Economic League

The Economic League was an organisation in the United Kingdom dedicated to opposing what it saw as subversion and action against free enterprise. As part of its activities, it maintained a list of alleged left-wing troublemakers for decades, which corporate members would use to vet job applicants and often deny jobs on the basis of the list. In the late 1980s, press investigations revealed the poor quality of the League's data. After a 1990 parliamentary inquiry and further press reporting, the League closed down in 1993. However, key League personnel continued similar vetting activities by organisations including The Consulting Association. Early history The organisation was founded in August 1919 by a group of industrialists and MP William Reginald Hall under the name of National Propaganda. Hall had been Director of the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty from 1914 to 1919. The organisation's chief function was to promote the point of view of industrialists and businessmen, as well as to keep track of communist and left-wing organizations and individuals. Predating McCarthyism, it worked closely with the British Empire Union. John Baker White worked as the League's Assistant Director and then from 1926 to 1939 as its Director. In 1925, the Economic League was organised into a policymaking Central Council of 41 members, with 14 district organizations covering most industrial areas of the UK. Income came from tax-deductible company subscriptions and donations. The Council in 1925 included two Lords; 15 knights; high-ranking military officers; directors of newspapers; and Lord Gainford, chair of the BBC. Hall, the first chair of the organization, had by 1925 been succeeded by Sir Auckland Geddes. The Central Council of the Economic Leagues was a member in the International Entente Against the Third International. The League played a particular role in opposing the 1926 United Kingdom general strike, including printing and distributing a daily newssheet, and opposing the hunger marches that were organised by the National Unemployed Workers' Movement, particularly the one in 1934. In the 1920s and the 1930s, the League organised thousands of public meetings, distributed millions of leaflets annually and began collecting centralised records on communist trade union organisers (some of which had been obtained from police files).