Detail from Cable Street Mural
I have made a point of annually remembering that on 4th October, 1936, the people of the East End inflicted a massive defeat on Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists.
During this time Britain was facing very serious economic problems. Throughout the mid 1930s, the BUF moved closer towards Hitler’s form of fascism with Mosley himself saying that “fascism can and will win in Britain”. The British fascists took on a more vehemently anti-Semitic stance, describing Jews as “rats and vermin from whitechapel” and tried to blame Jews for the cause of the country's problems. Mosley’s blackshirts had been harassing the sizeable Jewish population in the East End all through the 1930s. By 1936 anti-semitic assaults by fascists were growing and windows of Jewish-owned businesses were routinely smashed. Hurrah for the Blackshirts!’ The notorious Daily Mail headline is just one chilling indication of the very real threat Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists posed in the mid 1930s.
On Sunday Oct. 4, 1936, Mosley planned to lead his Blackshirt supporters on a march through the East End, following months of BUF meetings and leafleting in the area designed to intimidate Jewish people and break up the East End’s community solidarity. Despite a petition signed by 100,000 people, the British government permitted the march to go ahead and designated 7,000 members of the police force to accompany it.
They were not to be welcomed, instead they were met by over 250,000 protestors, waving banners with slogans such as 'They shall not Pass'( no pasaron, famous republican slogan from the Spanish Civil War) , 'No Nazis here' and 'East End Unite.' A mighty force had assembled prepared to defend their streets and neighbourhoods and their right to live in them.
As the fascists assembled in Royal Mint Street, near the Tower, they were attacked by large groups of workers. When the Metropolitan Police tried to clear a path through Gardiner’s Corner, a blockade of tens of thousands of people stood firm. Anti-fascists blocked the route by barricading the street with rows of domestic furniture and the fascists and the police who were defending them were attacked with eggs, rotten fruit and the contents of chamber pots. Local kids rolled marbles under police horses hooves. A mighty battle ensued, leaving many injured and others arrested.
Many years later it is remembered because it saw thousands of people, from many walks of life, women, children, local jews, Irish groups, communists, socialists, anarchists standing firm as one in an incredible display of unity who worked together to prevent Mosley's fascists from marching through a Jewish area in London.Together, they won a famous victory and put the skids under Britain’s first fascist mass movement.The fascists did not get to march and they did not pass, and were left in humiliation so today we look back on this living history in celebration and pride.
Significantly, for some people that were involved in the protest, Cable Street was the road to Spain, and many would go on to volunteer as soldiers for the Republicans there.The legend that was Cable Street became the lasting inspiration for the continuing British fight against the fascism that was spreading all across Europe and would eventually engulf the planet in a terrible world war.
We might like to think those days are behind us, but anti-semitism, racism and intolerance is on the rise. The far right is growing throughout Europe, on 13th October the far-right racist Democratic Football Lads Alliance have organised a demonstration for bigots and Islamaphobes in London. In July 2018, 10,000 of them took to the streets, uniting racists from UKIP to Generation Identity, where nazi salutes were casually raised . No longer a fringe group, the far right are given airtime by the mainstream media, well funded and supported by many in the political establishment. Across Europe racist and fascist organisations are receiving growing support at a level not seen since the 1930s. Tommy Robinson, ex EDL leader and notorious fascist, who is being courted by UKIP, is a firm favourite of the DFLA. Thugs linked to the group attacked RMT union members and others, after a recent anti fascist march, in London. The far right, at street level and electorally, use Islamophobia as a way of rebuilding in Britain.
The DFLA and their supporters want to come to London to spread their racism and Islamophobia. Stand Up To Racism, supported by Unite Against Fascism and Love Music Hate Racism will be resisting their race hate. We are at a crucial moment in our time and cannot simply allow such forces to grow. We must continue to regenerate a broad based mass resistance to division and hate, to turn the tide on the rise of hate, oppose racism, Islamophobic scapegoating and Antisemitism. A national demonstration against these forces has been called for Noveber 1th , details for event can be found here.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1887445111550804/
The winds that blew across Cable Street still exist today , we must remain vigilant to this. We should never forget the Battle of Cable Street. Teach your childrem about it. Today and tomorrow we must still rally around the cry of No Pasaran- They shall not pass. Everyone, who cares about the future of our society, should come together, for the politics of unity not division
Men they couldn't hang - Ghosts of Cable Street
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