Ivor Benson

Ivor Benson (November 1907 – January 1993) was a journalist, right-wing essayist, anti-communist and white supremacist. From 1964 to 1966 he was a Rhodesian government official and censor. He strongly supported apartheid in South Africa. He also wrote frequently about a global Jewish/Communist conspiracy; his main book on the subject, This Worldwide Conspiracy, was supported by the right-wing London Swinton Circle and recommended by the neo-Nazi National Front (UK). Benson blamed the BBC, Wall Street banking interests, the government of the Soviet Union, and the World Council of Churches as drivers of a global conspiracy to wipe out his preferred nationalism.

Benson was a strong supporter of apartheid. He opposed any form of racial integration, and any change to white minority rule in Africa.

Invited to Rhodesia by P. K. van der Byl, who knew Benson was strongly against any increase in rights for black Africans, from 1964 to 1966 Benson served as Director of the Government Information Department to the Rhodesian government under Ian Smith. In Rhodesia, he wrote speeches for Smith, re-organized the once-neutral state information department into an active propaganda agency, served as state-empowered press censor, and spoke for the anti-communist Rhodesian Front. Benson left Rhodesia when Smith shifted to a more moderate stance.

Benson would author many books and essays alleging a Jewish world conspiracy. He wrote articles for magazines abroad, such as Western Destiny, The Journal of Historical Review, and The Spotlight. In 1966, he became co-editor of the American magazine The American Mercury as it merged with two Nazi papers to adopt an explicitly pro-Nazi/anti-semitic/white supremacy stance. He produced a newsletter, Behind the News, and in the 1970s founded a fascist group called the National Forum, and would head the South African chapter of the World Anti-Communist League. He was the South African correspondent of the Crown Commonwealth League of Rights and hosted to Eric Butler in 1970.

Benson would travel worldwide promoting his views. In 1983 he spoke to the Swinton Circle in London, In 1986, Benson wrote a speech, delivered in absentia, for a conference of the Holocaust denial group, the Institute for Historical Review (IHR).