Joe Pearce (politician)

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Joe Pearce was a leading member of the National Front during the 1980s and was variously associated with both the Political Soldier and Flag Group wings.

Born in Dagenham, Pearce first came to prominence in 1977 when at the age of 16 he set up Bulldog, the paper of the Young National Front (of which he was leader). Bulldog became associated with some of the most virulent of NF propaganda and Pearce was twice convicted under the Race Relations Act, serving time in prison in 1982 and 1984 due to its contents.^[1]

A close associate of Nick Griffin, they were both attacked by Martin Webster for devoting too much time to writing for the Third Position magazine Rising and not enough to their NF duties.^[2] As a result he joined Griffin in resigning from the NF in November 1983 before circulating a statement in which they complained about Webster's role in the party. The statement claimed that Pearce and Griffin were leaving to avoid a Webster-led witch hunt and it had the effect of ensuring the removal of Webster from his post as National Activities Organiser.^[3]

Returning to the NF, Pearce became editor of Nationalism Today which supported the Political Soldier line within the NF. In this position he argued vehemently in favour of racial preservation, producing a pamphlet entitled Fight for Freedom! on this theme in 1984.^[4] Initially an enthusiastic supporter of the Political Soldier tendency, Pearce adopted their support for ethnopluralism and on this basis contacted the Iranian Embassy in London in 1984 to try to secure funding for the NF, although it came to nothing.^[5] However, as time went on Pearce, who came from a working-class background and so was much more popular with NF skinheads than the rest of the university-educated Political Soldiers, became disillusioned with the lack of electoral activity and moved towards Andrew Brons. Before long Pearce became a full member of the Flag Group and was expelled along with the rest of that group by the Official National Front in 1986.

Pearce became a leading member of the new group and sought to extend their activities. He was a frequent visitor to Northern Ireland, where the Flag Group hoped to make in-roads and he maintained regular contact with the Ulster Defence Association^[6] A regular writer and editor for Flag Group publications, he contributed to the group's ideology, notably arguing in favour of distributism in a 1987 edition of party magazine Vanguard.^[7] Earlier in his career, Pearce had even contacted John Tyndall to suggest the possibility of an alliance with the British National Party. The idea was considered by Tyndall but was ultimately rejected on the advice of Ray Hill and Charles Parker.^[8]

As the Flag Group ran out of momentum, Pearce largely faded from the scene and took no role in the the NF that emerged in 1990 under Ian Anderson.

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