to realise its goal of full national independence and sovereignty. The primary cause of this failure, in their opinion, was internal fragmentation, which could only be countered by the promotion of a national front, the solidity and vitality of which depended first and foremost on Egyptian youth.That this reaction should take the form of societies of a militarist stripe was clearly influenced by global political trends. Specifically, a large segment of Egyptian nationalist opinion was strongly inspired by the successes of fascist youth groups in Europe: the Italian bands of Black Shirts who famously marched on Rome in 1922, enabling the Fascist Party takeover, and the Nazi storm troopers, or Brown Shirts, whose practices of intimidation against the adversaries of the National Socialist Party helped Hitler into power.Also in this paper of mine I established that a variety of interwoven factors brought all other political forces into play with this phenomenon. The National Party, for example, established close relations with Young Egypt Society leaders Ahmed Hussein and Fathi Radwan. Liberal Constitutionalists, such as Mohamed Ali Alouba, felt that an association with such youth groups would help compensate for their party's lacking popularity. Of course, both the British high commissioner's office and Abdeen Palace had their own reasons for getting involved.

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British authorities in Cairo feared that the spread of such paramilitary youth groups would lead to a security breakdown and threaten the lives and interests of foreigners in Egypt. High Commissioner Sir Miles Lampson was also disturbed by the implications of these groups' obvious inspiration by their counterparts in fascist Italy. The Italians at that time were the largest expatriate community in Egypt after the Greeks and the British would not have appreciated a potential fifth column at the time of increasing tension between London and Rome following Italy's invasion of Ethiopia. In addition, British authorities had long striven to maintain an even keel between the two major forces in the Egyptian political arena, the Palace and the Wafd Party. The youth groups were threatening to throw this policy off kilter. With its overwhelming popularity and its position in government for two out of the four years of this period, the Wafd Party was in a virtually unassailable position. Not only could it lend all the moral encouragement it wanted to the Blue Shirts, it could also fund them, if not directly out of the pockets of the Wafd Party, then out of the secret funds at the disposal of the prime minister.The palace during this period was in an increasingly shaky position. The governing system it had brought into being with Prime Minister Sidqi had begun to tear at the seams while the king himself suffered a serious decline in his health, raising the spectre of his imminent death. Palace influence reached its lowest ebb with the fall of the Sidqi government, after which it succumbed to British pressure to install an interim government under Tawfiq El-Nassim until new parliamentary elections could be held, and to dismiss the king's powerful right-hand man Zaki El-Ibrashi. Following the death of the king on 28 April 1936, it appeared that the Wafd now held the incontestable upper hand, especially as its party leaders, after having been voted into power, were in a position to choose the key members of the regency council. Its good fortune was not destined to last, however. On 29 July 1937, the young King Farouk reached the age of majority and as though in an early attempt to assert his independence, demanded a coronation ceremony different from the one his Wafdist regents had planned for him. Although Wafd Party leader Mustafa El-Nahhas's opinion prevailed on this issue, the incident was an omen of his government's impending fate. High Commissioner Lampson was increasingly of the opinion that the Wafd was getting a little too smug. After its success in negotiating the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 and in bringing an end to the foreign Capitulations System the following year, the party was riding a wave of popularity that made it feel it could simply ignore Lampson's ultimatums. By the end of 1937, the Wafd's overbearingness would bring the defection of two of the party's key members -- Ahmed Maher and Mahmoud Fahmi -- and the collapse of El-Nahhas's government. With this development, the phenomenon of Blue Shirts and shirts of other colours began to fade until they eventually vanished altogether with the defeat of the fascist and Nazi regimes in World War II.Under the headline, "Shirt colours in Egypt and the need for group organisations", an Al-Ahram editorial of 11 July 1936 offers its opinion on the subject. On the whole, the newspaper was supportive of the idea. It urged the government to ignore recent demands to prohibit the wearing of coloured shirts as a political and ideological emblem. These shirts were "the uniform of the renaissance of youth in our times and the symbol of dedication to the service of the nation," it argued. "The Black Shirt policy in Italy succeeded in arousing a spirit of patriotic zeal unlike any seen for centuries... This is because it is founded on the power of

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organisation, the instilling of a sense of pride and dignity and the conquering of the feelings of weakness and timidity." It adds, "Egypt, like other nations, still needs to organise groups that are active among the people who are the source of authority."Although the editorial admitted that such groups could become tools in the hands of forces aspiring to dictatorial rule, as occurred in Germany and Italy, it felt that they had positive aspects from which Egyptians could benefit. Among these was their ability to inculcate a sense of order and discipline, moral rigour and a spirit of dedication and commitment. Bearing these advantages in mind, "we could permit for a diversity of these groups the democratic framework upheld by the constitution, whereby each group operating beneath the emblem of a specific colour would perceive it as its duty to eradicate a form of weakness in the national body. Then the value of each 'shirt' would be assessed on the basis of the service its wearers performed for the nation." That such organisations could work within democratic systems was evidenced by Sir Oswald Mosley. And admirer of Hitler and Mussolini, the British politician had described parliament as a "talk shop" and had also founded a group that distinguished itself by a dark-coloured shirt. On this phenomenon, a British minister said, "Let Sir Mosley say what he wants and wear the colour of shirts he likes. His fascism will always be too weak to harm our long established democracy."In a subsequent article, the newspaper expressed its hope that the government would not disband the youth groups on the pretext of maintaining public order. "There are soldiers and police whose purpose it is to serve the nation by maintaining law and order, not to subject the nation to the order of the police and the department of public security."Encouraged by the Al-Ahram position, Faculty of Law student Mohamed Zuhdi Afifi contributed a lengthy article on "Fascism in Italy". Before the rise of this movement, he wrote, Italy was in the throes of chaos. The fascists seized upon this situation to march on Rome where they easily forced themselves into power. Soon after, Mussolini issued his famous declaration, "The means to power is not the will of the people but force. Force is the foundation of the law and it imposes the law." Afifi then states that Mussolini restored order to Italy, rooted out communism which had almost torn the country apart and brought workers' strikes to a halt so that business could resume in full vigour. The Italian dictator further brought discipline to the ranks of the Italian people and instilled in them a new spirit. They had come to look to him as the reviver of ancient Rome. "The new order has done Italy a great service, having remedied the lethal ills from which it had suffered," Afifi concluded.Well after the Blue Shirts became an established phenomenon, National Party leader Hafez Ramadan protested that he had fathered the idea of the Blue Shirts, but that the Wafd had stolen the idea from him. In 1932, he wrote, he had founded the Falcons, an association for fostering the physical, mental and moral uplifting of youth. He had chosen the falcon as its emblem because "this bird is known for its energy, as it leaves its nest before the rising of the sun, and because it symbolises courage and strength, and because ancient Egyptians depicted it with the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. It thus represents the unity and solidarity of the Egyptian people." The members of this association, which he insisted was entirely non-partisan, had been wearing blue shirts for years. "It never occurred to them to lay claim to that dress code even though this is what they wore when, in the era of those governments formed since 1932, they

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engaged in physical training or sporting outings in Wadi Hof, at the foot of the Pyramids or in the barren desert. Nor did it ever occur to any of those governments to outlaw the Falcons because they themselves had never contemplated serving as a tool for intimidating and pressuring others."As though in response to this letter, Al-Ahram dispatched a correspondent to interview Blue Shirts leader Ahmed Bilal on the aims and structures of this organisation. The idea, Bilal relates, dated to the student uprising of November 1935 in demand for the restoration of the 1923 Constitution. The student demonstrations had much in common with military organisations. "We would march in organised files that filled the breadth of the street. At the head of each file was a student officer. By the time the uprising ended, we had come up with the idea of the blue shirt worn by students and workers." The blue shirt, he continued, became the symbol of unity and equality among youth, whether they were rich or poor, young or old, educated or not. This, however, did not obviate the need to screen potential members on the basis of moral rectitude, character, patriotism and other qualifications. The "soldiers" of this organisation were not permitted to bear arms other than a billy club worn on the belt as a symbol of military order. To this could be added a knife of the sort used by scouts, taken on camping excursions. Knives, guns or other weapons forbidden by law or requiring a special license were forbidden to Blue Shirt members.In "Shirts of different hues" I discussed the adversarial relationship between the Blue Shirts and Green Shirts and the clashes that invariably resulted in the withdrawal of the latter, leaving the field open to the former. However, contemporary Al-Ahram editions lend a sense of immediacy that no academic study could convey. At the same time, I did not delve into the relationship between the Blue Shirts and the Wafd Party or the Wafdist government headed by El-Nahhas, having accepted the assumption that the paramilitary youth organisation was merely a means with which the Wafd intimidated its adversaries who resorted to the same tactics. The assumption was an oversimplification of reality, as we discover in Al-Ahram.On numerous occasions, the Blue Shirts displayed an initiative that indicated that the Wafd did not have as tight a control on the reigns of this organisation as it thought. These occasions proved to be extremely embarrassing for the Wafd government, incurring as they did the scorn of the British high commissioner and incensed the opposition press. Indeed, even the predominantly Wafdist parliament was moved to question the government on the activities of this organisation.One of the most notorious outbreaks of violence took place in the summer of 1937 in Damanhur. Young Egypt Society leader Ahmed Hussein had filed suit in the Damanhur court in defence of the right of his group to open a club in that city.On the day he appeared, "a huge crowd surrounded the court building from all sides and began to shout in support of El-Nahhas and the Wafd Party." The Al-Ahram report goes on to say that the police raced to the rescue of the beleaguered Young Egypt leader, bringing in a police van into which they bundled Hussein and sped off to Alexandria. Even so, a segment of the crowd chased after the police car, throwing stones and bricks at it and succeeding in breaking its rear window. Most of these were Blue Shirts, of course.One evening in Cairo's ancient Al-Gamaliya quarter, a street sweeper was busily doing his job when a gust of wind blew some of the sand and dust he was

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collecting into the Blue Shirt training camp. One of the youths rushed out of the camp and physically assaulted the sweeper, inflicting several wounds. The injured worker reported the incident to the police and when an officer came to the camp to summon the perpetrator, a fight broke out between the police and the Blue Shirts. The police overcame their adversaries, broke into the camp and arrested the street sweeper's assailant and four others. Then, another skirmish erupted outside the Al-Gamaliya police station, following which nine more Blue Shirts were arrested. The 14 were brought to trial and sentenced to fines varying from 100 to 200 piastres. Some were able to pay and were released. Those who could not afford the fine asked to serve time in detention instead, for which purpose they were transferred to Al-Sayida Zeinab police station.In Damietta, a band of Blue Shirts passing by the ceremonial tent the Alayli household had erected for the celebrations of the anniversary of the birth of the Prophet fell into a brawl with some of those inside the tent. Police arrived to separate the brawlers, after which the contending parties marched off shouting assorted slogans. "Six people were injured and sent to the emergency clinic to have their wounds treated," the Al-Ahram report concludes.In Minia, two rival Blue Shirt gangs engaged in a brawl leaving two of them seriously injured. One of them, Mahmoud Rashed Shirkas, died of his wounds. The other was permanently disfigured. The animosity between the two groups stemmed from a power struggle that had begun several months earlier.Meanwhile, the Wafd Party was heading for crisis. In forming his fourth government on 1 August 1937, El-Nahhas excluded a major pillar of the Wafd, Mahmoud El-Nuqrashi. The rift in party ranks that this triggered naturally rebounded on the Blue Shirts. El-Nuqrashi himself called for the dissolution of the Blue Shirt bands in Cairo and the provinces, and others took up his call. Prime among these was Mohamed Kamel El-Damati who had broken off from the Blue Shirt general command headed by Bilal in order to form the General-Command of the Independent League. In response to El-Nuqrashi's call, the Damati faction had a ceremonial burning of their blue shirts in the league's camp in Abbasiya.The uncontrolled outbreaks of violence combined with the internal debacle of the Wafd had severely undermined the party's moral credibility. In the face of attacks in both the Egyptian and British press, Wafd leaders began to feel they had to act in the face of the youth groups that were causing them such embarrassment. In the Manchester Guardian we read that in response to the growing anxiety among both Egyptian and foreign circles in Cairo over the coloured shirt movement and over the rapid spread of the Blue Shirts in particular, "Wafd leaders have recently made it clear that they are disinclined to continue carrying a child that has shot up so quickly." Similarly, The Daily Telegraph reports that El-Nahhas had prohibited the Blue Shirts from parading in the streets in their official dress. Apparently, the organisation had gone even beyond the Wafd leader's control, for the newspaper adds that the Blue Shirts obeyed his instructions for a while but soon were seen again, "carrying truncheons and knives and claiming that they were above the law."In parliament, Ibrahim Desouqi Abaza confronted the minister of interior with the following protest: "The country is crying out in anger and pain at the illicit and illegal acts being perpetrated by the Blue Shirts. They abuse public order in order to sew corruption, attack people individually and in groups, and trample the liberties guaranteed by the constitution." Increasingly on the defensive, the government had to do something to bring the Blue Shirts under control. It was

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decided to place them directly under the command of El-Nahhas, to forbid them from carrying weapons of any sort or to demonstrate in the street or appear in public wearing blue shirts. In addition, the government issued a new statute regulating the creation and activities of such youth organisations and it initiated prosecution proceedings against group leaders for the crimes they and their followers had perpetrated.Apparently, such actions had little immediate effect, for in a speech on 17 November 1937, El-Nahhas complained of "those who flout law and order in order to cause unrest." Tougher action was required. At El-Nahhas's instructions, the Ministry of Interior began to regularly patrol the Blue Shirt camps, sending them a clear signal that their days were numbered. The end came sooner than expected. On the day before the end of 1937 the El-Nahhas government resigned and with it the Wafd's militant Blue Shirts vanished as well.>>>>>""Below is a short excerpt from a second Al Ahram article on Egypt's modern history. Blue Shirts are mentioned twice here."" - Bill

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/print/2005/725/chrncls.htm

Al-Ahram: A Diwan of contemporary lifeMr Fix-itSo adept was Prime Minister Ali Maher at solving the problems of state that he became best known for his trouble shooting abilities. His finest moment was undoubtedly in 1936 when the government of Tawfiq Nassim collapsed and Maher was called on to pick up the pieces. Professor Yunan Labib Rizk describes the "man of the hour"

National consciousness often develops immutable images of public figures. Most frequently these images, however simplified, are grounded in the actual practices or behaviour of the figures involved. Thus, we have King Fouad the autocrat, his son Farouk the playboy, Mustafa El-Nahhas the kind- hearted patriot and, in sharp contrast, Ismail Sidqi the despot. Alongside these in our pre-revolutionary mental album is "the man of the hour", the image that became associated with Ali Maher whom all could depend on to steer the ship of the nation out of turbulent seas.It was Ali Maher who came to the rescue towards the end of King Fouad's rule when, in 1936, the Tawfiq Nassim government collapsed and the Wafd Party refused to share power in a coalition government.. . . .

Nor were the demonstrations confined to Cairo. In Alexandria the students of the Science Institute went on strike, as did the students of the Agricultural College in Damanhur, where police sprayed protesters with fire hoses after having failed to disperse them amicably, and the students in Zaqaziq Secondary School, where students refused to attend classes.In addition, the Wafd took advantage of the occasion to call out its "Blue Shirts", the paramilitary group it created to counter the "Green Shirts" created by Misr Al-Fatat (Young Egypt) Movement. Al-Ahram reports: "A large regiment of the Wafdist youth group, known as the Blue Shirts, assembled in files in front of the gates of Abdine Palace, sounded its customary salute and then called out the following cheers three times each in succession: 'Long live the king! Long live the

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United Front! Long live Nahhas Pasha! Long live the constitutional king! Down with the nationalist cabinet! Long live the Wafd, leader of the nation! Long live the front of solidarity! Long live Nahhas Pasha with the front!' The popular masses joined in with these cheers, which persisted until Ali Maher left the palace."

. . . .© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reservedEND of Blue Shirts and EGYPT

= ITALYhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Shirts_Societyhttp://la-articles.org.uk/fascism.htm

Blue Shirts In Italy - "The Squadre Azzurre"

8. Garibaldi's followers had worn red shirts. Corradini's nationalists, absorbed into the Fascist Party in 1923, wore blue shirts.(back)

From: The Rise of Fascism, by F.L. Carsten2 The Italian ExampleThe War and its Aftermath. . . .A private army had come into being; high-ranking army officers encouraged and helped D'Annunzio. Without the connivance of these circles the whole enterprise could never have been successful. The state abandoned its authority. The Nationalists too organized their own shock troops wearing blue shirts, the squadre azzurre, to fight socialists, democrats and freemasons. Socialist deputies were attacked in the streets of Rome. D'Annunzio was planning to march on the capital. On 30 October Mussolini wrote to him from Milan: 'We are organizing bands of twenty men each with some kind of uniforms and weapons' which 'are awaiting your orders'.8 The king was to be deposed, and a republic to be proclaimed. D'Annunzio remained in Fiume for fifteen months, but then the venture collapsed. In November 1920 Italy and Yugoslavia signed a treaty which assigned Dalmatia to Yugoslavia and made Fiume a free city. The government of Giolitti who had become prime minister in June ordered D'Annunzio to evacuate Fiume, which he refused to do. Giolitti then instituted a blockade of the town, whereupon D'Annunzio issued a declaration of war. But one shell from a battleship which slightly wounded him made him change his mind; he quietly left Fiume and retired into private life. The first energetic action by the government was sufficient to terminate a movement which had done great harm to Italy and to the authority of the state. Above all, the whole affair served as a dress-rehearsal for the march on Rome.. . . .Meanwhile the Quadrumvirs had installed themselves in a hotel at Perugia opposite the prefecture under the protection of a heavily armed guard; from there they directed the mobilization of the Black Shirts. About midnight on 27 October they called on the prefect to give up his powers, and he duly did so. The Fascists then occupied the post office, the police station and the building of the provincial administration without encountering any resistance. The same happened all over northern Italy; in some places the military barracks too were occupied. There was

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hardly any opposition. In Siena and elsewhere the soldiers fraternized with the Fascists, who were usually commanded by former officers. The Blue Shirts of the Nationalists made common cause with the Black Shirts. The whole action was undertaken under the slogans: 'Long live Italy! Long live the King! Long live the Army!'. . . .A few weeks later the Fascists succeeded in absorbing at least one other party which was represented in the government: the Nationalists. They had for some time been close to the Fascists, and their Blue Shirts had taken part in the march on Rome. But they were much more bourgeois than the Fascists, more traditional and less ruthless, hence unable to compete with them. At the end of February an agreement was reached according to which the Nationalists transferred to the Fascist Party; the two parliamentary groups united under Fascist leadership. Two Nationalists, Federzoni and Maraviglia, became members of the Fascist Grand Council, and the Fascists inherited the far-reaching nationalist aspirations in the field of foreign policy. During the same month the Nationalist leader Enrico Corradini proclaimed that Fascism was not the 'dictatorship of one man, or of a few, or of many', but that of 'supreme necessity, that of the nation'.20End of Blue Shirts and ITALY

=FRANCESearch: “Francistes”, “Le Chemises Bleues”, “Marcel Bucard”.http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=123996http://www.exalead.com/wikipedia/results/Fran%C3%A7ois%20C...5897573&nocookie=1&nojs=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solidarit%C3%A9_Fran%C3%A7aise

Here is an entry from Wikipedia.

Mouvement FrancisteFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources.Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (August 2006)

The Mouvement Franciste ("Francist" Movement) was a French Fascist and Anti-semitic league created by Marcel Bucard in September 1933; it edited the newspaper Le Francisme. Mouvement Franciste reached of membership of 10,000, and was financed by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Its members were deemed the francistes or Chemises bleues (Blueshirts), and gave the Roman salute (a paramilitary character which was mirrored in France by François Coty's Solidarité Française).

The Mouvement took part in the violent Paris rallies of 6 February 1934, during which the entire far right (from Action Française to Croix-de-Feu) protested the implications of the Stavisky Affair and possibly attempted to topple the Édouard Daladier government. It incorporated the Solidarité Française after Coty's death later in the same year.

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All the 6 February participant movements were outlawed in 1936, when Léon Blum's Popular Front government passed new legislation on the matter. After a failed attempt in 1938, the Movement was refounded as a Party (Parti Franciste) in 1941, after France was overrun by Nazi Germany.

Together with Jacques Doriot's Parti Populaire Français and Marcel Déat's Rassemblement National Populaire, the francistes were the main collaborators of the Nazi occupiers and Vichy France. The Parti Franciste did not survive the end of World War II, and was considered treasonous.END OF WIKI article.

Here is another interesting set of postings from a history forum.

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=123996French Youth groups14 July 2007

Was there any kind of Youth allowed In Vichy or the occupied zones of France?Anyone know anything about it?Thanks to Everyone! Johnmaxpower

French Youth groupsby clement on 14 July 2007 12:29

Hi maxNational Youth Groups: FranceWhen Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, the French Army except for minor excursions waited behind the Maginot line. The Government, mindful of the horrendous casualties incurred during World War I, hesitated to act. After the so called "Phony War", the Germans struck the first real blow. The German offense in the West was begun on May 19, 1940 in the Low Countries. By the beginning of June, German tanks were pouring into France. The British evacuated at Dunkirk. The French Government evacuated Paris on June 15. Marshall Pétain, the Victor of Verdun, was asked to form a Government. On June 22 an armistice was signed at Compaigne, in the same railway car that the World War I armistice had been signed. Only part of France was occupied. This was the only such agreement that Hitler signed with one of the occupied countries. The new French Government was installed at Vichy and is this known as the Vichy Republic. For most Frenchmen the War was lost. Many saw no alternative but to collaborate with the Germans.Vichy and YouthVichy's reaction to the shock of defeat was to blame a weakening in the moral fiber of the country's young people. Pétain and other right-wing Vichy leaders blamed the Third Republic which they complained had been dominated by Socialists and Jews. Concerning French youth Vichy blamed the French educational system which they saw as dominated by secular and even worse left-wing elements. Pétain also felt the schools placed to great an emphasis on scholarship and intellectual development. He felt that the schools should give more emphasis to building the moral fibre of French youth. Here his primary concern was with French boys. One reform in Vichy schools was to give more

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emphasis on physical education. In a notable speech Pétain delivered (January 1, 1944), he insisted "ce qu'il faut à la France, à notre cher pays, ce ne sont pas des intelligences, mais des caractères" (`what France, our cherished country, needs is character not intelligence'). Vichy's National Revolution also was concerned about the growing secularization of French society. Pétain wanted more religious instruction in schools. Vichy reinstated religion as a compulsory subject (January 1941). In addition to educational reforms, Vichy also gave considerable attention to youth movements.ScoutsNAZI Germany invaded and defeated the French Army (June 1940). In the resulting Armistice agreement, France was divided into an occupied zone (northern and western France and an unoccupied zone administered by Marshal Petain's collaborationist Government at Vichy. NAZI German occpationist authorities banned Scouting. This was the same action the Germans took in other occupied countries. The Germans as in Germany itself want all youth activities under Government control. In particular they did want any uniformed groups, even youth groups, to be outside their control. In the unoccupied zone, Vichy officials permitted the Scouts de France to continue. Famed French Scouting artist Pierre Joubert reportedly moved from Paris to the unoccupied zone so he could continue to remain active in Scouting. (After the War some looked on him as a collaborationist because of this.) The Vichy Government attempted to control the Scouts and other youth movements, but many of the members strongly favored the Allies and this sentiment increased as the war began to turn against the Germans. After the Allies invaded French North Africa (November 1942), the Germans occupied the unoccupied area as well. I do not know what action the Germans took toward Scouting at this tome.Political BackgroundUnlike some of the Nordic countries, there were no French NAZI parties of any significance. Two small parties appropriate the name, but they had no real following. Two political parties achieved some prominence in occupied France.

THE PARTI POPULARIE FRANÇAIS (PPF) was founded in 1934 by Jacques Doriot who was a former communist. Doriot quarreled with Moscow and formed a right-wing party. The party before the War claimed a membership of 0.25 million and after the German occupation they claimed 0.5 million. This is undoubtedly an exaggeration, actual membership must have been much smaller. The PPF was theoretically restricted to the Occupied Zone. All political party activity was banned in the Unoccupied Zone under the thinly disguised title of the Mouvement Populaire Française. The Third Republic had banned the wearing of political uniforms. After the occupation, the PPF resumed wearing their Blue Shirted uniforms which had become synonymous with Fascism in France. (In the same way that the German NAZI Storm Troopers of the SA were known as the brown shirts.) The PPF Storm Troopers were called the Service d'Ordre, later change to :es Gardes Françaises. The youth branch of the PPF was known as the Jeunesse Popilaire Française (JPF). Like the PPF Service d'Ordre, they wore blue shirts. The full uniform, which not everyone possessed, consisted of a dark blue shirt, black tie, dark blue "battle dress" (short tunic), blue trousers and anklets, dark blue beret or side cap, leather belt, and cross strap. As a result of war time shortages, most members only wore the blue shirt, black tie, and trousers with the appropriate brassard.

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RASSEMBLEMENT NATIONAL POPULAIRE (RNP) or National Popular Rally was the other major colaborationist group. It was founded by Marcel Déat in February 1941, after the Germans had occupied France. Déat was a soldier and politician of some distinction, but in the 1930s drifted toward fascism. The RNP claimed a membership of 0.5 million, probably because the PPF made a similar claim. Actual membership was only a small faction of this. A month after its formation, the RNP set up a uniformed militia--the LNP. The youth section of the RNP was the Jeunesse Nationale Populaire (JNP). They simply wore a smaller version of the adult RNP uniforms.

THE PARTI FRANCISTE (PF) was formed in 1933. It was unique among the various collaborationist factions in that it was the only group to openly itself as fascist. The "franciste" in the Party's name defies translation, but "Frenchist" comes the closest to indicating the real meaning. The PF was founded by Marcel Bucard, a decorated World War I war hero. The PF was much addicted to ceremonies celebrating deaths and battle sacrifice. They were initially modeled more on the Italian Fascists than the German NAZIs. Like the other right wing groups, they had Blue Shirts--but of a lighter "French" Blue color. The PR youth movement were known as the Jeunesse Franciste (JF) and was made up of a boys' and girls' section. The uniform was essentially the same as the adult party uniform, which was a light Blue shirt, a navy Blue tie, and navy Blue trousers. The adults wore a navy Blue beret while the JF boys for their headgear, when worn, was usually a side cap rather than the beret. The JF girls wore a dark Blue skirt, white ankle socks, and the standard light Blue shirt. The Vichy Government in December 1942 declared the JF as the only officially recognized youth movement in, according to one author, the occupied zone. (After the American invasion of North Africa in October 1942, the Germans had occupied the unoccupied areas of France.) It is unclear why the Vichy Government so designated the JF, one source says that it was more to snub Déat and Doriot than to honor the openly fascist JF.

MOUVEMENT SOCIAL RÉVOLUTIONNAIRE (MSR)This short-lived group was a break-away element of the RNP. It functioned from October 1941 to September 1942. The youth branch was the Jeunesse Sociale Révolutionaire, a name later changed to the Jeunes Equipes de France. Unlike the adult members, they wore a khaki shirt and according to one source, a brassard with the letters "JEF".

LIGUE FRANÇAISE (LF) was founded in early 1941 by Pierre Costantini, a demented Corsican air force officer. The group’s full name was the Ligue Française anti-brittanique, anti-sémitique et anti-bolchevique (the French anti-British, anti-Semetic, and anti-Bolshevic League). Its aim was a European revolution brought about through Franco-German cooperation. The uniform of the party's storm troopers appears to be based on the NAZI SA rather than similar Blue-shirted units of other French right-wing groups. The Ligue's youth section was Les Jeunes de France et de l'Empire which was composed of the Cadets de France (10-15 year olds) and Phalanges de Garçpns (16-21 year olds). The Ligue was virulently anti-semitic and had a special unit (Sections Spéciales anti-juives). This Special Anti-Jewish Sections cooperated with SD in Paris. The level of cooperation with the Germans was made clear at the funerals of LF members

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killed by the resistance in that their coffins were draped with the SS black flag. The Ligue signed a cooperation agreement with the PPF--unusual as cooperation among collaborationist parties was rare.

Other PartiesThere were several other small right wing parties of no real political significance. These groups had various orientations, including a monarchist group. One was a Breton group favoring independence from France. It was promoted by the Germans as part of a policy of promoting French disunity. The Parti Nationaliste Breton (PNB) thus developed a more fascist tone.

Autonomous Youth MovementsThe youth movement in France during World War II is a much more complicated topic than I had anticipated. In addition to the youth sections of collaborating political parties, several autonomous youth groups operated in the unoccupied zone. Here we have noted quite a variety of groups which contrasts to other occupied countries in which the German and collaborationist authorities set up a single Fascist youth movement. We have only limited information on the different French nationalist groups at this time. There may be some overlap here with different sources using different names for the same group. Two Vichy's most important initiatives were: 1) les Compagnons de France and 2) Les Chantiers de JeunesseCHANTIERS DE JEUNESSE (CJ) A Vichy youth effort was Les Chantiers de la jeunesse (CJ). I think this translates as Youth Singers, but I do not think it was a choral group. They were a uniformed group created for young men of draft age. With Vichy's army limited by the Germans, the CJ was an alternative to national military service which was seen as a character building experience. The CJ was a quasi-military group. The program involved communal living, hard work and indoctrination into the principles of Vichy's National Revolution. The group was strongly nationalistic, but unlike what Vichy officials anticipated, most members were strongly pro-Allied and anti-German. Their politics varied with many Gaullists and royalists. It was a CJ member, Bonnier de la Chapelle, who assassinated Admiral Darlan in Algiers (December 24, 1942). [MacVane, p. 149.] The attitude of the CJ members toward Vichy and the Germans was not helped when the NAZI reverses meant that more labor was needed in the Reich. Conscription for French workers began to become increasingly important in 1943. Vichy and the Germans began using the CJ to fill the quotas.

LES COMPAGNONS DE FRANCE (CF) was formed in the aftermath of the German victory (July 1940). The founder was a civil servant and scoutmaster. It became a major youth group which promoted health, physical exercise, outdoor activities, sport, and communal living. Vichy authorities approved the CF as an officially approved, voluntary youth organization for all of Unoccupied France (August 1940). It was for boys 15-20 years old to do work of "national unity" such as assisting with the harvest or clearing war damage. As much of the French Army was interred as POWs after the armistice was signed, there was a severe manpower shortage. The French Army secunded officers to serve as leaders. The CF had organized 350 companies with 18,000 members by January 1941. The CF attempted to recruit girls beginning in January 1942, but with little success. Jewish boys were at first allowed to join, but were excluded in May 1942 as

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Vichy's anti-Semetic policies became more pronounced. Membership reached 50,000 in early 1942, but then fell off rapidly as German reverses mounted and labor conscriptions began to increase anti-German feeling. The political orientation of the CF is not easy to categorize. Support from Vichy authorities suggests a Fascist or at least right-wing orientation. Some have argued that the CF's focus on civic responsibility was more oriented to the Boy Scout movement. [Larkin, p. 91.] The CF was pro-Vichy, but never pro-NAZI. The Germans never trusted it and ordered the organization disbanded (January 1944). The uniform consisted of a dark Blue shirt and dark Blue long trousers or short pants. Boys wearing shorts wore white kneesocks. The boys according to the CF's official handbook wore navy Blue berets, leather belt and tie. The color of the tie varied with the boys' ranks; beige for the lower ranks, purple for NCOs, yellow for junior officers, and navy Blue for senior officers. this arraignment may have varied as other sources specify different colors.

THE ÉQUIPES NATIONALES (National Squads) was another Vichy inspired organization. It was formed in 1941 to perform social tasks in both zones of France. The image here suggests that the boys were also involved in camping and other Scout-like organizations (figure 2). This was theoretically a non-political formation, although uniformed. The boys reportedly wore a dark Blue uniform, although the image here shows a light colored shirt. The emblem was a celtic cross an emblem associated with fascism since it is a version of the sun cross, another name for the swastika. The EN boys were later in the war employed in clearing air raid damage.

JEUNES DE L'EUROPE NOUVELLE (JEN) The pre-war Comité France-Allemagne (France-Germany Committee) was, after the German victory, revived in September 1940 with a new name, the Groupe "Collaboration. JEN was mostly composed of middle class or wealthy members who above all else were cautious. As it did not aspire to be a political party, it operated in both the occupied and unoccupied zones. The JEN was very circumspect towards both Vichy and the Germans, its youth branch, Les Jeunes de l'Europe Nouvelle (The Youth of the New Europe), however, was much less inhibited. They came out openly on the German side. Some were even armed by the SD and fought against the Resistance. The JEN also operated among French workers in Germany where it spread collaborationist propaganda with the approval of the Vichy Government. The JEN uniform was a dark Blue shirt, black tie, and dark Blue trousers.

JEUNESSE DE FRANCE D'OUTRE MER (JFOM) Another "private enterprise" group was the Jeunesse de France d'Outre Mer (The Youth of France and Overseas) which was founded by Henry E. Pugibet and Jean-Marcel Renault in Marseilles during January 1941, but exclusive leadership soon passed to Renault. The JFOM was more committed to collaborating with the Germans than Les Compagnons de France. It was open to youngsters from 9 to 14 years of age (Les Cadets) and to young adults as old as 25 in the JFOM proper. Jews were excluded from the start. They claimed a membership of 30,000 in October 1941. The uniform was a grey shirt, dark Blue tie, and dark Blue trousers. Girls wore a dark Blue skirt. After the Germans occupied the formerly unoccupied area in November 1942, the JFOM joined forces with Bucard's Jeunesse Franciste and thus became part of the only officially recognized youth movement in the north.

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LES JEUNES DU MARÉCHAL (Marshall Lads) was organized by Jacques Bousquet who was a teacher at the Lycée Voltaire in Paris. The group was decidedly fascist and it took on a pro-German stance. They only functioned in the occupied zone. Their uniforms varied with both navy Blue and the lighter French Blue. They wore a red reancisque on a white shield on the left breast pocket of their shirt. They were active in recruiting French high school and college boys for the NSKK. The Marshall Lads became so slavishly pro-German that Bousquet actually suppressed the organization in July 1943. (One wonders if the War had no begun to go badly for the Germans that Bousquent would have done so. Bousquet went on to become the director of the École des Cadres (Staff Training College) at Chapelle-en-Serval in the occupied zone which was more overtly collaborationist than its opposite number at Uriage in the unoccupied zone.

MOUVEMENT JEUNESSE The Secretariat of Youth at Vichy created a Mouvement Jeunesse with the goal of encompassing all youth groups in the unoccupied zone which were sympathetic to the ideals of the regime. There was also a back-up Les Amis de Jeunesse (Fiends of Youth) movement. Both groups wore a Blue or grey shirt with a black tie and dark Blue trousers. No information is available on membership, but could not have been large given the number of uniformed youth groups.

Gender PolicyVichy's concern with youth was primarily with boys, as least as far as the youth movement was concerned. There were no formal equivalent for Vichy's Les Compagnons de France or Les Chantiers de la jeunesse. I'm unsure what Vichy's policy was toward the Guides. Vichy was, however, very concerned about girls and young women, in large measure because of France's declining birth rate. This was seen as one indicator of national weakness and moral decay brought on by secularism and left-wing . Vichy sought to promote traditional conservative gender roles. Vichy saw the proper place for women as in the home having and caring for children. To promote more births, Vichy increased family allowances (April 1941). Mothers who stayed at home got an even larger payment. Vichy also introduced a law which prohibited divorce during the first 3 years of marriage (April 1941). Abortion was illegal and the penalty for such procedures was death. There were executions for just such infractions during the Vichy era. Vichy authorities also modified the school curriculum to increase the emphasis on domestic (home economics) subjects like sewing and cooking (August 1941).SourcesLarkin, M. France since the Popular Front: Government and People 1936-1986 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988).MacVane, John. On the Air in World War II (William Morrow and Company: New York, 1979), 384p.by George Lepre on 14 July 2007Great post, Clement, thanks.Best regards, GeorgeGeorge LepreForum Staff

French Youth Groups

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by Malbret17 on 15 July 2007Hello John, At first, excuse my bad English language.Here are some further little informations on the remarkable exposed of Clément.

There were two national-socialist parties in France : the Parti National Socialiste Français of Christian Message and an other one : le Mouvement National Socialistewhose I do not know the leader.In France, ALL THE SHIRT OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES WERE BLUE because it is the color of the shirts of the workers or the workmen.Only one movement had a RED brick shirt: the MOUVEMENT NATIONAL SYNDICALISTE.

PPF Les Gardes Françaises would like to be like SS. They must be the best, men and women, to remake France. They are not only any more one service of order.RNP The youth of the RNP recovers the shirts of socialist youth of before war. They kept also their red tie in place of black one.MSR MSR existed since 01 September 1940 until August 1944 but with different leaders.Ligue Française No much young people, and it is COSTANTINI and not CONSTANTINI.Chantiers de la Jeunesse (Building sites of youth). Very closed of the Scouts to give again the force with the young people to fight again and not to give up. A few of girls. The German did not like them very much and sent a lot of them to work in Germany.Compagnons de France Girls (in Corsica 900, for example). The statutes of the Association Nationale des Compagnes de France are deposited the 25 May 1942.There first name was Section Féminine des Amis des Compagnons.Les équipes Nationales They revelled on the Champs-Elysées in Paris for the Victory in August 1944, flag with Celtic cross at the head.JEN Collaboration-Jeunesse initially. Then Jeunes de l'Europe Nouvelle because they had occupied the building of Louise Weiss' newspaper : "L'Europe Nouvelle".JFOM One of the many branches of la Légion Française des Combattants (French Legion of the Combattants). Certain chiefs join BUCARD from where they came, some others will take along their young people towards the Militia Youth.END of the History Forum article.

Now, an article from Time magazine in 1925.

“Blue-Shirted” Monday, Nov. 23, 1925http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,928732,00.html?iid=chix-sphere

At Paris 6,000 Frenchmen donned "horizon blue shirts, dark blue collars, navy blue ties, light gray suits and blue-ribboned felt hats." Then, swaggering 6,000 canes, they proceeded to assemble and lay the foundations of "blue-shirted French Fascism."

One of their number, M. Jacques Arthuys, harangued the gathering as follows: "Salvation is in Fascism! Certainly not in disciplined and formalized black-shirted

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Italian Fascism, but in Fascism adapted to the thoughtful and measured French temperament—less of words than of action."

M. Philippe Barrès, son of Maurice Barrès (late author-orator) then defined the spirit of the new Fascism as "Faith in France . . . and a deep disgust with parliamentarianism." Declared M. Georges Valois, Nationalist economist: "Our work will be . . . to suppress parliament and give a leader to the national state. . . . In replacing the parliamentary form of government, only one of two new forms is possible—Communism or Fascism. Can there be any choice? . . . The financial recovery of France can be accomplished only by a dictator of finances, who, it is easy to perceive, must be necessarily a political dictator."

The "President" of the assemblage, one Pierre Taittinger, keynoted as follows: "To the violence of Communism we will oppose our force. Our aspirations are not those of the Facism of Benito Mussolini in Italy, nor of the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera in Spain. What we want is another Clemenceau, as Clemenceau was and did in 1917. We want a leader who is real, in whom we can have confidence, and whose word will have authority and power!''

END of Blue Shirts and FRANCE

==SPAIN[790 Results for "blue shirts" + Spain + falange]http://www.feldgrau.com/spain.htmlhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,819154,00.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Division

There is a nice amount of material on Spain’s Blue Shirts. Here are three items.

Falangehttp://www.indopedia.org/Falange.htmlThe Indological Knowledgebase

Falange was a totalitarian clerical fascist political organization founded by Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera in 1933 in opposition to the Second Spanish Republic. During the Spanish Civil War the Falange became a leading force on the Nationalist side, eventually favouring Francisco Franco. It constituted the core of the official single party in Spain, which was created after the Falange Espanola Tradicionalista y de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista (FET y de las JONS) between 1939 and 1975, sometimes under the broader name of the National Movement (Movimiento Nacional).

Members of the party were called Falangists (Spanish: Falangistas).

Contents1 Ideology2 Symbols3 Origins“”Following sections edited out - Bill””

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[4 Spanish Civil War5 After the war6 Franco's death7 Modern Falangists8 Debate9 See also10 External links]

Ideology

Corporate state in which class struggle would be superseded by the Vertical Trade Union, joining workers and owners.Roman Catholicism, with a touch of anti-clericalism.Attention to the Castilian farmersPride in the history of the Spanish EmpireAnti-communism and anti-anarchism

SymbolsEl yugo y las flechas (the yoke and arrows), symbol of the Reyes Cat??os.The Blue Shirt, a symbol of industrial workers.The red beret of Carlism (after the unification).A flag with red, black and red vertical stripes, reminiscent of the Anarchist flag of the CNT.Cara al sol, "Facing the sun", its anthem.

OriginsFalange was a small party when it was founded in 1933 by José Antonio Primo de Rivera, a lawyer son of former dictator General Miguel Primo de Rivera, and by On?mo Redondo and others. It united with several other small parties, becoming Falange Espanola de las JONS (Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional-Sindicalista), or "Spanish Phalanx of the Assemblies of National-Syndicalist Offensive". Its philosophy of populist and patriotic authoritarianism had many parallels with German nazism (though without the anti-semitism) and Italian fascism. Its members wore Blue shirts.

During the Second Spanish Republic, its gunfighters became involved in street shootings with leftist revolutionaries. The results of the party in elections were always very poor, in fact, in the 1936 elections the FE y de las JONS got only a 0,7% of the votes.

Primo de Rivera was arrested on July 6 1936, and the party joined the conspiracy to overthrow the Republic. On July 17, the African army led by Franco rebelled. On July 18, right-wing forces in mainland Spain followed suit.END of indopedia Article>>>>>http://www.buzzle.com/articles/162033.htmlFollowing is: © Guardian News & Media 2008With their stiff-armed salutes, and cries of "Viva España!", Spain's fascists gathered this weekend to pay homage to General Franco outside the tomb of the late dictator for what may be the last time.

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Well-to-do ladies came dressed in fur coats to keep out the bitter cold, young men and women wore the Blue Shirts of the Falangist party, while others were more recognizable as modern neo-nazis, with shaven heads and scarves wrapped tight around their faces.

But all were united by more than simple veneration of General Franco: they share an all-consuming hatred of the socialist government of José Luiz Rodríguez Zapatero, which last month passed a law that will ban political rallies outside the imposing mausoleum in which Franco is buried.

The controversial historical memory law was the brainchild of Zapatero, whose own grandfather was killed by Franco's forces, and is an attempt to recognize the republican victims of the civil war and dictatorship. The law, which will come into force once it passes through the upper house, will see the remaining Franco-ist symbols removed from Spain's public buildings and the depoliticisation of the Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen), Europe's largest fascist religious monument.

Chants of "Reds no, Reds no!" and "Zapatero - you son of a bitch!" rang out across the valley as banners bearing the Cross of St James, known as Matamoros (Moorslayer), and pre-democratic Spanish flags were unfurled. But the largest cheers were reserved for Carmen Franco Polo, daughter of the late dictator, whose arrival and departure were greeted with sustained cries of "Franco! Franco! Franco!".

The dictator's supporters had come to the giant basilica, 30 miles north-east of Madrid, to attend mass on Saturday and to pay their respects to Franco and to the founder of the Falangist party, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, ahead of the anniversary of their deaths on tomorrow.

Although the Valle de los Caídos is officially designated as a monument to the 500,000 who are estimated to have died in the 1936-39 war, there are only two visible tombs - those of Franco and Primo de Rivera. Long a sacred place for Spain's fascists, successive governments have tried to neutralize its significance, but the Zapatero administration is the first to directly challenge the right to use it to hold political rallies.

Many of those in attendance on Saturday seemed sanguine about the new law. Jorge Espinos, a 21-year-old economics student, does not believe the government has the will to defy the fascists. "We will come regardless ... I am here because I am Spanish, and Catholic, to honor the memory of our Caudillo, the purest sword in Europe," before proudly adding: "My grandfather killed 156 reds with his machine gun in Galicia in 1936, and then went off to eat seafood."

Javier Astorga Vagara, a 38-year-old estate agent and Falangist, accepted that it might be the last time that they could gather to sing the fascist anthem Cara al Sol (Face to the sun) and chant their political slogans. "We won the civil war," he says, "so they [the socialists] feel they have to win something, by removing our

35

symbols". But he says he does not mind and that there are more important battles to fight: most importantly the increasing numbers of immigrants in Spain.

This year's anniversary comes at a particularly sensitive time, with tensions high following the stabbing to death last weekend of a 16-year-old anti-fascist activist by a neo-nazi in Madrid. Carlos Javier's death sparked demonstrations in Madrid and Barcelona over the weekend, with riot police out in force to prevent disturbances between anti-fascist and extreme-right groups.

With elections set for next spring, many fear that the oft-repeated concept of the "two Spains", divided between left and right, is being played out in the political sphere as well as in the streets. The conservative opposition People's party fiercely opposed the historical memory law, accusing the government of unnecessarily raking up the past. "The only thing the law will create is problems and division. Why do we need to create problems ... where there were none," asked the party's leader, Mariano Rajoy.

Standing in the winter sunshine outside Franco's tomb, Ricardo - who has brought his wife and child from Madrid for what he describes as a "memorable day" - believes there are now two Spains: "But the other half, they're not really Spanish. They want to separate from our country, and let immigrants in to run the place."© Guardian News & Media 2008>>>>>“”Here is an article about the “Blue Divison” - “División Azul” - a group of Spanish soldiers who went to fight for the German Army in World War Two. Edited out items at end.”” - Bill

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=3849The formation of what would become 250. Infanterie-Division (División Azul) was first suggested by Serrano Súñer, foreign minister and the most trusted advisor of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, following the German invasion of the USSR 1941 as an alternative to a declaration of war.

Recruitment of volunteers began 28 June and a large number of members of the fascist Falange (the full name of the party was Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las J.O.N.S (FET)) volunteered, including six members of the FET National Council and several provisional governors. The Spanish Army however insisted on keeping control of the unit rather than have it run by the FET and in the end all the officers came from the regular army as well as about 70% of the volunteers, most of them veterans of the Spanish Civil War.

The commander of the unit would be Agustín Muñoz Grandes, former secretary general of the FET and one of the few Falangist generals. The unit was technically subordinate to the Spanish Ministry of the Army but served under German command.

The first volunteers left for Germany 17 July for further training and remained in Grafenwöhr for training until being sent to the Eastern Front Aug 1941.

36

They saw their first action 12 Oct 1941 at Lake Ilmen and remained on the front near Leningrad until it was disbanded Oct 1943, most famous and costly battle being Krasny Bor during Operation Polar Star.

Franco relieved Muñoz Grandes of his command May 1942 due to the latter’s support of a more radical and fascist government in Spain, but Adolf Hitler insisted that he would remain for at least a few more months which also happened.

In a meeting with Hitler 12 July Muñoz Grandes is said to have stated his intention to return to Spain and become president of the government with Franco as little more than a figurehead, turning Spain into a true fascist nation, this was supposed to take place after the next major Axis victory in the east, most likely after the fall of Leningrad, were some sources say that Hitler had planned an important role for the Spanish general.

Muñoz Grandes was finally sent back to Spain Dec 1942 on the order of Franco in return for allowing a visit by a delegation to Berlin led by FET secretary general José Luis de Arrese. When Muñoz Grandes arrived in Spain 17 Dec he was met by the entire government excluding only Franco himself and he was awarded the Palma de Plata, the highest award of the party, it was the first such award since the death of the founder of the party José Antonio Primo de Rivera during the Spanish Civil War. He was also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General, being outranked only by Franco, but he did not receive any position that gave him command over any troops. After the war he would however rise to higher positions, including Minister of the Army (15 July 1951) and finally vice President of the government (10 July 1962).

In Oct 1943 Spain changed its status in the war from non-beligerence to neutrality, disbanding the Blue Divison (which received its name from the blue shirts worn by the FET). Some volunteers, amounting to three battalions, were allowed to remain on the Eastern front as the Spanische Legion which was finally disbanded 15 Mar 1944. Those who wanted to continue fighting with the Germans later served in Spanische-Freiwilligen-Kompanie der SS 101 and Spanische-Freiwilligen-Kompanie der SS 102, according to some sources the Germans managed to recruit an additional 250 Spaniards after the Blue Division was disbanded until the Allied landings in Normandy.

A total of about 47.000 Spanish officers and men served in the east, suffering 22.000 casualties including about 4.500 dead.

CommandersGeneralmajor Agustín Muñoz Grandes (20 Jul 1941-13 Dec 1942)Generalleutnant Emilio Esteban-Infantes Martín (13 Dec 1942-20 Oct 1943)

Operations Officers (Ia)Oberst José María Troncoso Sagredo (Jul 1941-Aug 1941)Oberstleutnant Luis Zanón Aldalur (Aug 1941-May 1942)Oberst Roberto Gómez de Salazar (May 1942-Jan 1943)Major Manuel García Andino (Jan 1943-10 Apr 1943)

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Oberstleutnant José Diaz de Villegas (10 Apr 1943-14 Jun 1943)Oberst Antonio García Navarro (14 Jun 1943-Nov 1943)Oberstleutnant José Diaz de Villegas (Nov 1943-Dec 1943)

Leiter des Deutschen Verbindungsstabes zur 250. Inf.Div.Major von Oertzen (Jul 1941-13 Oct 1941)Major Günther Collatz (13 Oct 1941-15 Dec 1942)Oberst Wilhelm Knüppel (15 Dec 1942-Dec 1943)

Area of operationsRear Area of HGr Nord (Narwa, Luga) (July 1941 - Oct 1943)

Holders of high awardsHolders of the German Cross in Gold (2)Emilio Esteban-Infantes Martín , 09.04.1943, Generalmajor, Kdr. 250. Span.Div.Knüppel, Wilhelm, 15.12.1943, Oberst i.G., Leiter des Dt.Verb.Stb. d. 250.(Sp.) Frw.Div.Holders of the Knight's Cross (3)Agustín Muñoz Grandes, 12.03.1942 Generalleutnant Kdr 250. Inf.Div (span.)Agustín Muñoz Grandes, 13.12.1942 Generalleutnant Kdr 250. Inf.Div (span.), OakleavesEmilio Esteban-Infantes Martín , 03.10.1943 Generalleutnant Kdr 250. Inf.Div (span.)

Nicknames: Blaue Division; Spanische Division

Other militaria

A special medal was awarded to those who served in this division: the Blue Division Medal.

Propaganda & CultureLyrics to the divisional song Himno de la División Azul.

Chaplain with soldiers of División Azul, note the Spanish rank badge above the breast pocket. (Courtesy of Ignasi Masip)

Published sources usedFernando J. Carrera Buil & Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto - Batallón Román: Historia fotográfica del II/269 Regimiento de la División AzulStanley G. Payne - Fascism in Spain 1923-1977John Scurr - Germany's Spanish Volunteers 1941-45

Reference material on this unitAntonio de Andrés y Andrés - Artillería en la División AzulEduardo Barrachina Juan - La Batalla del Lago Ilmen: División AzulCarlos Caballero & Rafael Ibañez - Escritores en las trincheras: La División Azul en sus libros, publicaciones periódicas y filmografía (1941-1988)Fernando J. Carrera Buil & Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau Nieto - Batallón Román: Historia fotográfica del II/269 Regimiento de la División Azul

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Juan Chicharro Lamamié - Diario de un antitanquista en la División AzulJesús Dolado Esteban (etc) - Revista de comisario: el cuerpo de Intervención Militar de la División Azul 1941-1944Arturo Espinosa Poveda - Artillero 2º en la gloriosa División AzulArturo Espinosa Poveda - ¡Teníamos razón! Cuando luchamos contra el comunismo SoviéticoEmilio Esteban-Infantes Martín - Blaue Division: Spaniens freiwillige an der OstfrontMiguel Ezquerra - Berlin a vida o muerteRamiro García de Ledesma - Encrucijada en la nieve: Un servicio de inteligencia desde la División AzulJosé García Hispán - La Guardia Civil en la División AzulCésar Ibáñez Cagna - Banderas españolas contra el comunismoGerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs - Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in RussiaVicente Linares - Más que unas memorias: Hasta Leningrado con la División AzulTorcuato Luca de Tena - Embajador en el infierno: Memorias del Capitán de la División Azul Teodoro PalaciosXavier Moreno Julia - La División Azul: Sangre española en Rusia 1941-45Juan José Negreira - Voluntarios baleares en la División Azul y Legión Azul (1941-1944)Ricardo Recio - El servicio de intendencia de la División AzulJosé Mª Sánchez Diana - Cabeza de Puente: Diario de un soldado de HitlerJohn Scurr & Richard Hook - Germany's Spanish Volunteers 1941-45Luis E. Togores - Muñoz Grandes: Héroe de Marruecos, general de la División AzulManuel Vázquez Enciso - Historia postal de la División AzulEnrique de la Vega - Arde la Nieve: Un relato histórico sobre la División AzulEnrique de la Vega Viguera - Rusia no es culpable: Historia de la División AzulJosé Viladot Fargas - El espíritu de la División Azul: PossadDíaz de Villegas - La División Azul en línea

END of Blue Shirts and SPAIN

=PORTUGAL[16 Results for "blue shirts" + Portugal + preto]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Rol%C3%A3o_Pretohttp://www.tufts.edu/~dart01/extremismanddemocracy/newsletter/Book2_2.htm

Here is the book review from the site above, Tufts University.

Costa Pinto, Antonio, The Blueshirts: Portuguese Fascists and the New State, Publisher: Boulder [Colorado]: Social Science Monographs, 2000, 271 pp., USD 34.50,New York : distributed by Columbia University Press, 2000. Editions: 3 Editions ISBN: 0880339829 9780880339827 (hbk)OCLC: 45309252

Reviewed by Tom Gallagher (University of Bradford)

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In Portugal, the Blue Shirts (also known as the National Syndicalist movement) briefly threatened the conservative Catholic dictatorship of Dr. Antonio de Oliveira Salazar in the early 1930s. Radical right-wingers who saw themselves as authentic fascists were bitterly disappointed by Salazar. His main aim was to minimize change and maximize stability by using the police state methods of the twentieth century to keep alive an essentially nineteenth century social order.Antonio Costa Pinto has produced a well-researched profile of the Blueshirts, offering stimulating comparisons with other fascist movements. The lengthy first chapter traces the origins of National Syndicalism back to the Lusitanian Integralist movement which provided the chief intellectual opposition to the liberal republic which was in existence from 1910 to 1926. The Integralists were dominated by aristocrats and landowners and were firmly elitist in their intellectual outlook. The youngest among their number, Francisco Rolao Preto (aged 17 when Integralism emerged in 1914) fell under the influence of Georges Sorel and Georges Valois. Much of Preto’s efforts were expended on 'nationalizing' the working class. But the Portuguese Right was not galvanized by the threat of red revolution, as would be the case next-door in Spain. The lengthy first chapter further includes profiles of the bewilderingly numerous series of right-wing groups which sprang to life during the final years of the parliamentary republic. The author convincingly shows why conservatives had the initiative over fascists in the military dictatorship that followed the 1926 coup:"There are structural conditions specific to Portuguese social and political developments from the end of the nineteenth century onwards that obviously differentiate this case from those where classic fascism emerged... Portugal embarked on the turbulent period after the First World War without experiencing some of the contradictions between domestic and foreign policy highlighted by studies of fascism. The 'national question' in Portugal, for example, had been solved. 'State' and 'nation' were unified reflecting the country's homogeneity. There were no national or ethnic minorities. Portugal did not wish to alter its frontiers…It embarked on the 'age of the masses' without experiencing the radicalization generally associated with the rise of fascist movements." (pp. 48-9)Chapter 2 describes how the Blueshirts emerged as a revolutionary alternative with a programe largely borrowed from Italy and France. Their Portuguese version of fascism was attractive to junior army officers and members of the liberal professions. Despite being the undisputed leader, Rolao Preto emerges as a shadowy figure whose charisma and organizing qualities are not really outlined. Nevertheless, National Syndicalism made a big impact in the conservative north-west, the only area where efforts to recruit workers really bore fruit. This was the most Catholic corner of Portugal and Costa Pinto might have asked whether the success of Portuguese fascism in such a region in fact reflected hostility among some social groups to clerical power.In chapter 4 an illuminating comparison is made between the Blue Shirts and the National Union (Uniao National: UN), the anaemic official movement with which Salazar hoped to make a dictatorship without politics. In Chapter 5, the steps it took to dismantle National Syndicalism are described. Overtures to middle-ranking Blueshirts to put aside their radicalism and accept positions in different branches of the corporativist state were successful. Religious publications increasingly warned against 'pagan and agnostic nationalism'. The Blueshirts found it increasingly difficult to function because of censorship and the frequent banning of its meetings. Chapter 6 traces the fate of the movement after it was

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wound up by the regime in 1934. Coup attempts and the open identification of the hard-core with the Axis cause when Portugal remained neutral in World War II, are described. However, Rolao Preto lacked influential support from the fascist powers and the movement remained peripheral as long as Nazi attention was concentrated on other parts of Europe.The book has surprisingly few interviews with surviving ex-Blueshirts, a movement which enjoyed a membership of several tens of thousands at its height. If Costa Pinto had gone on to describe Rolao Preto's passage to the anti-Salazar opposition in the 1950s, his analysis might have opened up some intriguing lines of enquiry.In some respects, the more radical of the young captains who overthrew the dictatorship in 1974 were not unlike their counterparts 50 years earlier who had gravitated towards a radical nationalist organisation seeking to evangelize the workers; one thinks for instance of the movement for 'cultural dynamisation' which briefly enlivened the 1974-75 revolution. In some instances, the young Maoist militants of the Reorganized Movement of the Party of the Proletariat, who played a big role during phases of the revolution, hailed from a similar background to young Blueshirts and were drawn to revolution for revolution's sake. Just like the militants of the Blueshirts, many moved on to respectable bourgeois careers. Rolao Preto himself became a judge under Salazar (although Costa Pinto fails to describe his later career), while one of the leading Maoists, Durao Barroso is today leader of the main right-of-centre opposition party in Portugal.In conclusion, the book firmly locates the Blueshirts in the context of European fascism at high tide. But it is a pity that Costa Pinto failed to place the Blueshirts in the long-term context of Portuguese politics where some interesting parallels could have been made.

“”Here is mention of Preto’s Blue Shirts by a Portuguese music group.””http://ds.dial.pipex.com/finalconflict/a17-1.htmlInterview with LUSITANOI - a Portuguese band1. Tell us a bit about the band.

L: Lusitanoi! originated from a band called V Império that started playing in November '92. Since then we've had some changes in the line up but the actual formation is: Tiago - Bass and Vocals, Miguel - Guitar, Rodrigo - Guitar and myself, Branquinho - Drums.

5. Tell us a little about the Portuguese Nationalist Movement - the music and the politics?

L: At the moment there are three bands: us, Extremo and Combate. There were other bands like Guarda de Ferro, Bulldogs da Patria, Confronto, and others.

NS parties and fascist organisations are forbidden by the Portuguese Constitution. There have been a lot of Nationalist parties, that usually haven't lasted too long. Some of the bigger ones were the MAN - National Action Movement (after a fight between skinheads and members of a small Trotskyist party - PSR, Socialist Revolutionary Party - in 1989, which resulted in the death of a PSR leader, the MAN was raided by the police and declared extinct by the Constitutional Court).

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The FDN (National Defense Front) was also raided by the police in the early 90s. A lot of material was confiscated and it soon folded.

Nowadays there are a lot of small parties which aren't as radical as the MAN or FDN. There is the National Alliance, the Right-Wing Nationalist Front and others.

10. Are there any Portuguese Nationalist heroes? Some of our readers may have heard a little about Salazar - can you tell us a little about him?

L: There are so many Portuguese Nationalist heroes, that I decided to choose one that was a great man and most people don't know about. Rolão Preto, leader of the National Syndicalist Movement in Portugal, known as the Blue Shirts. With ideals very similar to those of the Spanish Falange and José Antonio Primo de Rivera (with whom Rolão Preto met), and the JONS and Ramiro Ledesma, this Movement grew and in the early 30's it had more than 50,000 members. It was the biggest movement of its kind in Portugal. In the mid 30s it was banned by the Estado Novo (New State) of Salazar, because of differences of ideology and the power that the Blue Shirts had in the Portuguese Armed Forces, seen as a danger to Salazar's regime.

António de Oliveira Salazar was a great man, and a true Nationalist. He was a natural born leader. Considered by many as a moderate fascist, he was a Catholic, a traditionalist, and also anti-communist and anti-democrat. he formed a Corporate State based on the political organisation União Nacional (National Union), in which the main values were God, Nation and Family. >>>>>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Rol%C3%A3o_PretoFrancisco Rolão PretoFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Francisco de Barcelos Rolão Preto, GCIH (February 5/February 12[1], 1893, Gavião—December 18, 1977, Hospital do Desterro, Lisbon) was a Portuguese politician, journalist, and leader of the Movimento Nacional-Sindicalista (MNS, also the "Blue Shirts" - "Camisas Azuis", following the tradition of uniformed far right and leftist groups), an organisation advocating Syndicalism and Unionism, against the Corporativist state advocated by Fascism and Benito Mussolini's Italy. MNS was also built on previous allegiances to Integralismo Lusitano, in turn not inspired by the Action Française as alleged by their adversaries[2].

He advocated especially the personalism of Emmanuel Mounier and some of the aspects of unionism which are reminiscent of Leftist ideas of social justice, such as "a minimum family wage", "paid holidays", "working class education", and a world in which workers are "guaranteed the right to happiness".

Contents1 Early life 2 Against Salazar Regime 3 Later years 4 Marriage and children 5 References

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6 External links

Early lifeCutting short his lyceum studies, Rolão Preto left for Galicia in Spain, where he joined monarchist army officer Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro in his 1911-1912 failed attempt to topple down the Portuguese Republic. He then left for Belgium and worked for the integralist magazine Alma Portuguesa, while completing secondary studies at the Liceu português in Louvain, and then attending the Université Catholique.

Rolão Preto had to flee Belgium when World War I began, and took refuge in France; he finished studies at the University of Toulouse, earning a degree in law, and returned to Portugal. He replaced the jailed Hipólito Raposo as editor of the journal A Monarquia. A member of the Junta Central de Integralismo Lusitano from 1922, he began close collaboration with President of Portugal Gomes da Costa even before the 28th May 1926 coup d'état which established the Ditadura Nacional, and edited the 12 points the coup leaders published in Braga.

Against Salazar RegimeIn 1930, he approached David Neto and other sidonistas (conservatives, initially members of the Partido Republicano Nacionalista), with whom he created the Liga Nacional 28 de maio, self-proclaimed defender of the "National Revolution"; Rolão Preto gathered notoriety as an advocate of National Syndicalism and editor of the Diário Académico Nacionalista da Tarde (first published in 1932), soon turned into the Diário Nacional-Sindicalista da Tarde. The Blue Shirts he founded, which used the Order of Christ Cross, gave the Roman salute, became very popular in universities and with the youngest officers of the Portuguese Army.

He was briefly detained and then exiled, and his MNS banned (together with the MNS journal Revolução), after Antonio Salazar, often considered a fascist himself, came to power and established the Estado Novo régime; perhaps unsurprisingly, Preto ended up opposing the dictatorship of Salazar and Marcelo Caetano from the left. The order for a ban on the party stated that the Blue Shirts had taken inspiration in "foreign models". A part of his movement had decided to join Salazar's União Nacional in 1934.

Rolão Preto resided for a while in Valencia de Alcántara, nearby the border with Castelo de Vide, and then in Madrid, as a guest in the house of José Antonio Primo de Rivera - with whom he collaborated in formulating a program for the Falange. He returned to Portugal in February 1935, and was detained after instigating a September rebellion with the crew of Bartolomeu Dias and the garrison in the Lisbon area of Penha de França. Again exiled, he fought in the Spanish Civil War on Francisco Franco's side.

Later yearsAfter World War II, Rolão Preto joined the left-wing forum Movement of Democratic Unity, and published a volume entitled A Traição Burguesa ("The Bourgeois Betrayal"). He also backed more liberal candidates to the Presidency, such as Quintão Meireles, Francisco Higino Craveiro Lopes, and ultimately

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Salazar's enemy Humberto Delgado. He also attempted to unite the monarchist movement within Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles' Movimento Popular Monarquico.

He wrote critiques of Mussolini's ideas, immediately after his definitions of Fascist Doctrine in the beginning of the 1930's . Preto was one of the leaders of the People's Monarchist Party in the period between the Carnation Revolution and his death.

Marriage and childrenHe married Amália de Brito Boavida Godinho (b. Fundão, Alpedrinha), and had two children:Francisco Godinho Rolão Preto (b. Fundão, Soalheira), married to Maria Isabel Correia da Silva Mendes Maria Teresa Godinho Rolão Preto (b. Fundão, Soalheira), married to Eduardo Teixeira Gomes

ReferencesJosé Hipólito Raposo, Dois Nacionalismos - L'Action française e o Integralismo Lusitano, Lisboa, Férin, 1929.>>>>>http://libro.uca.edu/payne2/payne27.htmTHE LIBRARY OF IBERIAN RESOURCES ONLINEA History of Spain and Portugal Vol. 2Stanley G. Payne

Chapter 27 Portugal under the Salazar Regime [663] In Portugal, the parliamentary Republic gave way to a conservative, authoritarian Republic through a simple pronunciamiento followed by seven years of institutional change. There was no apocalyptic civil war as in Spain, and the ultimate leader of the new regime was a university professor, not a generalissimo. . . . . Formation of the New State and suppression of the left opened the question of the internal politics of the regime; political organizations had not arisen to fill the void left by the elimination of the old groups. A variety of small nationalist societies and youth groups had been formed in recent years, but the National Union had not taken effective shape and the roots of the liberal cliques and local liberal notables survived in sectors of Portuguese society. The most serious of the new nationalist groups was the National Syndicalist movement, founded in 1932 and to become the principal exponent of Portuguese fascism. The National Syndicalists were led by former Integralists who had moved in a radical direction in their stress on social issues and the lower classes. Their head, Rolão Preto, was known to be a friend of Salazar, and the movement burgeoned under the apparent benevolence of the regime. As the most dynamic and "modern" of the nationalist groups its support grew rapidly; by 1934 the National Syndicalist leaders claimed 50,000 members--a number which if valid would have represented a major mobilization in Portugal--and eighteen newspapers, as well as the support of several hundred army officers. Like their Spanish counterparts, the National Syndicalists adopted the blue shirt as their insignia and touted their

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social fascism as the logical goal of a modern authoritarian nationalist regime. Thus the Blue Shirts threatened the leadership, goals, and equilibrium of the New State within a year of its founding.

Salazar finally took action in June 1934, exiling Preto and purging the Blue Shirt leadership. On the following July 29 Salazar denounced the National Syndicalists as "inspired by certain foreign models" and [669] singled out their "exaltation of youth, and the cult of force through direct action, the principle of the superiority of state political power in social life, [and] the propensity for organizing masses behind a single leader" (1) as fundamental differences between fascism and the Catholic corporatism of the New State. Soon afterward the remaining National Syndicalists announced their dissolution as a separate party in order to incorporate themselves into the government's National Union. Elections under the new constitution were then held in December 1934 without opposition of any kind, and Carmona was subsequently reelected to a formal seven-year term as president, his moderating functions now having been almost entirely assumed by Salazar. In March 1935, after reports of new conspiracies by Masonic groups, all secret societies were outlawed in Portugal. The final anti-climactic round in the consolidation of the regime occurred in September 1935, when a few hard-core National Syndicalists, a small group of disgruntled army officers, and a handful of anarcho-syndicalists attempted an armed revolt in Lisbon that was easily crushed

END of Blue Shirts and PORTUGAL

=IRELAND[1,260 Results for "blue shirts" + Ireland + duffy]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blueshirtshttp://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/SPblue.htmhttp://irelandsown.net/oduffy.htmlhttp://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=22776

Lots and Lots about the Blue Shirts of Ireland, remember, they are also called “The Army Comrades Association”. First, wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blueshirts

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Flag_of_the_Irish_Blueshirts.svg[/img] Saltire flag of the Blueshirts, a variant of Saint Patrick's Flag

The Army Comrades Association (ACA), later named National Guard and better known by their nickname The Blueshirts (Irish: Lucht na Léine Gorma), were an Irish political organisation set up by General Eoin O'Duffy in 1932. O'Duffy was a guerrilla leader in the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence, an Irish Army general during the Civil War that followed, and the Irish police Commissioner for the resultant Irish Free State from 1922 to 1933.

It has been regarded[citation needed] as Ireland's equivalent of Adolf Hitler's Brownshirts and Benito Mussolini's Blackshirts which were members of the

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European right-wing movements. Indeed, in December 1934, O'Duffy attended an International Fascist Conference in Montreux, Switzerland at which there were representatives from 13 other countries - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, The Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Switzerland. The argument that the Blueshirts were fascists is generally based on their own adherence to Radical Right-Wing ideology (with a particular admiration for Mussolini) as well as their paramilitary-style uniforms, use of the Roman salute (members shouted "Hail O'Duffy!" at rallies[citation needed]), militant Catholicism and anti-communism and a belief in corporatism.

Its leaders argued that they were simply defending democracy, citing the actions of the IRA, which had attempted to break up meetings of the opposition Cumann na nGaedheal party whom they (the IRA) regarded as 'traitors' for accepting the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

However, Anti-Blueshirt organizations such as the Anti-Treaty Fianna Fáil Party and the IRA, cited the example of other fascist movements coming to power where any democratic process was extinguished and how the Blueshirts clearly attempted to emulate this by their 'March on Dublin'.

Contents1 Origins2 O'Duffy becomes leader3 Threatened 'March on Dublin'4 Notes5 References

OriginsIn February 1932, the Army Comrades Association (ACA) was formed, set up both to promote the interests of ex-Free State army members, but also to defend conservative interests and halt what they perceived as an emerging threat coming from their political opponents, the IRA and Fianna Fáil.

In March 1932, Éamon de Valera (formerly leader of the republican Dáil government of 1919-21 and of the very much less influential republican government of 1922 (formed 22nd October 1922) during the Irish Civil War), became President of the Executive Council in the Irish Free State. One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to repeal the ban which made the IRA an illegal organization. De Valera also released many Republican prisoners from jail.

Following these moves, the IRA became increasingly active in disrupting the activities of the opposition party. The Blueshirts felt that freedom of speech was being repressed, and began to provide security at Cumann na nGaedhael meetings and rallies. This led to several serious clashes between the IRA and the Blueshirts.

The IRA and Fiánna Fail members referred to Cumann na nGaedhael as the murder government in reference to its executions under martial law of over 77 IRA prisoners during the Irish Civil War. Peadar O'Donnell adapted the slogan No Free Speech for Fascists to No Free Speech for Traitors, referring to the "Free

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Staters" of the civil war. In a public meeting, he said that he was "glad that the murder government had been put out of power but these men must be put finally put of public life". The Cumann na nGaedheal paper, United Ireland for its part, claimed that "Mr de Valera is leading the country straight into Bolshevik servitude".[1]

In August 1932, Dr. Thomas F. O'Higgins, a Cumann na nGaedheal Teachta Dála (TD; member of Parliament) became the leader of the ACA (he was the brother of TD Kevin O'Higgins assassinated by the IRA in 1927). The ACA had the twin aims of defending free speech and promoting the interests of ex-Service men. However, the ACA increasingly took the role of protector at Cumann na nGaedheal meetings, when they were threatened by IRA activities. Clashes with the IRA became a regular occurrence and tensions rose sharply. in January 1933, de Valera called a surprise election, which Fianna Fáil won comfortably. The election campaign saw a serious escalation of rioting between IRA and ACA supporters. In April 1933, the ACA began wearing the distinctive St. Patrick's Blue shirt uniform, so as to allow members recognise each other at meetings.

O'Duffy becomes leaderAfter de Valera's re-election in February 1933, he dismissed Eoin O'Duffy as Commissioner of the Garda; in July of that year, O'Duffy took control of the ACA, and re-named it the National Guard. He re-modeled the organisation, adopting the few elements of the ideology and many of the symbols of European fascism. The use of the Roman straight-arm salute, the uniform, and the holding of huge rallies became widespread. Membership of the new organisation became limited to people who were Irish or whose parents "profess the Christian faith". O'Duffy was an admirer of Benito Mussolini, and the Blueshirts adopted the creation of a corporate state as their chief political aim. This is an often misinterpreted move. In reality, O'Duffy's corporatism was much closer to the Vatican's than to Rome's.

Threatened 'March on Dublin'In August 1933 a parade was planned by the ACA for Dublin, which was to proceed to Glasnevin Cemetery, but stopping briefly on Leinster lawn, in front of the Irish parliament building for speeches. The goal of the parade was to commemorate past leaders of Ireland, Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, and Kevin O'Higgins. It is often claimed that there were masses of workers, republicans, socialists, trade unionists, communists and other committed anti-fascists ready to confront this March on Dublin, but evidence for this is quite limited. It is clear that the IRA did intend to confront the Blue Shirts if they did march in Dublin.

De Valera banned the parade. Remembering Mussolini's March on Rome, he feared a coup d'état, and told Fianna Fáil politicians decades later that, in late summer 1933, he was unsure whether the Irish Army would obey his orders to suppress the perceived threat, or whether it would support the Blueshirts (as a movement made up of many ex-soldiers). O'Duffy accepted the decision, and insisted that he was committed to upholding the Law. Instead, several provincial parades took place to commemorate the deaths of Arthur Griffith, Kevin O'Higgins and Michael Collins. De Valera saw this move as defying his ban, and the Blueshirts were declared an illegal organisation.

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To conservative opponents of Fianna Fáil, who remembered the comments in 1929 of de Valera's right hand man, Seán Lemass, that the party was a "slightly constitutional party", in a hysterical frenzy they regarded this statement as the first steps towards a Fianna Fáil dictatorship. The protectors of Cumann na nGaedhael and of the National Centre Party were declared illegal, while the Irish Republican Army, who were mobilising against the fascist threat by breaking up their meetings and organizing mass resistance, were allowed to remain legal and armed.

In response to the ban the National Guard, Cumann na nGaedheal and the National Centre Party merged to form a new party: on September 3, 1933 Fine Gael - the United Ireland Party was founded. General O'Duffy became its first president with W. T. Cosgrave and James Dillon acting as vice-presidents. The National Guard became the Young Ireland Association and became part of a youth wing of the party. The party's aim was to create a corporate United Ireland, within the British Commonwealth. It is often claimed that they advocated a corporate state along the lines of Mussolini, but in reality, the vast majority of O'Duffy's policies were ostensibly Catholic in nature, following the vocationalist ideas set out by the Pope.

Following disagreements with his Fine Gael colleagues, O'Duffy left Fine Gael. The majority of the blue shirts stayed in Fine Gael and became active members. O'Duffy went on and founded the National Corporate Party, and later fought on General Francisco Franco's side in the Spanish Civil War. In the end the adventure to fight with in the Spanish Civil War was a disaster; in one particular engagement they were fired upon by mistake by national troops, after which they returned to Ireland.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Blueshirt was a term of political abuse directed against Fine Gael. However , it has been adopted by members and supporters of that party as a self-deprecating nickname.

NotesO'Riordan, M., Connolly Column, New Books, 1979, p47

ReferencesMike Cronin, The Blueshirts and Irish PoliticsMichael O'Riordan. 1979 Connolly Column. New Books Dublin. ASIN: B0006E3ABGJ. Bower Bell. 1983 The Secret Army: The IRA 1916-1979. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-52090-7.Tim Pat Coogan. De Valera.Michael Farrell. 1980. Northern Ireland: The Orange State. London: Pluto Press. ISBN 0-86104-300-6.F.S.L. Lyons. Ireland Since the Famine.Maurice Manning. The Blueshirts.END of WIKIPEDIA article.

An article from: "Our Wee Country"WHEN WE WORE BLUEFrom OWC issue 17

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It's not known when Northern Ireland, or Ireland as they were then referred to, first wore blue.

What's certain is that in our earliest days, we wore a number of different colours, including blue, white and, even on occasions, green. However, by the time that international football returned after World War One, blue was our established shirt colour and remained so until 1931. In 1931, the shirt colour was changed to green and the rest is history.

So how come we wore blue in the first place, an early example of Linfield influence in the IFA? Maybe so, but blue has been the national colour of Ireland since the 12th century. The Normans used the 'Colour of Leinster' to signify the whole island.

Don't know if the blue shirts improved our performances on the pitch or not. Certainly we had some good players who wore it - including Billy Gillespie, Joe Bambrick & Gerry Morgan who, as a Catholic (contrary to Keane's recent claims) captained Linfield to their 7 trophy success in 1922. The period until 1931 saw some memorable matches also, including a 7- 0 victory over Wales at Celtic Park, Belfast in 1930 (with Bambrick scoring 6) and, in 1927, our most recent home victory over England.

Why the change from blue to green in 1931? The official reason at the time was that, due to Scotland's navy, they were forced to wear white shirts in games against us. Back then, this would have represented one-third of their games so their grievance was maybe understandable (though they should have been grateful to get away with white - back in the early 1900s, their first choice colours were yellow and primrose hoops but that's another story for another day).

Probably as influential, though never quoted as an official reason, was the off-the field contest between the IFA and the Free State side to be recognised as the 'true' national side of Ireland (up until the 1940s, both associations were selecting players from across the island - though come to think about it, the FAI still are). The Free State had been recognised by FIFA as from 1923 and by the late 1920s, they had already participated in the Olympic Games (prior to the 1930 World Cup, the highest profile international tournament) and had played against established international sides including Italy, Hungary and Belgium.

Whereas, the IFA blue shirt had an old-style celtic cross badge with a harp in the middle, the Free State shirt badge was of shamrocks. The IFA changed their shirt badge to shamrocks in the mid-1930s. Consequently, the IFA & FAI shirts look very similar in style right up until the early 1950s when the IFA re-instated their celtic cross style shirt badge. In 1958, the harp was removed form this badge and the celtic cross was modernised to give the badge the look that we know and love today.Although green has remained our first choice colour since 1931, over the past decade or so, blue / navy has made a re-appearance. This started with an Umbro away shirt in 1990 - a horrible looking navy and white diamond effect and everyone will remember the green & navy quarters' home shirt of the mid-1990s. More recently, our last away shirt was navy.

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Shirt enthusiasts may be interested to learn that the blue international shirts of the 1920s were supplied to the IFA by the Athletic Stores, who continued to supply the international shirts until the 1960s. In these early days, the shirts were usually manufactured by Bukta, though this changed to Umbro in the 1960s.

Shirt collectors, looking to pick up an original blue shirt, can expect to pay approx. £1,000 at auction (Christies & Sothebys have both sold blue international shirts in recent years), though the price will be largely determined by the player who wore the shirt & the provenance behind it. For those who don't want to spend just so much, Toffs (and, therefore, probably Flynets) sell a replica of this shirt - it's quite a good similarity, though won't cause as much damage to the bank balance.

CC www.ourweecountry.co.uk

Ireland's OWN: History2 March 2001General Eoin O'Duffy: Ireland's Answer to Mussolini-by Niall Cunningham, The Irish Post

Niall Cunningham looks at how Ireland's Duce-in-waiting, General Eoin O'Duffy, came to embrace fascism.

Glasnevin Cemetery is a 3-D Who's Who of Irish history. Collins, Casement, de Valera and Parnell all rest in the shadow of O'Connell's round tower. The grave of General Eoin O'Duffy is on the edge of that area, dedicated to the country's elite. It is a perfect metaphor for his place in the Irish consciousness. Had O'Duffy not met Mussolini in 1929 he would probably be further up the hill, still rubbing shoulders with his former comrade, Michael Collins. As things turned out, he chose to embrace fascism and to embark upon a quest to become Ireland's 'Green Duce'. This is the story of the Blueshirt leader who challenged Éamon de Valera's grip on Ireland in the 1930s.

In 1917 O'Duffy joined the IRA and began a remarkable rise to prominence. By the time of the 1921 truce he had served two jail terms, had a British bounty of £1,000 on his head and, as the IRA's Director of Organisation, was effectively the right-hand-man of Michael Collins. When the Free State split over the treaty and the Civil War began in June 1922, O'Duffy was on the winning side. But, despite representing his native Co. Monaghan as a pro-treaty TD in 1921-22, his threat to "use the lead" to coerce unionists into a united Ireland showed that constitutional politics were not for him.

However, his career continued to blossom. By mid-1924 he was in charge of both the Free State army and the new Garda Siochana. All of this by the age of 32 and the youngest General in Europe to boot. He was a popular choice as head of the police, having a great rapport with rank-and-file officers. In his 1927 Christmas message he told them: "You will remain steadfast and devoted in the service of

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the people and of any government which it may please the people to return to power."

Something radical must have happened to change his views because, when the pro-treaty Cumann na nGaedheal (Fine Gael from 1933) party finally had to yield power to de Valera's anti-treaty Fianna Fáil in 1932, O'Duffy had already considered the possibility of staging a coup. Little wonder then that Dev doubted his impartiality and sacked him as police chief in February 1933. In July 1933 he assumed control of the Free State army veterans' body and relaunched it as the National Guard. He immediately introduced the blue uniform, echoing Hitler's SA and Mosley's Blackshirts. However, O'Duffy denied the organisation was fascist and said anything they "may have borrowed from abroad was incidental and subsidiary". While he said they were not anti-Semitic, non-Christians were not invited to apply.

O'Duffy was hungry for power. In August 1933 he played his hand. He announced a march past Glasnevin Cemetery and on to the Dáil, nominally to commemorate the martyrs of the pro-treaty cause (Collins, Griffith and O'Higgins), but in government there was a real fear he might try and stage a coup by emulating Mussolini's 1922 'March on Rome'. De Valera moved quickly to snuff out the possibility of insurrection by banning both the march and the Blueshirts outright. O'Duffy backed down.

O'Duffy's views were not representative of those of most Blueshirts. I spoke to a veteran from Co. Clare who stressed that the Blueshirts were not fascist, their role being to defend democracy. "Back then the IRA had a slogan: 'No freedom of speech for traitors'. "Whenever a Fine Gaeler addressed a meeting, the chances were the IRA would stone them out of it. We had to do something. We only wore the blue shirts so we wouldn't be beating the heads off our own if things got a bit lively."

Things did get lively. The death of Cork Blueshirt Michael Lynch during a riot proved events had got out of hand. O'Duffy was also coming into greater conflict with his Fine Gael colleagues, who had elected him party chairman the previous year. To have a leader who suggested that they "break the skulls" of political opponents was simply no longer tenable in a party which prized law and order. When Professor James Hogan, a respected party figure, resigned in protest at the General's increasingly hysterical language, O'Duffy himself quit in a fit of pique. For the first time in his career the General was in the wilderness.

It was Cardinal Joseph MacRory who released O'Duffy from political purgatory in late 1936 by suggesting the General raise a force to aid the nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. O'Duffy jumped at the chance, and his Irish Brigade departed that autumn. But the 'Crusade in Spain' became an unmitigated disaster that would ultimately cost the General his reputation. After a couple of months training, the Irish Brigade moved to the front at Ciempozuelos in early 1937. The farce began about a mile outside the town when a Francoist force from the Canaries took the Brigade for 'Reds' and opened fire killing two Irishmen. When they reached the front their biggest enemies were the water, the twin issues of

51

diarrhoea and a lack of underwear, and frustration. Frustration due to a lack of engagement on a relatively quiet part of the line led to division.

Meanwhile, O'Duffy did not help matters by spending his time getting drunk miles behind the line. Franco's patience eventually broke and the Brigade was disbanded in July 1937. Three months later a former devotee, Captain Thomas Gunning, lambasted the General in a letter, which showed just how divided the Irish were. He wrote of O'Duffy: "I did a poor day's work for both Spain and Ireland when I helped that insane, uncultured lout to put his flat and smelly feet across the frontier last October."

Despite failing health the General took an active interest in the fortunes of fascism during the Emergency, even acting as an intermediary between the Nazis and the IRA. However, as the likelihood of a German victory grew less likely, so O'Duffy came to dwell more on an alternative reality. His 1942 offer to Hitler to raise a 'Green Legion' to fight on the Russian front was symptomatic of that. Would the siege of Stalingrad have lasted so long had Marshal Paulus also had to endure the drinking habits and digestive sensibilities of 700 Blueshirts?

O'Duffy's state funeral in December 1944 was an attempt to embrace a memory the Irish public has had more difficulty in appreciating. O'Duffy wanted to be Ireland's Mussolini. Had he succeeded it is likely that he too would have ended up swinging from a lamppost dripping blood and spit. As it was, he passed away peacefully in a plush nursing home in Ballsbridge, Dublin, destined by history to be ridiculed, but not reviled.-by Niall Cunningham, The Irish Post

Page updated 31 Mar 2008Ireland's OWN Logo by EamannWebsite Design and Celtic Backgroundby Míchealín DaughertyCopyright (c) 2008 Ireland's OWNAll Rights Reserved.

Next, a TIME Magazine article from 1935.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,755262,00.html?iid=chix-sphere

The Blues Monday, Nov. 04, 1935Ireland's blue-shirted Fascist, famed General Owen O'Duffy, announced last week that hundreds of his Irish Blue Shirts are volunteering to fight under Dictator Mussolini in Africa.

"The conflict will soon be between Britain and Italy to divide the spoils of Ethiopia," cried the General. "The fidelity of Britain to the League is a sham."

END of Blue Shirts and IRELAND

=

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NICARAGUAhttp://www.ans.edu.ni/Academics/history/somozatacho.html

“”Here is an excerpt from a page about Anastasio Somoza Garcia from the site of the American Nicaraguan School, Managua, Nicaragua. I could not find the name of the author for this article.”” - BillThe school's home page is: http://www.ans.edu.ni/

http://www.ans.edu.ni/Academics/history/somozatacho.htmlHistory of Nicaragua

Anastasio Somoza Garcia

The story of Anastasio Somoza Garcia is very interesting. At first glance, it might make one think that it is not the United States that should be considered the Land of Opportunity. Rather, it should be Nicaragua, where a former latrine inspector in a small village can become a multi-millionaire and the first member of a four decade dynasty.

If we accept the definition of an authoritarian government as one in which there is no pervasive ideology, but rather a "mentality" that can be changed according to circumstances, then Somoza is the prototype of the authoritarian ruler. Prior to the United States joining the Allied forces during World War II, Somoza demonstrated sympathy for the Nazi regime, to the point that he organized his own "Blue Shirts" (in Germany, Hitler had the Brown Shirts while in Italy, Mussolini had the Black Shirts). After the attack on Pearl Harbor and the formal American declaration of war against the Axis, the Blue Shirts quickly disappeared. Nicaragua declared war on the Axis and, almost immediately, the German population in Nicaragua had their goods confiscated and sold by the State at ridiculous prices, mostly to Somoza. He became an ardent anti-fascist and anti-Communist, despite the fact that he flirted with organized labour and the Nicaraguan Socialist Party when convenient.END of Blue Shirts and Nicaragua

=CANADA[31 Results for "blue shirts" + Canada + arcand]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parti_national_social_chrétien

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parti_national_social_chr%C3%A9tienParti national social chrétienFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (December 2006)

Not to be confused with Unity Party of Canada.The Parti national social chrétien was a Canadian political party formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. The party identified with anti-semitism, and German

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leader Adolf Hitler's Nazism. The party was later known, in English, as the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party.

Contents1 1930s2 1940s3 References4 See also

1930sThe party was formed by Adrien Arcand in February 1934. It was known in English as the Christian National Socialist Party. Arcand was a Quebec-based fascist and anti-semite. An admirer of Adolf Hitler, Arcand referred to himself as the "Canadian füehrer".

In October 1934, the party merged with the Canadian Nationalist Party, which was based in the Prairie provinces. By the mid 1930s, the party had some success, with a few thousand members mainly concentrated in Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta.

In June 1938, it merged with Nazi and other racist clubs in Ontario and Quebec, many of which were known as Swastika clubs, to form the National Unity Party. At a time of English-French Canadian tension, Arcand tried to create a pan-Canadian (English and French) nationalist political movement. It was based on the National Socialist (Nazi) Party in Germany.

The group was known colloquially as the "Blue Shirts", and commonly fought with immigrants, Canadian minorities and leftist groups. The group boasted that it would seize power in Canada, but the party exaggerated its own influence.

On December 2, 1937, P.M. Campbell ran in a by-election for the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in the Lethbridge riding under the Unity Party of Alberta banner, and won by 700 votes over A.J. Burnapp from the Alberta Social Credit Party. Campbell was re-elected as an independent in the 1940 Alberta election.

1940sOn May 30, 1940, the party was banned under the War Measures Act, and Arcand and many of his followers were arrested and detained for the duration of the war.

Arcand ran in the 1949 federal election in the riding of Richelieu—Verchères as a candidate for the National Unity Party. He placed second, winning 5,590 votes (29.1% of the total).[1]

References:Richelieu—Verchères Riding history from the Library of ParliamentEND of WIKIPEDIA topic.

Here is a paragraph cut from this article on the Web site of The Free Republic of Quebec.

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http://english.republiquelibre.org/Was_Quebec_fascist_in_1942%3F

Was Quebec fascist in 1942?From Independence of Québec - Resource Centre for the English-Speaking World

Was Quebec fascist in 1942? By Jacques Rouillard in Le Devoir, November 13, 1996

Translated by Mathieu Gauthier-PiloteUnofficial translation of the article "Le Québec était-il fasciste en 1942 ?" by Jacques Rouillard, in Le Devoir, November 13, 1996, p. A7.The SwastikaIt in these troubled circumstances that Jean-Louis Roux decided to draw a swastika on his coat, symbol of the country and the regime against which Canada was at war. Some saw in this a support of Nazism and a demonstration of anti-semitism. For Nazism, it would be very surprising considering the milieu that he was in; as for the anti-semitism, he was subjected to its influence as he admitted himself in his letter of resignation. But if one takes into account the context of the beginning of the year 1942, his gesture was probably more a bravado to scandalize people, which was directed not so much against the Jews as against the conscriptionist policy of the federal government. The swastika was before all the symbol of the country and the regime against which Canada was waging war.

In the 1930s and 1940s, national-socialism (Nazism) found a rather weak support in French Canada and even less during World War II. The group which incarnated it best in Quebec, the Parti national social-chrétien founded by Adrien Arcand in 1934, was born in the wake from the economic crisis of 1929. Beyond the exaggerations of the newspapers and leaders of the group, the party's membership did not exceed 1,800 members for the whole of Canada according to certain leaders who defected from the group Martin Robin, "Shades of Right: Nativist and Fascist Politics in Canada 1920-1940", University of Toronto Press, 1992]. As historian Martin Robin showed, the French-speaking people were far from having the monopoly of this kind of movement. Other fascist groups developed in English Canada where a feeling anti-semitism was floating before World War II Blue Shirts of Canada, Canadian Union of Fascists, etc.]. Moreover, in 1938, the party of Arcand merged with anglophone fascist groups to become the Parti de l'Unité nationale. The entry of Canada in the war discredited all these groups completely, including that of Arcand, in Canada as in Quebec.

Now a short piece from TIME Magazine.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934140,00.html?iid=chix-sphere

Interview at LanoraieMonday, Dec. 08, 1947

In prewar days, Quebec's Fascist National Unity Party claimed 80,000 members and openly talked about a march on Ottawa to seize the government. N.U.P.

55

folded when its leader, Adrien Arcand, was interned during the war. But N.U.P. is not dead; recently some 850 members held a rally in Montreal. Time Correspondent Stuart Keate visited Leader Arcand in his home at Lanoraie, near Montreal, last week wired this report:

A Letter from the PublisherArcand, now 48, is a lean, brooding six-footer with an ascetic face and a pencil-line mustache. When I called, he was wearing a pale green woolen sport shirt, brown tie, brown trousers and shoes. In a corner of his small living room were his typewriter and a table piled with pamphlets and books. In another corner was a radio-phonograph with a fair-sized collection of classical records. This room opens into a combined bedroom and studio. On the wall was a large painting of Arcand in a brown shirt. A crucifix was beside the bed.

Signs & Symbols. Since he got out of internment in 1945, Arcand has made a living by doing French-English translations ("for friends") and by painting portraits. He thinks his internment may have helped him by giving him the aura of a martyr. He admits that he is only biding his time.

When I asked him how many party members he has, he was evasive. He did say they pay 25¢ a month dues, and call him Chef or Chief. He added: "It is like the army. You have your officers, and when the time comes you enlist your men. I have a keen and loyal staff of officers around me. My biggest problem is to keep them inactive. Every time I visit Montreal, I get the same question: 'Chief, when are we going to start?' " He hinted that the N.U.P. would "start" early next year. The party still has its old emblem—a torch, surrounded by maple leaves and topped by a Canadian beaver—and its motto: Serviam (I shall serve). When N.U.P. comes into the open, blue shirts presumably will again be the uniform. This time there will be no swastika shoulder patches.

Cause & Cure. As violently anti-Semitic as he is anti-Communist, Arcand wants harsh laws against both Jews and Commies. The Jews he blames for all the world's ills, says that they started both World Wars and that he would ship them all to Madagascar if he could. That gets him onto another race: "Within the century there will be 120 million Negroes in the U.S. What will happen to the white man?"

I asked him, before I left, why reporters were given the bounce at the party's most recent meeting. He said: "Because it was private." If he ever came to power in Canada, he said, there would be special laws designed to curb the press. "We have sanitary health laws to guard against food poisoning. Why not a law against . . . poisonous ideologies?"

“”Here is a Canadian History article. “Juno Beach” is where the Canadian troops landed in Normandy, France on D-Day in the World War Two invasion of Europe by Allied soldiers. Most people in the United States do not know that the CANADIANS were with American and British troops (or with all the Hollywood crew and their movies; after all, Tom Hanks did not go looking for “Private MacKenzie”.)”” - Bill

http://www.junobeach.org/e/2/can-eve-eve-fas-pns-ep.htm

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The Christian National Socialist PartyOn February 22, 1934, Adrien Arcand, editor of the weekly Le Patriote, organizes in Montreal the first meeting of the Christian National Socialist Party (Parti national social chrétien, or PNSC).

Arcand’s ideas were based on the theses of Hitler and Mussolini. He advocates a corporatist structure where all public services are ensured by the state, where work is compulsory, as the state is responsible for providing a livelihood to all working citizens. Like Hitler, Arcand proclaims the superiority of the White Race and denies Jews any civil rights.

Similar parties are created elsewhere in Canada. In October 1934, the Prairies-based Canadian Nationalist Party fuses with the PNSC. In July 1938, representatives from several fascist groups in Quebec and Ontario decide to join forces under the banner of the National Unity Party. Arcand becomes the leader of the new party and Joseph C. Farr the key organizer.

What kind of influence did these fascist movements really have in Canada? It seems that fear made them appear much more powerful and dangerous than they actually were. Journalists quoted the figure of 80,000 armed and combat-trained members, a real Fifth Column ready to hand North America over to its masters, Hitler and Mussolini.

Actually, the “Blue Shirts” seem to have always been a small group wielding little influence. In Quebec, the Church warns the faithful against fascism and nazism. They are monitored by the government and in 1939, as war becomes imminent, prison sentences await Canadian fascists who would not desist from their activities. On May 30, 1940, Arcand and other members of the National Unity Party are arrested by the RCMP and jailed for the duration of the war.>>>>Here are a few brief clips on North American fascist groups.http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Fascism/Support_Hitler_US.html

Support for Hitler (or Fascism) in the United Statesby jsmog, 12/18/2004Radical Reference, http://radicalreference.info/HOMEGROWN FASCISM

The first Fascists in the UNITED STATES were European; Italian Black Shirts and German Brown Shirts.

A real character in this Fascist mileau was William Dudley Pelley, the founder of the Silver Shirts.

Another Fascist group, the Khaki Shirts, was started by Major L.I. Powell, a former aide to William Pelley in 1932.

It should also be noted that there was a significant Fascist movement in Canada under Adrien Arcand, a former aide to Premier Duplessis of Quebec. (Heym 1938,

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4) Just as Asheville and then the Midwest had the Silver Shirts and the Khaki Shirts, in Quebec they were called the Blue Shirts. (Haider 1934, 234)

One more little item from CANADA.

http://godscopybook.blogs.com/gpb/2004/12/a_reminder.htmlLet us not also forget the treatment of black loyalists in Ontario, or the demolition of Africville in Halifax in 1970, a combination of central planning and genteel bigotry different only in scale from American so-called urban renewal projects of the post-war period. I would however disagree as to the implied comparison of the Orange Order to the Quebec fascist movement. While the order was certainly a center of bigotry it was not authoritarian in anywhere near the same fashion as Adrien Arcand's Blue Shirts in the 1930s. One of the benefits of confederation that most Quebec nationalists fail to acknowledge is that the Rest of Canada (ROC) has served as a powerful counterweight to regional movements that threatened individual rights. Whether it was blocking some of the extreme acts of William Aberhart's Social Credit or Maurice Duplesis' Union Nationale.

How easily could Duplesis, or a similar figure, have taken Quebec down the same road as Salazar's Portugal or Franco's Spain if the province had been independent? Certainly many parts of their ideology, even some of their slogans on work, family and church were the same or similar. Even in Toronto - the "Most Diverse City in the World" according to the UN, which must mean that no one at the UN has ever left its headquarters on the Upper East Side and taken a bus tour of NYC - once had signs on its beaches saying "No Dogs or Jews Allowed."

Posted by PUBLIUS on December 28, 2004 at 10:38 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83452553069e200d83541bdf369e2END of Blue Shirts and CANADA

===“”Below are some excerpts from articles about the two Gershwin plays and some relevant lines from the play, “LET ‘EM EAT CAKE” which is when the Blue Shirts leaders want to “paint the White House Blue”!”” - Bill

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"Of Thee I Sing"[57 Results for "blue shirts" + "Of Thee I Sing" + Gershwin]http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/music/minstrels_anything.html

New Plays In Manhattanhttp://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,754034-2,00.html "With plenty of blue shirts already on hand, the revolution is not hard to start. "

"Let 'Em Eat Cake"[57 Results for "blue shirts" + "Let 'Em Eat Cake" + Gershwin]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_'Em_Eat_Cake

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>>>>>Below is one sentence from a theatre playbill in Manchester, England.

http://www.thelowry.com/WhatsOn/EventDetail.aspx?EventId=3458"As the political situation spirals out of control, measures become increasingly desperate and before you know it, the US is facing a revolutionary dictatorship of blue shirts! ">>>>>Here is material about the Gershwin plays "Of Thee I Sing" and "Let "Em Eat Cake".

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DC153CF933A15750C0A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=allMonday, December 1, 2008Published: March 20, 1987ArtsWorld U.STWO CLASSICS BY GERSHWIN IN BROOKLYNBy STEPHEN HOLDEN: "President Wintergreen is defeated by the newcomer Tweedledee, and retires to New York with Mary to manufacture blue shirts (the American equivalent of Italy's black shirts and Germany's brown shirts)"Times are hard, and Wintergreen decides to lead a blue-shirted revolution.By STEPHEN HOLDEN New York Times.

“”Here are a few excerpts from ''Let 'Em Eat Cake". My notes in brackets.”” - Bill

[“Shirts By The Millions” is the name of Mary’s store and the title of the song.]

"ACT 1 SCENE 4 STORE SCENE including: SHIRTS BY THE MILLIONS And COMES THE REVOLUTION and MINE"

[Here is the first part of the Song:]

"SHIRTS BY THE MILLIONS"

WIVES: "Orders, orders, orders by the thousands! Ev'rybody's buying, buying till it hurts; From Maine to Oklahoma; From Trenton to Tacoma The country's growing conscious of our shirts!"

[After the women sing, there is the first mention in this play of the Blue Shirt:]

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"MEN: We're here to try and maybe buy the Shirt of Blue."

[The men complain that the price of the shirts [1$] is too much, so the sales girls respond:]

"GIRLS: Oh! With ev'ry shirt, please understand, You're getting a revolution; You're really helping out your land With a dollar contribution."

[Then, General Throttlebottom comes in to add his support to the significance of the Blue Shirt in the great National Adventure ahead:]

"THROTTLE: Comes the Revolution, Ev'rything is jake. Comes the Revolution We'll be eating cake. Skies above are growing bright and clear; Happy days will soon be here. The butcher and the baker- Undertaker, too- Thank their Lord and Maker For the Shirt of Blue, . . . .”

[The shop girls and men again comment on the Blue Shirt:]

"GIRLS: [TO MEN] This is the team Who dreamed a dream And made it true!

MEN: Wonderful thing-the Shirt of Blue!"

[Of course, it would not be fair for only the Men to be wearing The Blue Shirt, would it? This inequality is soon set right by Mary and the Ladies.Now, MARY, the Wife of FORMER President Wintergreen (the President in this play, "Let 'Em Eat Cake" is John P. Tweedledee), sings, with other Wives:]

"MARY AND WIVES: Ladies, if you would advance Socially, then here's your chance. . . . . MARY: All you have to do Is buy a Blouse of Blue,"

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[With Blue Shirt sales booming, we find an army of people dressed is Blue with their own marching song.At the beginning of SCENE 6 we meet a group called The "BLUE SHIRTS", and they sing the following song:]

"6. ON AND ON AND ON

BLUE SHIRTS: Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right! Left! Right! Marching, marching all the time."

[Soon, the Former President, Wintergreen, confronts President Tweedledee (remember, this is a Revolution going on here):]

"WINTERGREEN: John P. Tweedledee, you are now deposed as President of the United States, and we hereby establish a dictatorship of the proletariat!"

[Of course, the BLUE SHIRTS army win the Revolution and ACT 2 Starts off with the wonderful BLUE song; and why just stop with Shirts of Blue:]

" ACT II

8. OPENING, ACT II including BLUE, BLUE, BLUE

BLUE, BLUE, BLUE

WIVES: It's off with the old, on with the new; That's why we're painting the White House blue.

ALL: It's off with the old, on with the new; That's why we're painting the White House blue.

Blue, blue, blue- Not pink or purple or yellow, Not brown like Mr. Othello- But blue, blue, blue! The country clamored For somebody new And grew enamored Of Wintergreen, who Gave us blue, blue, blue- The color heaven is painted; What color could be more sainted Than blue, blue, blue?

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The U.S.A. is the blue S.A. It's a dream come true! [DANCE]

[Notice the phrase above, “The U.S.A. is the blue S.A.”, this could be taken as a slight reference to the NAZI “SA” or Sturm Abteilung who were known for wearing BROWN SHIRTS.]

[The Blue Shirts make only one more appearance in the play. There is a controversy about debts owed by Europe and America, left over from World War One. So the usurper president, Wintergreen decides to settle the war debts by having a baseball game to decide who pays off the debts.]

“ WINTERGREEN: Great! We'll have a ball game between the American Blue Shirts and the League of Nations for the war debts-double or nothing!”

That’s all of the Blue Shirts items from the GERSHWIN play.END OF BLUE SHIRTS AND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA>>>>>It is interesting to look for Blue Shirts in everyday events.How many Blue Shirts do we see on television programs?How many people on the street are wearing them?Why do men with Blue Shirts often wear an Orange necktie?Sometime women wear an all-Blue dress, however this does not have the same significance as the men’s shirt.Men’s Blue Shirts have a history of political and military use. And most of the historical examples given above are connected with Right-wing, Conservative organizations.It will be interesting to watch the development of this subject. Below is the only current political Blue Shirt reference that I have found.

Here are some items about Romania’s Blue Shirts groups.>>>>>

ROUMANIA - "The government alliance, unified as the National Christian Party, gave itself a blue-shirted paramilitary corps that borrowed heavily from the Legion - the Lancieri[116] - and initiated an official campaign of persecution of Jews, attempting to win back the interest the public had in the Iron Guard.[117] "http://www.answers.com/topic/corneliu-zelea-codreanu

http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/presentations/features/details/2005-03-10/pdf/english/chapter_01.pdfIn addition to playing a traditional political role, the League of National Christian Defense organized militant student groups, led initially by Codreanu, and blue-shirted paramilitary units called Lancieri that disrupted university life, terrorized

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the country's Jews, and contributed to the street violence that became increasingly prevalent as the interwar years progressed.>>>>>Articles about Blue Shirts in Romania [Roumania]

http://foster.20megsfree.com/509.htmLa Roumanie à la croisée des cheminsBogdan Radulescu

Eléments :

Dans la période troublée de l'entre-deux-guerres, la Roumanie a vu l'ascension d'un mouvement très singulier, la Garde de Fer, qui a séduit nombre d'intellectuels (Constantin Noica, Emil Cioran, Mircea Eliade, etc.) et que l'on rapproche habituellement du « fascisme ». Comment expliquez-vous l'émergence de la Garde de fer et considérez-vous que ce mouvement soit assimilable au fascisme ?

Bogdan Radulescu :

L'apparition de la Garde de Fer a été conditionnée par la montée en puissance du communisme. Ce n'est d'ailleurs pas un hasard si le mouvement est apparu en Moldavie, c'est-à-dire dans la région la plus proche de la Russie, et particulièrement dans la ville de Iach, dont l'université était la proie d'une vive agitation nationaliste et anticommuniste. La Ligue Nationale de la Défense Chrétienne, ancêtre du Mouvement Légionnaire, y était née dès 1919, tandis que le professeur Atte Cusa, grand lecteur de Maurras et de Drumont, lançait les CHEMISES BLEUES, préfiguration d'un « fascisme » roumain. Le deuxième élément idéologique fort de la Garde de Fer fut l'antisémitisme. Celui-ci s'était développé à la suite de l'implantation en Moldavie des communautés juives de Galicie, ce transfert de population étant l'une des clauses d'un traité signé par la Roumanie. La pénétration rapide d'une élite juive dans les économies locales et dans l'enseignement fut perçue par les paysans et le petite bourgeoisie urbaine comme une menace, une concurrence. Aussi l'antisémitisme fut-il socio-économique, mais jamais religieux ni racio-biologique.

>>>>>>A.C. CuzaThis entry is from WikipediaA. C. Cuza (Alexandru C. Cuza; November 8, 1857—1947) was a Romanian far right politician and theorist.

Contents1 Early life2 With Xenopol and Iorga3 Prominence4 References

Early life

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Born in Iasi, after attending secondary school in his native city and in Dresden, Cuza studied law at the University of Paris, the Universität unter den Linden, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He took doctorates in political science and economy (1881), as well as law (1882).

Upon his return to Romania, Cuza became active in the socialist circle formed around Constantin Mille. He then attended meetings of the Junimea literary society, contributing to its magazine Convorbiri Literare. In 1890, he engaged in the political aspect of Junimea, serving briefly as deputy mayor of Iasi; in 1892, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies (serving until 1895). Cuza moved on to the Conservatives, and was yet again deputy - until a split generated by his virulent Anti-semitism. He briefly managed to achieve international prominence, after organizing the Alliance Anti-semitique Universelle ("Universal Antisemitic Alliance") in Bucharest (1895).

With Xenopol and IorgaHe decided to start his own movement, one centered on the rejection of Jews from public life. His first attempt saw him joining forces with historian A. D. Xenopol, creating Liga contra alcoolismului ("The League Against Alcoholism") and its magazine, Biblioteca Ligii contra alcoolismului. The scope of this movement went well beyond fighting addiction: Cuza and Xenopol saw the root of this social evil with Jewish entrepreneurs of the rural sphere. The League claimed that Jewish persons were encouraging Romanian peasants to drink, in order to ensure a captive market, and even to benefit from their very ruin (by having them sign off assets in order to feed their habit). The prejudice had acquired a tradition by the turn of the century - however, such attitudes ignored the fact that few other employments were left open for Jews, who were awarded full citizenship only after 1923.

In 1901, Cuza became a professor at the University of Iasi. Since his previous initiative had died out, he associated with Nicolae Iorga: after a period of publishing articles in the latter's Neamul Românesc, he joined Iorga in the creation of the Democratic Nationalist Party (1910). In 1912, he became the editor of the Party official voice, the Unirea newspaper. Cuza showed himself in favor of replacing the restrictive framework of the Romanian state by adopting universal male suffrage, and proposed a land reform - in which he saw an end to leasehold estates, of which Jews would have taken an undeserved profit. The latter goal brought Cuza into an alliance with General Alexandru Averescu's People's League, a populist movement of immense, albeit brief popularity (he himself wrote down the League's founding document).

ProminenceHe broke off with Iorga and founded the more radical National Christian Union in 1922 (the new Party found inspiration in Fascism and the Blackshirts, but was not paramilitary itself). It used the swastika as its symbol - one already connected to Antisemitic Aryan race subculture and with the occult Thule Society in Germany, and made himself known by supporting a Jewish quota in higher education (a demand which created a standoff with the government during a nationalist students' strike in 1923).

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Cuza's movement took shape in the same year, when it transformed into the National-Christian Defense League with the help of young Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (already a good friend of Cuza's). A. C. Cuza's refusal to turn the movement into a militia alienated Codreanu: in late 1927, after several attempts at imposing his line, Codreanu left in order to found the movement that would become known as the Iron Guard.

The conflict between the two turned vitriolic. All major conflicts of the 1930s between Codreanu and the establishment found Cuza on the latter's side, eager to win back his movement's place as the leading Antisemitic voice. In 1935, he joined forces with Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Party, forming the new National Christian Party. After the elections of 1937, the intervention of King Carol II (a Fascist sympathizer who was however weary of the Iron Guard) brought the National Christians to government, with Goga as Prime Minister and Cuza as minister of state. Alongside the overt persecution of Jews, the government adopted Corporatism. In a paradoxical turn, Cuza agreed to have the Party turn towards paramilitary activism: his government created its answer to the armed Iron Guard, the Lancieri ("Lance-bearers").

The Goga-Cuza government was not able to lift Romania from crisis: as a minority rule that was meant to satisfy the King, it only managed to alienate the public. In February 1938, after several attempts at forming a national government, Carol dismissed it and replaced it with a personal dictatorship. In 1939, Cuza held his last political post as member of the Crown Council.

ReferencesNicholas M. Nagy-Talavera, The Green Shirts and the Others: A History of Fascism in Hungary and Rumania (1970, ISBN 0-8179-1851-5, ISBN 973-9432-11-5)Ioan Scurtu, "Mit si realitate. Alexandru Averescu" ("Alexandru Averescu. Myth and Reality"), in Magazin IstoricThe Report of the International Committee for the Study of Holocaust in Romania (on the Romanian Presidency site) - a review of the several Anti-Semitic doctrines, including Cuza's, that contributed to genocide of the Holocaust.The founding document of Averescu's People's League (in Romanian)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)>>>>http://uk.geocities.com/imjhsourcebook3/ACCuza/BioBiblioGraphy.htmAlexandru C. Cuza (1857 - 1946)

— Succinct presentation —Internet Modern Jewish History Sourcebook for Central and Eastern EuropeWho was A. C. CuzaNOTES: A. C. Cuza might be called the "patriarch of Romanian anti-semitism." Yet, there is little attention paid to his works and political activities. His books are difficult to be found and in The Library of the Congress and Bodleian Library of Oxford there are no entries with his name. Other resources are resembles the same scarcity. He is neglected even by the extreme right web-sites. With few rare exceptions when he is mentioned in some chronologies, nothing can reveal his

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prominent role in the emergence of Romanian anti-semitic mass movements. This page try to improve this situation.

A. C. Cuza was a professor of political economy at University of Jassy, member of Romanian Academy (1936). He was born in November 8, 1857 in Jassy. His primary studies (1867-1871) were done in a distinguish private pension of a German pedagogue, Anton Frey from Jassy. Between 1871 and 1877 Cuza had his secondary studies at Dresden. Thereafter, he went to Sorbonne where he graduated the Baccalaureate in literary studies (1878-1881). Between 1882 and 1886 he attended the courses of Faculty of Law in Paris, Berlin and Bruxelles, concluding his studies with a doctorate in political and economical studies (1882) and law (1886). He returned in Romania and get closer to the socialist circle of Constantin Mille, V. G. Motun and others around the Contemporanul Review from Jassy. After a while he enter in Junimea - a literary society of the young conservatives -, collaborated to its review Convorbiri literare [Literary Conversations] and he is elected in 1890-1891, as a junimist, the mayor assistant of Jassy. He collaborated with Era noua [The New Era], a junimist newspaper, and in 1892-1895 he is elected deputy of Jassy supporting the nationalisation of the schools. He switched to the Conservative Party, he is elected again, but he decided to step back and to launch a personal anti-semitic movement. In 1897 Cuza founded with A. D. Xenopol ”The League against alcoholism” and published the periodical The Collection of the League against alcoholism. Cuza is appointed University professor on 27th January 1901. In 1905 we started his collaboration with Nicolae Iorga and his Neamul Românesc [The Romanian Nation], a weekly journal, and, together they founded the Nationalist-Democrat Party. In 1912 he founded at Jassy Unirea [The Union], the newspaper of this party. In 1914 he was deputy and supported in the Chamber the land reform and the universal vote. He dissociated himself from Iorga and founded in 1922, together with N, Paulescu, The Christian National Union. The journal of the this political party, Apararea Nationala [The National Defence] used for the fist time swastika. On 4th of March 1923 Cuza founded The League of the National Christian Defence (L.A.N.C.) and on 14 July 1935 he unite it with the Agrarian Party of Octavian Goga. The new party was called the Christian National Party. Meanwhile, Cuza had been the dean of the Low Faculty in 1919 and he became minister secretary of state in 1937 (28 December 28, 1937 — February 10, 1938; in Goga's government). He published a number of poems in Convorbiri literare, Arhiva, Fat-Frumos, etc. From 1938 we figured as member of the Council of Crown. He died in 1946.>>>>Here are search results for Romanian Blue Shirts.

National Renaissance Front - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediathe Antisemitic National Christian Party (PNC) of Octavian Goga and A. C. Cuza, ... A paramilitary grouping, the Blue-shirted Lancieri, was established as the new ...from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Renaissance_Front - 109 KB

National-Christian Defense League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediawas a virulently anti-Semitic political party of Romania formed by A. C. Cuza.[1] ... gained some support and its Blue shirted militia group, the Lancieri, gained ...from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National-Christian_Defense_League - 32 KB

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FINAL REPORT [Adobe PDF]A creature of the culture he came to epitomize, Iorga joined with A.C. ... They assembled 200,000 Blue-shirted men in Bucharest on November 8, 1936, on the ...from: http://www.ushmm.org/research/center/presentations/feature...df/english/chapter_01.pdf - 348 KB

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu: Biography from Answers.comLike his father, he became close to A. C. Cuza. ... Christian Party, gave itself a Blue-shirted paramilitary corps that borrowedfrom: http://www.answers.com/topic/corneliu-zelea-codreanu - 206 KB

BACKGROUND AND PRECURSORS TO THE HOLOCAUST Roots of Romanian Anti-semitism [Adobe PDF]A creature of the culture he came to epitomize, Iorga joined with A.C. ... They assembled 200,000 Blue-shirted men in Bucharest on November 8, 1936, on the ...from: http://www1.yadvashem.org/about_yad/what_new/data_whats_ne...Romanian_Antisemitism.pdf - 647 KB

END of Blue Shirts and ROMANIA

=GERMANYThe FREI DEUTSCHE JUGEND (1946 to 1990) were a youth group for ages 12 to 26. They were a training ground for East Germany's army, economy, and government. Remember, East Germany was occupied at this time by the Russian Communist government. They wore Blue Shirts with an insignia patch. Important to note they were almost the only LEFTIST group wearing Blue Shirts!

=OBAMANATIONHere is a contemporary reference connecting Blue Shirts and politics:

[79 Results for "Obama’s Blue Shirts"]YOU DECIDE! Obama Kids Video: Cute or Creepy? " FOX Forum " FOXNews.comThe Obama Youth Blue Shirts. Comment by Cheryl. September 30th, 2008 at 9:02 pm. CREEPY ... My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. ...more hits from: http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/09/30/youdecide_0930/comment-page-58/ - 176 KB

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