By Kerry Bolton
The Green Shirts owe their existence to the charismatic personality of John Hargrave, a 26 year old war veteran. Whilst still Commissioner for Woodcraft and Camping in Baden Powell’s Scouting Movement, in 1920 White Fox (Hargrave’s nom de plume in Scouting circles) and other scout masters formed the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift, from archaic Kentish meaning a proof of great strength.
The organisation had a lot in common with the German Wandervogel folkish movement in Germany. Next came Hargrave’s Legion of the Unemployed which took part, and sometimes led, hunger marches and other activities to highlight the terrible effects of the depression. In 1927 Hargrave added social credit monetary theories to his program and in 1932 changed their name to The Green Shirt Movement for Social Credit. Between 1932 an 1934 they held 3,426 open air street meetings and this booklet gives details of all their major demonstrations and the stunts that were used to gain publicity. The journal of the Green Shirts was called Attack and it continued until replaced by Message from Hargrave which lasted until 1951. Hargrave died in 1982.