Jonathan David Anthony Bowden (12 April 1962 – 29 March 2012) was an English right-wing political activist, orator, writer and artist. A member of the Conservative Party in the early 1990s, he later became involved in a number of far-right organisations, including the British National Party (BNP). A relatively obscure speaker during his lifetime, Bowden has since been described as a "cult figure" amongst the far-right movement, even more than a decade after his death.

Life and career

Early life and education Bowden was born in Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent, and attended Presentation College, a Roman Catholic boy's school, in Reading, Berkshire. He was an only child. His father was a bank manager whilst his mother, Dorothy, suffered from severe mental illness and died when Bowden was a teenager.

In 1984 he completed one year of a Bachelor of Arts history degree course at Birkbeck, University of London, as a mature student, but left without graduating. He enrolled at Wolfson College, Cambridge, in 1988, but left after a few months. He became a lifelong friend of the novelist Bill Hopkins (1928–2011), one of the angry young men, during this time. Bowden was otherwise an autodidact.Clements, Tom (4 September 2019) "I fell down the rabbit hole of alt-right propaganda and this is what I learned" The Independent

Conservative Party (until 1992) Bowden began his career as a member of the Conservative Party in the parliamentary constituency of Bethnal Green and Stepney. In 1990 he joined the Monday Club, a pressure group on the fringes of the party, and the following year made an unsuccessful bid to be elected onto the club's Executive Council. In 1991 he was appointed co-chairman, with Stuart Millson, of the club's media committee,Monday Club News, July 1991 edition, p.2. – Monday Club Executive Council Minutes, 13 May 1991. This position did not, however, afford Bowden a seat on the Council and was also active in the Western Goals Institute. In 1992 Bowden was expelled from the Monday Club.Sonia Gable and Adam Carter, "New Right chairman dies" , Searchlight, 26 April 2012 (The Conservative Party disassociated itself from the Monday Club in 2001, and the club disbanded in 2024.)

Revolutionary Conservative Caucus (1992–1994) Bowden and Millson co-founded the Revolutionary Conservative Caucus in November 1992The Revolutionary Conservative, issue no.2, 1993, p.16. with the aim of introducing "abstract thought into the nether reaches of the Conservative and Unionist party". It published a quarterly journal entitled The Revolutionary Conservative Review. By the end of 1994 Millson and Bowden parted company and the group dissolved.

In 1993 Bowden published Right through the European Books Society. He was also reported to be a prominent figure in the creative milieu responsible for the emergence of the political magazine Right Now!.

Freedom Party (2001–2003) Bowden then joined the Freedom Party in 2001; he was its treasurer for a short time, and subsequently was a member of the Bloomsbury Forum, alongside Adrian Davies.

British National Party (2003–2007) In 2003 Bowden left the Freedom Party and joined the BNP. He was appointed Cultural Officer, a position that was created by Nick Griffin, the party's then-leader, to give Bowden an official role. In July 2007 Bowden resigned both his position and his membership after a dispute between him, Griffin and other individuals within the party - Bowden had supported Chris Jackson in his failed leadership bid against Griffin. Although he still gave speeches throughout England and Wales at local meetings for the BNP, he never rejoined the party and cut all ties after the 2010 general election.

Many of his speeches were recorded and have been transcribed. Topics of his lectures included philosophers, politicians and historical literary figures who were prominent in the far-right. In late 2011 and early 2012 Bowden made 14 appearances on the American White supremacist Richard B. Spencer's Vanguard podcast.

New Right Committee (from 2005)

The New Right Committee, or simply "New Right", was a pan-European nationalist and far-right think tank founded by Bowden and the activist Troy Southgate with Jonothon Boulter. The name was a reference to the French Nouvelle Droite and the group was otherwise unrelated to the wider British and American usage of the term "New Right".

In March 2005 the group described itself on its Yahoo! Groups webpage: "We are opposed to liberalism, democracy and egalitarianism and fight to restore the eternal values and principles that have become submerged beneath the corrosive tsunami of the modern world."

In June 2005 New Right announced that it would publish New Imperium, a quarterly magazine it described as an "intellectual journal". Bowden was the organisation's press officer.

Death On 29 March 2012 Bowden died of a heart attack at his home in Tadley, Hampshire, 14 days before his 50th birthday. In 2011 he had been released from the psychiatric ward of a hospital, to which he was involuntarily committed earlier that year after suffering a mental breakdown.

Views Bowden believed that hierarchies are good for society, that "liberalism is moral syphilis" and that native Europeans are justified in asserting their cultural, ethnic, psychological and spiritual hegemony over Europe. He was influenced by a range of philosophers and writers, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Julius Evola and Wyndham Lewis.

Bowden expressed pagan religious beliefs and disagreed with Christian ethics, which he felt had contributed to the decline of the West.

Bibliography

Works Mad (London: Avant-Garde Publishing, 1989); (Nine-Banded Books, 2009) Sade (London: Egotist, 1992); (Nine-Banded Books, 2013) Aryan (London: Egotist Press, 1992); (Nine-Banded Books, 2020) Brute (London: Egotist Press, 1992) Skin (London: Egotist Press, 1992) Axe (London: Egotist, 1993); (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2014). Craze (London: Egotist Press, 1993) Right (London: European Books Society 1994); (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2016) Standardbearers – British Roots of the New Right, edited by Adrian Davies, Eddy Butler & Jonathan Bowden; Beckenham, Kent, 180pps, (April 1999) Apocalypse TV (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2007). The Art of Jonathan Bowden (1974–2007) (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2007). The Fanatical Pursuit of Purity (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). Al-Qa’eda Moth (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). Kratos (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). A Ballet of Wasps (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2008). Goodbye Homunculus! (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2009). The Art of Jonathan Bowden, Vol. 2 (1968–1974) (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2009). Lilith Before Eve (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2009). Louisiana Half-Face (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2010). The Art of Jonathan Bowden, Vol. 3 (1967–1974) (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2010). Our Name Is Legion (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2011). Colonel Sodom Goes to Gomorrah (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2011). Locusts Devour a Carcass (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2012). Spiders Are Not Insects (London: The Spinning Top Club, 2012). The Speeches (London: Black Front Press, 2012). Pulp Fascism (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2013). Western Civilization Bites Back (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2014). Demon (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2014). Blood (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2016). Heat (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2017). Deathlock (London: The Palingenesis Project, 2017). Extremists: Studies in Metapolitics (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2017). Why I Am Not a Liberal (Imperium Press, 2020). Reactionary Modernism (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2022). The Cultured Thug (San Francisco: Counter-Currents, 2023).

Filmography Bowden served as the producer and writer of multiple low-budget short films and documentaries, for which he provided acting and narration. YearTitleStarringCredits2001 (production) 2005 (release)Venus FlytrapJonathan Bowden, Lisa Garner, Nicola Henry, Jane Robinson, Katie Willow, Nicole Wiseman and Claudia Minne BoyleDirected by Andrea Lioy Produced by Jonathan Bowden

Screenplay by Jonathan Bowden and Andrea Lioy2007 (production/release)Fenris Devours OdinWritten and narrated by Jonathan Bowden2006 (production) 2009 (release)Grand GuignolJonathan Bowden, Nicola Henry, Katie Willow, Michael Woodbridge and Lucy ZaraDirected by Andrea Lioy Produced by Jonathan Bowden

Screenplay by Jonathan Bowden and Andrea Lioy

Based upon the play by Jonathan Bowden

References

External links

Official website on the Wayback Machine The Jonathan Bowden Archive BOWDEN! on Spreaker Jonathan Bowden Archive on YouTube, featuring all known recordings of Bowden's speeches and lectures

Further reading Graham D. Macklin, "Co-opting the counter culture: Troy Southgate and the National Revolutionary Faction", Patterns of Prejudice 39/3 (2005). Edward Dutton, Shaman of the Radical Right : The Life and Mind of Jonathan Bowden, Imperium Press, 354 p., 2025