Jonathan David Anthony Bowden (12 April 1962 – 29 March 2012) was an English painter,

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while othe ...

, essayist,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...

and activist. Initially a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

, he later became involved in far-right organisations such as the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK go ...

. Bowden has been described as a "cult Internet figure" in the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of bein ...

, even after his death.

Life and career

Early life and formal education

Bowden was born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, and attended Presentation College in Reading, Berkshire. He described his experience there:

I went to a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
school, and they educated me very well. And almost every book in that library was by a
dead White European male The Western canon is the body of high culture literature, music, philosophy, and works of art that are highly valued in the West; works that have achieved the status of classics. However, not all these works originate in the Western world, ...
. And almost everything that one learnt culturally — from the rather gory sort of Grünewald-type crucifixion as you went in, to the Dalí on the wall, the reverse crucifixion scene, in reverse perspective from above, that was next to the assembly point, and to everything else — everything was European.

His mother suffered from severe mental illness, and died when Bowden was 16 years old. Bowden was largely self-educated.Clements, Tom (4 September 2019
"I fell down the rabbit hole of alt-right propaganda and this is what I learned"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' In 1984, he completed one year of a Bachelor of Arts history degree course at

Birkbeck College , mottoeng = Advice comes over nightTranslation used by Birkbeck. , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £4.3 m (2014) , budget = £109 ...

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

, as a mature student, but left without graduating. He subsequently enrolled at Wolfson College,

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, in autumn 1988, but left after a few months. He became a personal friend of Bill Hopkins during this time.

Conservative Party

Bowden began his political career as a member of the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

in the

Bethnal Green and Stepney Bethnal Green and Stepney was a parliamentary constituency in east London, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until it was abolished for the 1997 general ...

Constituency Association.. In 1990, he joined the Conservative

Monday Club The Conservative Monday Club (usually known as the Monday Club) is a British political pressure group, aligned with the Conservative Party, though no longer endorsed by it. It also has links to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Union ...

, and the following year made an unsuccessful bid to be elected onto its Executive Council. In 1991, he was appointed co-chairman with Stuart Millson of the club's media committee, and was also active in the

Western Goals Institute Western Goals Institute (WGI) was a far-right pressure group and think-tank in Britain, formed in 1989 from Western Goals UK, which was founded in 1985 as an offshoot of the U.S. Western Goals Foundation.''Labour Research'', November 1988, p. 2. ...

. In 1992, Bowden was expelled from the Monday Club.Sonia Gable and Adam Carter
"New Right chairman dies"
, ''Searchlight'', 26 April 2012

Revolutionary Conservative Caucus

Bowden and Stuart Millson co-founded the

Revolutionary Conservative Caucus The Revolutionary Conservative Caucus was a small, right-wing pressure group which attempted to introduce a new radicalism into British conservatism. It was founded in November 1992 by Stuart Millson, an officer of the Western Goals Institute, ...

in November 1992 with the aim of introducing "abstract thought into the nether reaches of the Conservative and Unionist party". The group published a quarterly journal entitled ''The Revolutionary Conservative Review''. By the end of 1994, Millson and Bowden parted company and the group dissolved. In 1993, Bowden published the book ''Right'' through the European Books Society. He was also reported to be a prominent figure in the creative milieu responsible for the emergence of '' Right Now!'' magazine.

Freedom Party

Bowden then joined the Freedom Party, for which he was treasurer for a short time, and subsequently was a member of the Bloomsbury Forum, in company with

Adrian Davies Adrian Davies (born 9 February 1969 in Bridgend) is a former Wales international rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the firs ...

British National Party

In 2003, Bowden broke with attempts to influence

Conservatism Conservatism is a Philosophy of culture, cultural, Social philosophy, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in r ...

and moved into political activity by joining the

(BNP). He was appointed Cultural Officer, a position its leader

Nick Griffin Nicholas John Griffin (born 1 March 1959) is a British politician and white supremacist who represented North West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014. He served as chairman and then president of the far-righ ...

created to give Bowden officer status within the organisation. In July 2007, Bowden resigned and left the BNP. Although he resumed public speech-making at BNP organised meetings in the localities away from the party's national events, he never re-joined the party and cut all ties after the May 2010 general election. Bowden became a popular speaker; many of his speeches are recorded and have been transcribed. Topics of his lectures include:

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centu ...

, Bill Hopkins & the

angry young men The "angry young men" were a group of mostly working- and middle-class British playwrights and novelists who became prominent in the 1950s. The group's leading figures included John Osborne and Kingsley Amis; other popular figures included ...

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited '' BLAST,'' the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His novels include '' Tarr'' ...

Robinson Jeffers John Robinson Jeffers (January 10, 1887 – January 20, 1962) was an American poet, known for his work about the central California coast. Much of Jeffers's poetry was written in narrative and epic form. However, he is also known for his shorte ...

historical revisionism In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his c ...

Marxism Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialec ...

& the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School (german: Frankfurter Schule) is a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1929. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), du ...

Hans-Jürgen Syberberg Hans-Jürgen Syberberg (born 8 December 1935) is a German film director, whose best known film is his lengthy feature '' Hitler: A Film from Germany''. Early life Born in Nossendorf, Pomerania, the son of an estate owner, Syberberg lived unti ...

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, ...

, H. P. Lovecraft,

Léon Degrelle Léon Joseph Marie Ignace Degrelle (; 15 June 1906 – 31 March 1994) was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party (Rex). During the German occupation ...

, ''

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...

'',

Maurice Cowling Maurice John Cowling (6 September 1926 – 24 August 2005) was a British historian and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. Early life Cowling was born in West Norwood, South London, son of Reginald Frederick Cowling (1901–1962), a patent agent ...

Stewart Home Kevin Llewellyn Callan (born 24 March 1962), better known as Stewart Home, is an English artist, filmmaker, writer, pamphleteer, art historian, and activist. His novels include the non-narrative '' 69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess'' (2002), a ...

Robert E. Howard Robert Ervin Howard (January 22, 1906June 11, 1936) was an American writer. He wrote pulp fiction in a diverse range of genres. He is well known for his character Conan the Barbarian and is regarded as the father of the sword and sorcery subge ...

Julius Evola Giulio Cesare Andrea "Julius" Evola (; 19 May 1898 – 11 June 1974) was an Italian philosopher, poet, painter, esotericist, and radical-right ideologue. Evola regarded his values as aristocratic, masculine, traditionalist, heroic, and defiantly ...

Savitri Devi Savitri Devi Mukherji (born Maximiani Julia Portas, ; 30 September 1905 – 22 October 1982) was a French-born Greek fascist, Nazi sympathizer, and spy who served the Axis powers by committing acts of espionage against the Allied forces in I ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

, "

Tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

, Horror & the Transcendent",

Yukio Mishima , born , was a Japanese author, poet, playwright, actor, model, Shintoist, nationalist, and founder of the , an unarmed civilian militia. Mishima is considered one of the most important Japanese authors of the 20th century. He was considered fo ...

, Gabriele D'Annunzio,

Punch and Judy Punch and Judy is a traditional puppet show featuring Mr. Punch and his wife Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically Mr. Punch and one other character w ...

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works includ ...

Vanguardism Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form orga ...

, the Soviet Gulag, and

Charles Maurras Charles-Marie-Photius Maurras (; ; 20 April 1868 – 16 November 1952) was a French author, politician, poet, and critic. He was an organizer and principal philosopher of ''Action Française'', a political movement that is monarchist, anti-par ...

. In late 2011 and early 2012, Bowden made fourteen appearances on

Richard B. Spencer Richard Bertrand Spencer (born May 1978) is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and white supremacist. A former editor, he is a public speaker and activist on behalf of the alt-right movement. He advocates for the re ...

's ''Vanguard'' podcast. Spencer re-released the episodes in January 2018 as a series entitled ''Bowden!''. The episode titles are "Essence of the

Left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

", "The Uses and Abuses of Nietzsche", "The

European New Right The European New Right (ENR) is a far-right movement which originated in France as the Nouvelle Droite in the late 1960s. Its proponents are involved in a global "anti-structural revolt" against modernity and post-modernity, largely in the form o ...

", "Creative Destruction" ( libertarianism,

anarchy Anarchy is a society without a government. It may also refer to a society or group of people that entirely rejects a set hierarchy. ''Anarchy'' was first used in English in 1539, meaning "an absence of government". Pierre-Joseph Proudhon adopte ...

, inequality and

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...

), "Iran, Israel, and The Bomb", "

Democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...

", "The Feminist Mystique" (an allusion to ''

The Feminine Mystique ''The Feminine Mystique'' is a book by Betty Friedan, widely credited with sparking second-wave feminism in the United States. First published by W. W. Norton on February 19, 1963, ''The Feminine Mystique'' became a bestseller, initially selling ...

''), "On the Genealogy of Morals", "Frankfurt School Revisionism" (

critical theory A critical theory is any approach to social philosophy that focuses on society and culture to reveal, critique and challenge power structures. With roots in sociology and literary criticism, it argues that social problems stem more from s ...

cultural Marxism The term "Cultural Marxism" refers to a far-right antisemitic conspiracy theory which claims that Western Marxism is the basis of continuing academic and intellectual efforts to subvert Western culture. The conspiracy theory misrepresents the ...

and

political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

), "The Homosexual Question", "The Forgotten War" (

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

), "Understanding

Spengler Spengler is a German-language occupational surname, literally meaning "metal worker" or "tin knocker". It may refer to: * Alexander Spengler (1827–1901), the first Davos doctor specializing in tuberculosis * Bruno Spengler (born 1983), a Canadian ...

", "Politics, Politics" (the

2012 GOP primaries Voters of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party elected state delegations to the 2012 Republican National Convention in presidential primaries. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the United ...

), and "The E Word" (

eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...

Death

In 2012, Bowden died of heart failure at his home in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

at the age of 49, shortly after being released from the psychiatric ward of a hospital, where he was admitted after suffering a

mental breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitt ...

Views

The ideas that Bowden held to be true include that some hierarchies are good for society, that "liberalism is moral syphilis" and that native Europeans are justified in asserting their cultural, ethnic, psychological and spiritual hegemony over Europe. Bowden espoused pagan religious beliefs.

Bibliography

Works

*''Mad'' (London: Avant-Garde Publishing, 1989); (Nine-Banded Books, 2009) *''Aryan'' (London: Egotist Press, 1990) *''Sade'' (London: Egotist, 1992); (Nine-Banded Books, 2013) *''Brute'' (Egotist Press, 1992) *''Skin'' (London: Egotist Press, 1992) *''Axe'' (London: Egotist, 1993); (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2014). *''Craze'' (London: Egotist Press, 1993) *''Right'' (London: European Books Society 1994); (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2016) *''Collected Works'', 6 vols. (London: Avant-guarde, 1995) *''Standardbearers – British Roots of the New Right'', edited by Adrian Davies, Eddy Butler & Jonathan Bowden; Beckenham, Kent, 180pps, (April 1999) *''Apocalypse TV'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2007). *''The Art of Jonathan Bowden (1974–2007)'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2007). *''The Fanatical Pursuit of Purity'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). *''Al-Qa’eda Moth'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). *''Kratos'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). *''A Ballet of Wasps'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). *''Goodbye Homunculus!'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2009). *''The Art of Jonathan Bowden, Vol. 2 (1968–1974)'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2009). *''Lilith Before Eve'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2009). *''Louisiana Half-Face'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2010). *''The Art of Jonathan Bowden, Vol. 3 (1967–1974)'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2010). *''Our Name Is Legion'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2011). *''Colonel Sodom Goes to Gomorrah'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2011). *''Locusts Devour a Carcass'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2012). *''Spiders Are Not Insects'' (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2012). *''Pulp Fascism'' (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2013). *''Western Civilization Bites Back'' (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2014). *''Demon'' (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2014). *''Blood'' (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2016). *''Heat'' (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2017). *''Deathlock'' (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2017). *''Extremists: Studies in Metapolitics'' (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2017). *''Why I Am Not a Liberal'' (Imperium Press, 2020).

Filmography

References

External links

Official website
on the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and s ...

The Jonathan Bowden ArchiveBOWDEN!
on

Spreaker iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHear ...

Jonathan Bowden Archive
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, featuring all known recordings of Bowden's speeches and lectures {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Jonathan 1962 births 2012 deaths Alt-right British National Party politicians People from Kent English far-right politicians English modern pagans Adherents of Germanic neopaganism Modern pagan artists