Richard C. Thurlow

Thurlow, Richard C. "British Fascism and State Surveillance, 1934-45." Intelligence and National Security 3, no. 1 (Jan. 1988): 77-99.

"[T]he history of anti-fascist operations went full circle between 1934 and 1945 with the Home Office defending traditional policies of political liberty and surveillance of extremist groups at the beginning and end of the period. However, between those dates the limits of tolerance and the protection provided by the Habeas Corpus Acts were severely tested as a result of the changes in the perception of fascism."

[UK/Interwar; UK/WWII/Overviews][c]

Thurlow, Richard C.

1. "The Charm Offensive: The 'Coming Out' of MI5." Intelligence and National Security 15, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 183-190.

2.. "The Historiography and Source Materials in the Study of Internal Security in Modern Britain (1885–1956)." History Compass 6, no. 1 (Jan. 2008): 147–171.

New release policies have "significantly increased the documentary evidence for historians about the evolution and operation of the Security Service during the first half of the twentieth century.... [A]lready there are important debates developing and significant differences appearing about the value of such censored sources. At the very least, however, they provide intriguing information about state policies ... and the debate among the state authorities about national security and civil liberties particularly during the first and second world wars."

[RefMats/Releases/UK].

Thurlow, Richard C. "The Evolution of the Mythical British Fifth Column 1939-46." 20th Century British History 10, no. 4 (1999): 477-498.

[UK/WWII/Overviews]

Thurlow, Richard C. The Secret State: British Internal Security in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1994.

According to Stern, FA 74.3 (May-Jun. 1995), Thurlow "relates that most of the time British authorities tried to strike a balance between the assumed needs of the state and the historical rights of the citizen. A sketchy if suggestive book." Surveillant 4.3 comments that "Thurlow has conducted intensive and widespread research in private and public archives, and on documents which have recently been released."

For Griffith, I&NS 11.2, The Secret State is "a useful collection of many events strung together in chronological order until 1945 and then disintegrating somewhat." Rogers, Political Studies 44.4, shares this judgment, noting that the author "is at his best in the period up to 1945." In fact, this is "the best introductory account of that period yet available." Nevertheless, the lack of sources for the period after World War II means that "the book cannot maintain its aim of a consistent history of the entire period covered."

[UK/Overviews/Related]

Thurlow, Richard C. "The Security Service, the Communist Party of Great Britain and British Fascism, 1932-51." In British Fascism, the Labour Movement and the State, eds. Nigel Copsey and David Renton, 27-45 Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

[UK/Overviews/00s]

Thurlow, Richard C. "Soviet Spies and British Counter-Intelligence in the 1930s: Espionage in the Woolwich Arsenal and the Foreign Office Communications Department." Intelligence and National Security 19, no. 4 (Winter 2004): 610-631.

"The management of the spies Percy Glading and John Herbert King, and their discovery by British counter-espionage, were interesting examples of the contest between Soviet intelligence and the British security authorities."

[UK/SpyCases/Other/King]

Thurlow, Richard C. "'A Very Clever Capitalist Class': British Communism and State Surveillance, 1939-45." Intelligence and National Security 12, no. 2 (Apr. 1997): 1-21.

The "practical application" of the emergency powers available to the British government was "minimal." The government "was careful not to proscribe" the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), "nor to evoke sympathy for it, by overt persecution." The CPGB's "failure to make more impact was due more ... to its own inadequacies" than the actions of the authorities.

[UK/WWII/Overviews][c]

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