Colin Jordan (1923–2009) was a leading figure of the British neo-Nazi scene and a highly colorful character. Until recently, however, the only existing biography of Jordan was the self-published Twaz a Good Fight! The Life of Colin Jordan (2014), written by Stephen L. Frost, a sympathizer, supporter, and member of one of the groups founded by Jordan. That book, not surprisingly, is biased and uncritically admiring of Jordan. Now, however, Paul Jackson, senior lecturer in history at the University of Northampton, has written a very detailed, well-researched, well-written, objective, and highly accessible account of Jordan's life and work, although the volume was not originally intended as a conventional biography.
Jordan was one of the most obscure characters of British postwar history. During the 1960s, he regularly contested parliamentary elections, invariably losing his deposit. He was jailed for eighteen months for distributing a racist leaflet, fined for stealing three pairs of women's underpants from a Tesco store in Leamington Spa, and often denounced as a “repulsive brute” by his political opponents and as cowardly and corrupt even by other right-wing and fascist would-be Führers. In short, Jordan cut a comic figure in many people's eyes. Furthermore, the British neo-Nazi and far-right movement was very small: groups and parties struggled to secure any seat in the British parliament and never posed a genuine threat to the political mainstream. Why, then, study Colin Jordan?
Jackson's book is important for the two main points it makes. First, given that the only previous biography was, as noted, admiring and uncritical, Jackson's offering places Jordan and his life—the life of a highly active and vigorous revolutionary nationalist—into a correct historical perspective. Secondly, by placing Jordan into this perspective and using his political life as a kind of case study, Jackson examines the broader contemporary history of the extreme right and offers an insight into the wider culture of neo-Nazism in Britain and the rest of Europe. This approach means we will not only learn about Jordan and his work but will better understand the complex phenomenon of neo-Nazism and the radical right. Jackson's book rightly draws attention to a history that has received little attention outside its own highly partisan circle.
With the intention of using Jordan's political life as a means of understanding Nazism after the Second World War, Jackson devotes a substantial part of the book to an academic analysis of the existing literature on fascism and to providing a working definition of neo-Nazism. Jackson's definition is clear and detailed. Essentially, it states that neo-Nazism is a revolutionary (palingenetic) nationalistic “scavenger” ideology driven by its goal of creating an antiliberal new order inspired by the Third Reich. It is an ideology that involves vigorous anti-Semitism and the celebration of racial purity and that operates around conspiracy theories and an “us” and “them” mentality. It has all the hallmarks of a modern political religion.
Jackson's study draws on the large body of archival material now held at the University of Northampton, originally collated by Searchlight magazine. The book's academic provenance and multitude of sources suggest that it is intended for a predominantly academic audience.
Although generally well written and interesting, the book contains passages where the reader must take lengthy excursions into Jordan's own writings. These undoubtedly represent the most detailed collection of Jordan's written offerings currently available, using numerous previously unpublished and difficult-to-access sources and documents, but not all the writings used and described are necessarily interesting and insightful. Omitting some of the less important of these would have made the book not only shorter but also more dynamic and readable for nonspecialists. The effect of using so many of Jordan's writings also tends to overemphasize Jordan as a theorist and underplay his activism and his involvement in street violence.
What I believe is also missing is at least a brief foray into Jordan's childhood and a consideration of his parents’ lives and attitudes. An insight into his formative years, the kind of family he grew up in, the importance of religion and the outlook on class at home might have brought us closer to an understanding of that which formed and developed his political views and influenced the roots of his paranoia and belief in conspiracy theories.
Overall, however, this is an important, thoroughly researched, and lucid book that presents convincing arguments with far-reaching implications. It offers a mass of new information and provides an interesting insight into the existence and work of numerous neo-Nazi organizations. Jackson displays an excellent grasp of his topic, his style is highly accessible, and, in contrast to much of the preceding scholarship, he presents his arguments with a sense of objectivity and largely without judgment. Paul Jackson has written a book that makes a valuable contribution to the historiography of fascism (and other extreme ideologies) and the social and political history of postwar Britain.
