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The Association, more officially the Shoreditch Association, was a fascist group led by London builder's merchant George Ratcliffe.
It had been founded in the 1930s. In 1936, the Association took part in the march down Cable Street, espousing their patriotism and their pride in fighting against Bolsheviks, Jews and other minority groups. However, when Ratcliffe had spoken out against World War II, believing that Great Britain should ally itself with Nazi Germany, the Association abandoned him. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
After the war, Ratcliffe had to rebuild the Association. In the 1950s, it started targeting West Indian immigrants: an easier target than Jews were in this endeavour, as they were "more obvious" and "more different." In the longer term, Ratcliffe hoped to stage a coup and bring the Association to power. However, as the economic conditions weren't as severe as the 1930s, he despaired that not enough people required scapegoats and the Association couldn't recruit as many people as it used to. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Sergeant Mike Smith was secretly a member. The group was semi-public enough that Smith felt safe calling them "my friends" around Ace. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
In 1963, as the Association's leader, Ratcliffe allied himself with the Renegade Daleks during "the Shoreditch Incident". They enlisted him to help retrieve the Hand of Omega. Meanwhile, Smith tried to get Ratcliffe's officially working with the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group, presenting them to Ian Gilmore as just locals who could be useful (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) for any anciliary tasks. Gilmore was unaware of the Shoreditch Association's past and only vaguely remembered Ratcliffe's name. (PROSE: Remembrance of the Daleks)
After assisting in the killings of the Daleks' opposition, the other members of the Association were exterminated. When Ratcliffe asked the Dalek Battle Computer why, it replied that he was a slave and born to serve the Daleks. After Mike Smith and he were taken as prisoner, Ratcliffe tried to abscond with the Renegade Daleks' Time Controller but was killed by death-rays fired by Judith Winters who was slaved to their battle computer, before he could leave with it. Mike Smith was exterminated shortly thereafter. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
Ratcliffe's son took charge of the remnants of the Association and began a quiet infiltration of parts of the military-industrial complex and establishment, including giving Woden Armaments the funding and contacts it needed to work as a front. While rumours came out about their activity, rather than the Association it was mistaken as a association of groups. (PROSE: Birds of Passage)