The lure of violence

This book provides a comprehensive examination of conservative and right-wing responses to the Edwardian crisis in Britain (1901-1914). It stresses how the upsurge of right-wing extremism within and outside the Conservative party was accompanied by the crystallisation of a culture of violence. The preparation, instigation or threatening of violent acts against all those who appeared to threaten the organic nature and vigour of the national community found expression in a myriad of ultra-nationalist organisations, citizen policing groups, private military associations, and paramilitary formations. The book innovatively reconstructs the belief system and the practices of those right-wing actors, which pursued the goals of military preparedness, 'racial regeneration' and imperial unity, while defending the amorphous goals of authority, order and ‘national efficiency’ against the forces of radicalism and socialism. The book helps to cast light on the bellicose and authoritarian reflexes that traversed British conservatism in the turbulent prewar years.