In this post I rely mostly on specialised newspaper archives that are not publicly accessible. You will just have to take my word for it that the original articles were as I reproduce them here.
The public, mostly Jewish-led, agitation that culminated in the passing of the Race Relations Act started with Jewish indignation at the activities of the National Socialist Movement in Britain.
Legislation that would make incitement to racial hatred a punishable offense was demanded today at a meeting of the World Jewish Congress.
A. L. Easterman, international affairs director of the congress, said the British Government had failed to deal effectively with the revival of fascism and anti-Semitism.
He said that inaction in Britain encouraged fascism in other countries in urging a change in the law.
Three British Fascist or extreme Right-Wing organizations held outdoor meetings that resulted in violence this summer.
An appeals court ruled Sep. 4 that the Public Order Act, which covers such meetings, had not been violated by Colin Jordan, head of the neo-Nazi British National Socialist Movement.
Since then several groups have advocated amending the Public Order Act.
Source: “Law on racial hate is urged in Britain”, New York Times, September 17, 1962.
Source: Association of Jewish Refugees Information, Vol. XVII, No. 10, October 1962
Three petitions, each containing 140,000 signatures, with the common aim of obtaining legislation against the public incitement of race hatred and discrimination, were presented to Parliament yesterday by three M.P.s – Mr. Greenwood (Lab.), Mr. Lubbock (L.) and Mr. Tiley (C.).
…The petitions were organized by the Yellow Star Movement, the Association of Jewish Ex-Service Men and Women, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the National Council for Civil Liberties.
Source: “420,000 seek law on race hate”, The Times (London, England), Tuesday, Nov 27, 1962
The British section of the World Jewish Congress, holding its biennial conference in London at the weekend, urged the Government to enact legislation against incitement to racial and religious hatred.
The chairman of the British section, Mr J. Halevy, told the conference that 20 years after the brutal annihilation of European Jewry by the Nazis, “antisemitism, though not so virulent, is not dormant.”
Cairo and Buenos Aires, he asserted, were centres of Nazi and Fascist activity.
There was antisemitism in the democratic countries of Europe as well. Mr Halevy believed the Home Secretary was wrong in thinking that education alone could deal with it. Legislation, too, was essential.
Source: “Legislation on racial incitement urged”, The Guardian, Mar 2, 1964
When the Labour party won the general election in October 1964, Harold Wilson became Prime Minister and appointed the Jew Frank Soskice Home Secretary. Soskice was the son of Russian revolutionary journalist David Soskice, who had “played a considerable role in the political events in Russia up to the founding of the Kerensky republic” (source) then fled Russia for England after being imprisoned by the Bolshevists. With Soskice in the Home Office, active efforts began to be made to bring about the criminalisation of free speech.
In a meeting yesterday with the Home Secretary, Sir Frank Soskice, representatives of the Board of Deputies of British Jews emphasised the importance they attach to early legislation against racial discrimination.
…it is understood that the members of the board were particularly concerned about recent incitement of racial feelings, the persistent publication of literature likely to inflame, and the activities of Fascists at the Leyton byelection.
Source: “Jewish deputation sees Sir Frank”, The Guardian, Jan 15, 1965
The Race Relations Act went through Parliament in 1965, finally coming into effect on 8 December 1965. It created a new offence of Incitement to Racial Hatred.
Most members of the Jewish community welcomed the race relations bill recently introduced by the Government, Dr. S. Levenberg told the annual conference of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland in London yesterday.
Commenting on newspaper reports that Jewish leaders had opposed the Bill, Dr Levenberg, an honorary vice-president of the federation said: “I think I can speak for most of us when I say that we welcome the Bill”. He added: “We welcome the fact that the Government has introduced a bill against racial discrimination and incitement to race hatred. We are pleased that the Government, under Harold Wilson, has kept its pledge to introduce such a Bill which we have wanted for a long time.”
Source: “Race bill welcomed by Jews”, The Guardian, Apr 12, 1965
After the law was passed, Colin Jordan was charged with offences under it and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in January 1967.
Colin Jordan (43), leader of the British National Socialist Movement, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment at Devon Assizes, Exeter, yesterday, for offences under the Race Relations Act.
…Before he was sentenced, Jordan, of Tudor Avenue, Coventry, said: “I am to be punished because I sought to save my country from Jewish control and coloured immigration.”
He accused the Wilson government of “treasonable betrayal” in “promoting the coloured immigration and suppression of criticism.”
Source: “18 months’ prison for Jordan”, The Guardian, Jan 26, 1967
