The Protestant Action Society was a political party in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

active in the 1930s. It was founded by John Cormack in 1933 and had elected nine members to the

Edinburgh Corporation The City of Edinburgh Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Dhùn Èideann'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority covering the City of Edinburgh council area. Almost half of the council area is the built-up are ...

in 1936 with 31 per cent of the vote. In June 1935 the party organised protests which involved disturbances in Waverley Market and then what has been called "the Morningside Riot" in Canaan Lane when a crowd of around 20,000 Protestant Action supporters stoned and jeered 10,000 attendees at a Eucharistic Congress. Although often compared to the

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

movements active at the time, the society physically attacked Blackshirt meetings in Edinburgh due to the

British Union of Fascists The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was a British fascist political party formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Mosley changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists in 1936 and, in 1937, to the British Union. In 1939, f ...

support for a

United Ireland United Ireland (), also referred to as Irish reunification or a ''New Ireland'', is the proposition that all of Ireland should be a single sovereign state. At present, the island is divided politically: the sovereign state of Ireland (legally ...

. The party emerged at a time when other similar movements were arising in other parts of Scotland, such as the similar Glasgow based

Scottish Protestant League The Scottish Protestant League (SPL) was a far-right political party in Scotland during the 1920s and 1930s. It was led by , who founded it in 1920. Creation and initial years The SPL was launched by Ratcliffe in Edinburgh on 28 September 1920 ...

, and the

Scottish Democratic Fascist Party The Scottish Democratic Fascist Party (SDFP) or Scottish Fascist Democratic Party was a political party in Scotland. It was founded in 1933 out of the Scottish section of the New Party (UK), New Party by William Weir Gilmour and Major Hume Sleigh.K ...

. One of the councillors was the Jewish antique dealer Esta Henry who was elected to one of the

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

wards in 1936. Cormack tried to encourage the

Orange Order in Scotland The Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland, or Loyal Orange Institution of Scotland, Orange Order in Scotland, The Orange Order is the oldest and biggest Protestant fraternity in Scotland. The Loyal Orange Institution was an official participant in th ...

to join in his movement, but with so little success that he left the movement in 1939 and was not readmitted until the late 1950s. At its peak the party had 8,000 members.

References

Anti-Catholicism in Scotland Defunct political parties in Scotland Fascism in Scotland History of Edinburgh Protestant political parties Politics of Edinburgh 1933 establishments in Scotland Political parties established in 1933 {{UK-party-stub Religious parties in the United Kingdom

See also

References