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Beckers's Rebellion was a populist uprising and series of armed protests in the Southeast of England - notably around Kent and Sussex - in response to the banning of the New Democratic Party and backlash against local political intrigue. Contemporary reports and commentators claimed that the rebellion was in response to the disbanding of the Provincial Parliament and the beginning of 'The Emergency' in Britain, a narrative backed by supporters and opponents of the emergency laws. Despite an undercurrent of broader loyalist and anti-socialist themes, the protests were not driven by national concerns but rather emerged as a backlash to the collapse of the NDP-controlled, Home Provinces regional government, earlier in the year. With the NDP dissolved, its members were left without partisan affiliation in the regional legislature and were unable to form a cohesive alternative government, creating a political deadlock in the Assembly and pervasive local intrigue.
Running in parallel to the emerging crisis, Harry Becker, a former soldier and Chair of the Militia Board, established the "Public Volunteer Committee" - a private militia under his personal command based in Surrey. The Public Volunteers rapidly expanded to cover all of the Southeast and shortly thereafter began a campaign of armed protest amid growing tensions in local politics and a worsening deadlock. Public protest emerged following rumours of the local Labour Party attempting to prolong the political crisis for their own ends and in response the Public Volunteers became the backbone of anti-Labour sentiment, initially acting as stewards against socialist disruption before becoming instigators of the violence themselves. Local branches of the PVC began occupying civic institutions and town halls, with Becker and a large contingent of protesters successfully occupying Brighton Town Hall. Following a brief stand-off, Becker and his soldiers surrendered before being taken into police custody. Other branches of the Public Volunteers promptly stood down and the organisation was formally disarmed and disbanded.
Following the end of the 'rebellion', the Home Provinces Assembly was dissolved and the region's autonomy suspended. Scheduled elections for July were cancelled and Jack Tanner was appointed as acting Governor of the so-called 'Commission Government' - no Assembly was convened during this time. Elections were held in early in 1935, with Tanner winning a small majority. The repercussions of Becker's Rebellion and its influence on the British political sphere have been hotly debated among commentators and academics, with it being claimed that Becker's failure and the end of the Southeast being a 'right-wing stronghold' would lead to a dramatic change in fortunes for Loyalist forces.
Background[]
Since the establishment of regional assemblies in 1927, the Home Provinces region in the Southeast of England had been governed by a succession of right-wing administrations, comprised of former Conservatives and Loyalists. Colloquially known as "Absolvers", many former opponents of the Revolution were allowed to reintegrate into political life and 'absolved' of their past misdeeds, in exchange for loyalty to the new regime. Following the 1927 elections, the Southeast was the only region not to elect an administration led by Labour, the ILP or the Liberals, with Gordon Touche's "Citizens Union" forming a government with Liberal-backing. While the Liberals were nominally the largest party, Touche held the balance of power and it was well known that many Liberal representatives were former Tories escaping disenfranchisement. As such, many so-called "Turkies" were eager to back Touche, with the reluctant agreement of Liberal leader, Charles Rudkin. Touche's time in office was brief, being marred by scandal, and he was ousted just over a year later. The Citizens Union was dissolved shortly after. Rudkin formed a successor government led by the Liberals, with backing from the recently formed "Progressive Party (Southeast)" - a successor to the Citizens Union formed by Assemblymen John Jarvis and Richard Meller. All members of the Citizens Union - barring one - defected to the Progressives and the new party was permitted to 'inherit' the seats of its defunct predecessors. Following the formation of the New Democratic Party in 1929, the Progressives dissolved and merged themselves into the regional branch of the NDP.
Mr. John Jarvis, Chairman of the Home Provinces
In the 1930 regional elections, many nominal Liberals and Independents had now defected to the NDP with the party securing a majority in the Assembly and cementing the region's right-leaning politics. The NDP was not explicitly anti-socialist, at least on a national level, though regional and provincial branches of the party would often be more frank in their attacks. Likewise, the newly-elected regional Chairman, John Jarvis, professed himself to be "not a socialist but a pragmatist and philanthropist", though he was praised for his willingness to work with the opposition, principally on his proposals for municipal reform and establishing a more diverse regional economy. Nevertheless, Jarvis did not speak for all his compatriots and the Southeastern branch of the Labour Party felt persecuted by the new administration. Jarvis himself was criticised for his "over-sanguine optimism" at otherwise, mediocre results and local Labourites were critical of his "reckless" plans to instigate sweeping "municipal reform" - i.e. the of cutting municipal rates and a degrading of public services. Similarly, many members of the Southeastern Liberal Party were bitter at the "betrayal" of mass defections and their ensuing collapse, seeing them reduced to a rump third place in the Assembly. The exodus of the "Turkies" now kept the Liberals locked out of power and humiliated after their brief period in office. Both Labour and the Liberals made multiple attempts to co-operate as a means of mounting a more serious opposition to the NDP but were unable to ever move beyond case-by-case co-operation on specific bills. Likewise, Rudkin remained on good terms with Jarvis and was wary of openly opposing the NDP in the Assembly for fear of inviting a similarly hostile Labour administration in. Nevertheless, Rudkin declined invitations to formally back the NDP or establish some form of anti-socialist party as had emerged in other areas.
Local Intrigue[]
Regional Fallout[]
In the year of 1932, a major political crisis relating to the powers of Parliament and the Federal Congress would engulf British political discourse. The Parliamentary Crisis pitted the mainstream Labour Party against the recently disaffiliated, Snowdenite Independent Labour Party and its newfound allies in the Liberal Party, later also the New Democratic Party. Having organised under the second iteration of the Union for Democratic Control, the Opposition combined its collective power in the Provincial Parliament to block government legislation and deadlock the Federal Congress, iterating demands for a "Meaningful Vote" in the upper house's confidence of the Mann government. To resolve the crisis, Chairman Mann used the Emergency Powers Act 1920 - often referred to as the Emergency Act for brevity - to declare a State of Emergency, allowing him to forcibly dissolve and abolish the Provincial Parliament without its consent. In the aftermath, the primary Opposition leaders were arrested on various charges relating to sedition and the constituent parties of the UDC were later banned after a period of legislative suspension. In response, a brief period of anti-government protests and rioting broke out nationwide, though principally concentrated in London and the South. Splinter parties, comprised of the remnants of their prior bodies, organised at the sub-national level but this process was not uniform and did not truly begin to occur until later in 1933. Taking advantage of the political vacuum, local Labour Parties began aggressive campaigns to recruit new supporters and keep their opponents disorganised or disenfranchised.
In the Southeast, the political situation was becoming increasingly tense as the regional constituents of the Opposition began to crumble but the Labour Party still faced an uphill battle in consolidating its weak position. Efforts were made to organise sympathetic workers and other individuals, disillusioned by the UDC's brazen actions, into trade union structures and the local Labour political machine; local union bosses participated in unscrupulous methods of bribery and offers of 'rewards' for co-operation and switching allegiance. John Morgan, an agricultural trade unionist, known popularly by his pseudonym "John Sussex", organised gatherings of farmers and rural constituents to display the benefits of Labour membership but critics accused him of using these events to "ply opponents with drink" until they were compliant enough to be tricked into switching to Labour. The opposition was unable to properly fight back as the already weak Liberals and ILP all but vanished, with the NDP forced to deal with the fallout of the national party in free fall. At a national level, the NDP was beginning to disintegrate: it had been formally suspended from participation in the Federal Congress, its leaders were jailed and the party was collapsing to infighting. Across the country, NDP branches faced an uncertain future and the Southeast was no exception, with Jarvis desperately trying to stop Labour peeling off supporters. Despite pledging "stern action" if Labour did put a stop to such "criminal tomfoolery", Jarvis was intimately aware he had no real leverage and would have to tread lightly so as not to invite London's wrath or worse, a potential vote of no confidence.
The Goff Fiasco[]
Mr. Park Goff
Despite Jarvis' best efforts to maintain his position, the situation would be further inflamed with the expected banning of the NDP and the rest of the Opposition in the Spring. With the NDP banned at all levels, Jarvis and his allies in the Assembly were left without political affiliation and automatically made Independents. The Liberals shared the same fate (the local ILP had already been forcibly merged into Labour) though they were more adept at simply adding the prefix of "Independent" to their political affiliation; whereas the NDP was not able to make such a smooth transition. Jarvis' administration was automatically dissolved and prior allies descended into infighting. After exhaustive efforts and fears of a Labour takeover, Jarvis formed an "Independent council" a week after the ban, now comprising factionless former NDP members. This endeavour lasted until April before his government collapsed when his independent backers rebelled. Jarvis was tempted to resign, but convinced to attempt the formation a third government by his Solicitor-General, Richard Meller. Both Jarvis and Meller agreed that the lack of a political whip in the Assembly and the binding unity of the NDP was making it impossible to govern, risking rebellion with every vote. Meller's proposed solution was to re-establish the Progressive Party though when this was proposed to former NDP members, it received a lukewarm reaction and some opposition from former NDP members. At the head of this opposition was Park Goff, a barrister and Assemblyman who had been at the centre of a minor internal fracas under Jarvis. Goff was a refugee to the area from the Civil War, and one of many "Absolvers" elected in 1927 as a part of the original Citizens Union. For the 1930 elections, he was not adopted as an NDP candidate but successfully appealed this to the party's National Council and was reinstated. As a consolation, Jarvis offered Goff the position of Solicitor-General but later reneged on this after Goff had reportedly made "uncouth and inflammatory comments" at a private function. Goff expressed his dismay in an open letter to the Chairman but remained a back-bencher. Having maintained a grudge, he now sat in open revolt and refused to endorse Jarvis, going so as far to call into question his prior talks of co-operation with Labour. Consternation at Jarvis' commitment to a more reformist approach had already caused problems but was now pulled into the open and with no threat of the party whip to curtail it. After some agonising, Jarvis agreed to resign the next day.
Naturally, Jarvis' resignation would lead to more instability as any hopes of forming a cohesive government had been delayed. With no clear successor, the President of the Assembly, Gerald Kidd, assumed leadership of the region as a caretaker until a new administration could be established or fresh elections were called. The deadline to establish a new administration before automatic snap elections was set for a month. Negotiations immediately began among the Assembly's right-leaning members on how to proceed with Meller emerging as the preferred candidate and as Jarvis' de facto preferred successor. A barrister by profession, Meller's record as the region's top legal officer was uninspiring but without controversy. No other candidates were quick to step forward and Meller announced his intention to re-establish the Progressive Party - of which he had previously been the Vice-Chair of - and to open talks with the similarly scattered Liberals on forming a "broad anti-Labour front". Under pressure from his embittered colleagues, Rudkin agreed to discuss the matter, prompting furious responses among the local Labour Party. The Labour Assemblyman, Richard Henry Hope urged Kidd to block the Progressive Party from being permitted to take its seats on the grounds it had been previously affiliated to a now a banned organisation, but Kidd (widely suspected of being pro-conservative) argued it was out of jurisdiction and so ignored the matter.
Crawford's Gambit[]
E.Percy Smith, a popular speaker and future independent Congressman
The Southeast Labour Party had been doing exceptionally well out of the emerging chaos of the NDP's dissolution though it appeared it's time in the spotlight was coming to a stilted close. Local Labour activists were intimately aware that a merger of the liberal and conservative camps into a single anti-socialist party would strike a severe blow against their future electoral chances and likely set them back to pre-revolutionary electoral relevance. Hope's attempt to enlist Kidd into blocking the formation had stalled but other activists made efforts to frustrate the proposals all the same. Labour Assemblyman, Thomas Crawford, believed the legal avenue was still open and informed the press he intended to take the matter to the courts. Crawford's bombastic announcement only served to inflame growing tensions in the region with the situation made worse when Hope attempted to table a bill that would explicitly block the Progressive Party from taking its seats until its legality had been assured, further stalling the issue. In retaliation, anti-Labour protests broke out on the 20th May, a mere five days before the deadline, with sitting Assemblyman and popular playwright, Eric Percy Smith addressing them. Percy Smith became a popular speaker at protests and a leading opponent of Hope's bill. In the Assembly's last session, Crawford was accused by Percy Smith of attempting to "suppress" potential opponents so that Labour could take power for itself. Crawford fought back, declaring he had no quarrel with the opposition and simply sought to uphold the law. Behind closed doors, Crawford's gambit was beginning to have repercussions for the Progressives. Rudkin and the Independent Liberals were concerned at the possibility of being associated with an "illegal organisation" and wiped out for good, despite Meller's assurances it was simply bluster. Facing pressure from the remaining Liberal-aligned Assemblymen, Rudkin informed Meller that any merger would have to wait until the Progressive Party had been given a "clean bill of health" and until then, they would remain separate. Meller was furious with the situation but unable to do anything beyond wait for potential legal proceedings. With the deadline approaching and having made little headway, Meller's only option was to reconstitute the former party and hope that it's former Assemblymen would retake the Progressive whip - with additional hopes that the Rural Party would back a Progressive administration rather than bring forward early elections. Facing the precipice, Meller planned to form a new administration when the Assembly reconvened on the 25th.
Becker's Uprising[]
By Kidd's deadline, the region had been swamped with protests and clashes between the rival factions, in events reminiscent of the Great Slump and Red Summer. Under increasing pressure from the Home Office to curb the violence, Kidd had resorted to the tacit endorsement of the Public Volunteer Committee, a right-wing militia, as a means of keeping order. The Volunteers were founded by Harry Becker, a former soldier and right-wing politician, in the Summer of 1932 in his local Surrey. By the end of the year, the Volunteers had chapters across the region and even claimed small pockets within East Anglia and Wessex but also as far as South Lincolnshire. Following its formation, Becker and the Volunteers were mired in controversy after Rudkin raised concerns at Becker, who was then the Chair of the regional Militia Board, having control of a "private militia" alongside his political duties pertaining to the Home Guard. Becker denied the accusation they were a "militia" and insisted the Volunteers were merely a charitable and social organisation, dismissing allegations its members conducted military drills. The Volunteers had already acted as stewards for NDP meetings during its existence and were now actively protecting right-leaning protesters from rival counter-protests.