Economic League (UK)

The Economic League was an organisation in the United Kingdom dedicated to opposing what they saw as subversion and action against free enterprise.

The organisation was founded in 1919 by a group of industrialists and then MP William Reginald Hall under the name of National Propaganda. Its chief function was to promote the point of view of industrialists and businessmen. Predating McCarthyism, it worked closely with the British Empire Union. John Baker White worked as the league's Assistant Director, and then from 1926 to 1939 as Director.^[1]

They later worked with MI5 to blacklist workers who they suspected of association with certain left wing groups, ranging from the Communist Party of Great Britain to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.^{[citation needed]}

The League became more visible in the 1980s, as the press investigated its activities, and questions were asked in Parliament in a campaign against the League, led by Maria Fyfe. It was wound up in 1994, with two of its former directors forming the similar organisation CAPRiM shortly afterwards.^[2] Another similar organisation was The Consulting Association which was raided by the Office of the Information Commissioner in February 2009.

The league's running cost was funded by contributions from various companies. This was withdrawn as the labour government when they last came to power indicated that by doing so it would or may effect any government funded contracts.^{[citation needed]}

In the early 1980s numerous companies would check out employees with the league/MI5/SPECIAL BRANCH to ensure that they were not communist trained with the intent of disruption.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Thomas Lineham (2000) British Fascism, 1918-1939: Parties, Ideology and Culture, p. 45
2. ^ Left blacklist man joins euro fight, David Hencke, 9 September 2000, retrieved 14 May 2009

• Friends of the Heroes
• House of Commons Hansard Debates for 8 Feb 1989
• The Economic League - The Silent McCarthyism, Mark Hollingsworth and Charles Tremayne (National Council for Civil Liberties)
• Spies at Work, Mike Hughes
• Arthur McIvor, '“A Crusade for Capitalism”: The Economic League, 1919-1939”, Journal of Contemporary History 23 (1988), 631-55