Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was a political party in the United Kingdom. It grew out of the Kibbo Kift, which was established in 1920 as a more craft-based alternative for youth to the Boy Scouts.

The organisation was led by John Hargrave, who gradually turned the movement into a paramilitary movement for social credit. With its supporters wearing a political uniform of green shirts, in 1932 it became known as the Green Shirt Movement for Social Credit and in 1935 it took its final name, the Social Credit Party. The party published the newspaper Attack and was linked to a small number of incidents in which green-painted bricks were thrown through windows, including at 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The party stood a single candidate in the 1935 general election, a Mr. W. Townend, who polled 11% of the vote in Leeds South. Despite this lack of success, Hargrave was invited by William Aberhart to take an advisory post in the Government of the Province of Alberta, Canada, that had been formed by the Social Credit Party of Alberta.

The party began to decline when political uniforms were banned in 1937. Its activities were curtailed during World War II, and attempts to rebuild afterwards around a campaign against bread rationing had little success. Hargrave stood again in the 1950 general election, but after he gained only 551 votes, the party disbanded itself in 1951.

A second Social Credit Party was founded in 1965 by C. J. Hunt, a member of the former party, but it had little success and disbanded in 1978.

Monetary reform supporters

Notable supporters of Social Credit or "monetary reform" in Britain in the 1920s and 1930s included A. V. Roe the aircraft manufacturer, Frederick Soddy the scientist, and Sir Oswald Mosley, in 1928-30 a member of the Labour Government but later the leader of the British Union of Fascists. Major Douglas, the British pioneer of Social Credit did not believe that Social Credit should be a political party.

References

Defunct political parties of Northern Ireland

Unionist / Loyalist	Commonwealth Labour Party Independent Unionist Association Northern Ireland Unionist Party Protestant Unionist Party UK Unionist Party Ulster Constitution Party Ulster Democratic Party Ulster Popular Unionist Party Ulster Progressive Unionist Association Ulster Unionist Coalition Party Ulster Unionist Labour Association Unionist Party of Northern Ireland United Ulster Unionist Council United Ulster Unionist Party United Unionist Coalition Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party Volunteer Political Party

Nationalist / Republican	All Ireland Anti-Partition League Federation of Labour Fianna Uladh Irish Anti-Partition League Irish Independence Party Irish Union Association National Democratic Party Nationalist Party National League of the North National Unity Northern Council for Unity Official Sinn Féin People's Democracy Red Republican Party Republican Socialist Collective Saor Éire Socialist Republican Party Unity

Left wing¹	Belfast Labour Party Communist Party of Ireland (Marxist-Leninist) Communist Party of Northern Ireland Democratic Left Independent Labour Group Independent Socialist Party Labour coalition Labour Party of Northern Ireland Labour and Trade Union Group League for a Workers Republic Northern Ireland Labour Party Republican Labour Party Socialist Labour Alliance Socialist Party of Northern Ireland United Labour Party Workers League World Socialist Party

Ulster nationalist	British Ulster Dominion Party Ulster Independence Movement Ulster Independence Party Ulster Movement for Self-Determination Ulster Third Way

Others	Democratic Partnership Newtownabbey Ratepayers' Association Northern Ireland Women's Coalition Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Ulster Liberal Party Unbought Tenants Association

¹ Excluding those left-wing parties avowedly nationalist / republican or unionist / loyalist.

Social Credit

Movements

Canada	Abolitionist Party of Canada British Columbia Social Credit Party Canada Party Christian Credit Party Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform Les Démocrates Manitoba Social Credit Party New Democracy Pauper Party of Ontario Parti crédit social uni Pilgrims of Saint Michael Ralliement créditiste Ralliement créditiste du Québec Social Credit Board Alberta Social Credit Party Social Credit Party of Canada Social Credit Party of New Brunswick Social Credit Party of Ontario Social Credit Party of Saskatchewan

Oceania	Australian League of Rights Douglas Credit Party New Zealand Democratic Party for Social Credit Social Credit Party Solomon Islands Social Credit Party

United Kingdom	British People's Party Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

People

History

Category
Politics

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