British Brothers League
The British Brothers' League (BBL, 1901 - 1923) was a British anti-mass immigration organisation.
The group was formed in east London as a response to waves of immigration that had begun in 1880 and had seen a rapid increase in the numbers of Russian and Polish Jews, as well as others from Eastern Europe, into the area. Initially the League was not anti-Semitic and was more interested in keeping out the poorest immigrants regardless of background, although eventually Jews are stated to have become the main focus.
The League claimed 45,000 members, although membership was actually fairly irregular as no subscriptions were lifted and anyone who signed the organisation's manifesto was considered a member. The League promoted their cause with large meetings, which were stewarded by guards whose role was to eject opponents who entered and raised objections.
The Aliens Act 1905, which restricted immigration, was largely seen as a success for the BBL and, as a result, the movement by and large disappeared, although continuing on a small scale until 1923.
Leftist Wikipedia claims that it was associated with G. K. Chesterton and the distributist movement, but the articles on these topics state nothing on this claim. Wikipedia also claims that it was "proto-fascist", "attempted to organise along paramilitary lines", and influenced the British Union of Fascists and later nationalist organisations.
