Michael McLaughlin, also known as Michael Walsh and Mike Walsh-McLaughlin, is a British

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

. Born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, McLaughlin was the son of an

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

who was a veteran of the

International Brigades The International Brigades () were soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front (Spain), Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The International Bri ...

. According to his blog, his father was a good friend of Irish playwright

Seán O'Casey Seán O'Casey ( ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes. Early life O'Casey was ...

, and shared battle experiences with war correspondent and international author,

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

. His mother corresponded with

Dolores Ibárruri Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (; 9 December 189512 November 1989), also known as ("the passionate one" or Passion flower"), was a Spanish Republican politician during the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and a communist. She is renowned for ...

(La Pasionaria) during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

Background

Michael McLaughlin's father was

Paddy Roe McLaughlin Paddy Roe McLaughlin (17 December 1902 – 29 September 1974) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican and left-wing political activist. He fought on the Second Spanish Republic, republican side during the Spanish Civil War. Early life McLa ...

(), who lived from 1902 to 1974 and was an Irish-speaker born in Lecamy on the

Inishowen Inishowen () is a peninsula in the north of County Donegal in Ireland. Inishowen is the largest peninsula on the island of Ireland. The Inishowen peninsula includes Ireland's most northerly point, Malin Head. The Grianan of Aileach, a ringfor ...

Peninsula,

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

. Patrick was a committed

and

fighting in four major conflicts. As a member of the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

, he fought in the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

and the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

(on the anti-Treaty side). After spending time in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, he fought in Spain as part of the

with the

Connolly Column The Connolly Column (, ) was the name given to a group of Irish socialist volunteers in the Spanish Civil War, Irish republican socialist Military volunteer, volunteers who fought for the Second Spanish Republic in the International Brigades d ...

of the

Lincoln Battalion The Lincoln Battalion (), the major component of what came to be known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, was the 17th (later the 58th) battalion of the XV International Brigade that fought in the Spanish Civil War. Named after United States Presid ...

. Patrick McLaughlin married Kathleen Walsh of

in 1938 and was a founding member of the

Connolly Association The Connolly Association is an organisation based among Irish emigrants in Britain which supports the aims of Irish republicanism. It takes its name from James Connolly, a socialist republican, born in Edinburgh, Scotland and executed by the Brit ...

in England. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

to fight against the

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

flying Spitfires and Hurricanes. The couple were both members of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

, though Kathleen left the party in 1956.

British Movement

For a time McLaughlin worked as a milkman, and as a result he was known as "The Milkman" in right wing circles, where he was seen as a largely unassuming figure. His first involvement with politics came when he joined the

British Movement The British Movement (BM), later called the British National Socialist Movement (BNSM), is a British neo-Nazi organisation founded by Colin Jordan in 1968. It grew out of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), which was founded in 1962. Frequen ...

in 1968. He became leader of the British Movement in 1975 when

Colin Jordan John Colin Campbell Jordan (19 June 1923 – 9 April 2009) was a British politician and a leading figure in post-war neo-Nazism in the UK. In the far-right circles of the 1960s, Jordan represented the most explicitly Nazi inclination in his ope ...

abruptly resigned. Although initially seen as not being leadership material he soon gained publicity for the BM by leading the campaign to free Robert Relf, who, at the time, had considerable sympathy in sections of the press. Moving the BM headquarters away from Jordan's base in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

Shotton, Flintshire Shotton is a town and community in Flintshire, Wales, within the Deeside conurbation along the River Dee, joined with Connah's Quay, near the border with England. It is located 5 miles (8 km) west of Chester and can be reached by road ...

, he repositioned the BM as a party geared towards the young working classes and by 1979 had raised membership to around 3,000. McLaughlin was sentenced by judge David Wyn Morgan in 1979 to six four-month prison sentences for publishing leaflets dealing with the British government's foreign policy and immigration policies. The jail term did not affect his position as leader.

Demise of the British Movement

McLaughlin's leadership came under fire from deputy leader Ray Hill, who commanded the respect of the BM's large racist skinhead following and who was also working in secret for the magazine ''

Searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely luminosity, bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a part ...

''. Hill accused McLaughlin of spending all his time in

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and using the BM for his personal enrichment, causing splits to develop in the group. McLaughlin eventually expelled Hill but was served with a

writ In common law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrant (legal), Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, and ''certiorari'' are commo ...

by the deputy leader. McLaughlin was forced to use BM funds to fight the case whilst Hill was able to call upon the expertise of his close associate Anthony Reed Herbert. McLaughlin attempted to change the name of the group to the British Nationalist & Socialist Movement in order to convince the courts that the BM no longer existed, but the move failed and the case continued until finally Hill left to join the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...

in 1982, taking more than half of the membership with him. Devoid of much of its support and left in a precarious financial state, McLaughlin wound up the BM in 1983.

Post-British Movement activity

McLaughlin ran a series of

army surplus Military surplus is goods, usually materiel, that are sold or otherwise disposed of when held in excess or are no longer needed by the military. Entrepreneurs often buy these goods and resell them at surplus stores. Usually the goods sold by th ...

outlets, notably Rucksack n'Rifle in northern

, which specialised in

survivalism Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists, doomsday preppers or preppers) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, and other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, ...

, during the late 1980s. He produced an occasional broadsheet newspaper ''Comment'' on political themes, although this has not appeared since the mid-1980s.

Later political writing

Sometime in the mid-2000s McLaughlin reappeared on the political scene using the name Michael Walsh-McLaughlin, which he then shortened to Michael Walsh. As "Michael Walsh" (a pseudonym), McLaughlin set up a copywriting company called Michael Walsh Copywriting, based in Liverpool. Under that name, he began writing intensely pro-Nazi and pro-Hitler articles for long-time neo-Nazi American activist Gerhard Lauck on the latter's website under the topic-heading ''United Kingdom News Desk by Michael Walsh''. McLaughlin/Walsh writes an irregular column on the website of the

Historical Review Press Anthony Hancock (5 May 1947 – 11 June 2012) was a Publishing, publisher who created literature for British far right groups and a member of such organisations in the United Kingdom. Biography Based in Brighton, where Hancock owned a hotel ...

in Sussex, under the title "Contemporary Comments from the News Desk of Michael Walsh". He has contributed columns to Euro Weekly News, and was the only Euro writer to receive the ''Writer of the Year'' Gala Award accolade (in 2011). Walsh has been interviewed 17 times on the Deanna Spingola radio show, Spingola Speaks (Republican Broadcasting Network), since 2011. Spingola hosts a page dedicated to his writings. McLaughlin/Walsh now lives in Spain where he operates a blog called European Renaissance.European Renaissance
blog

Written works

Since 1984, Walsh has authored a total of eighteen book titles. * All I Ask Is A Tall Ship * Heart to Heart Poetry, volume 1 * Heart to Heart Poetry, volume 2 * Heart to Heart Poetry, volume 3 * The Fifth Column, volume 1 * The Fifth Column, volume 2 * Witness to History: When the Blindfold Drops the Penny Does Too, Historical Review Press; New edition, January 1996 * The Triumph of Reason: The Thinking Man's Guide to Adolf Hitler, Historical Review Press, 20 November 2002 * The Battle for Europe: Hidden Truths about the Second World War Paperback, 11 December 2013 * Heroes of the Reich, Volume One, 19 January 2015 * Heroes Hang when Traitors Triumph: Were Sinners Really Saints, 27 January 2015 * Europe Arise: Europe in Flames Cause and Solution, 28 October 2015 * The Rise of the Sun Wheel: British White Rights Dissident Tells All, 5 May 2016

References

Bibliography

*R. Hill & A. Bell, ''The Other Face of Terror- Inside Europe’s Neo-Nazi Network'', London: Collins, 1988

External links

The Fringe of the Fringe
by Lee Marshall {{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Michael 1940s births Living people English neo-Nazis English politicians convicted of crimes English prisoners and detainees British people of Irish descent Politicians from Liverpool Prisoners and detainees of England and Wales Year of birth missing (living people) Neo-Nazi politicians