Battle of Cable Street

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The Battle of Cable Street or Cable Street Riot took place on Sunday October 4, 1936 in Cable Street in the East End of London. It was a clash between the police, overseeing a legal march by the anti-semitic British Union of Fascists led by Oswald Mosley, on one side and anti-fascists including local Jewish, socialist, Irish and communist groups on the other. The majority of both marchers and counter-protesters travelled into the area for this purpose. Mosley planned to send thousands of marchers dressed in uniforms styled on those of Nazi Blackshirts through the East End of London, with its large Jewish population. The Board of Deputies of British Jews denounced the march as Jew-baiting and urged Jews to stay away.

Despite the anti-Semitic nature of the B.U.F. and the strong likelihood of violence, the government refused to ban the march, and a large escort of police was provided in an attempt to prevent anti-fascist protestors disrupting the march.

The anti-fascist groups erected roadblocks in an attempt to prevent the march from taking place. Although the police attempted to clear the road to permit the march to proceed, after a series of running battles between the police and anti-fascist demonstrators, the march did not take place, and the B.U.F. marchers were dispersed towards Hyde Park instead.

The barricades were erected near the junction with Christian Street, towards the west end of this long street.

In the 1980s, a large mural depicting the Battle was painted on the side of St. George's Hall. This old Town Hall building stands in Cable Street, about 150 yards west from Shadwell underground station. A red plaque in Dock Street commemorates the incident.

Eyewitness Bill Fishman, 15 at the time of the battle, recalls, I was moved to tears to see bearded Jews and Irish Catholic dockers standing up to stop Mosley. I shall never forget that as long as I live, how working-class people could get together to oppose the evil of racism. ^[1]

The Battle of Cable Street led to the passage of the Public Order Act 1936, which forbade the wearing of political uniforms in public, and is widely considered to be a significant factor in the B.U.F's political decline prior to World War II.

Contents 1 Popular culture 2 References 3 External links 3.1 From eastendtalking.org.uk 3.2 From The Guardian newspaper 3.3 From the BBC

[edit] Popular culture

• In the Discworld novel Night Watch, the local residents and watchmen of Ankh Morpork erect barricades along the length of a road named Cable Street
• Folk-punk band The Men They Couldn't Hang sung about the events in the song "The Ghosts of Cable Street" from their 1985 album "Night of a Thousand Candles".

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Battle of Cable Street as told by the Communist Party of Britain.
• The Battle of Cable Street The "official" Fascist version of this event from the Friends of Mosley site
• "Fascists and Police Routed at Cable Street" a personal account of the battle by a participant.
• "Blackshirts in Hull and Southport" a personal Fascist account of the Battle from John Charnley
• Cable Street and the Battle of Cable Street.
• Does Cable Street still matter?. BBC News Magazine, 4 October 2006
• Cable Street. Commentator Oliver Kamm's response to the BBC piece.
• News footage from the day
• The Battle of Cable Street: Myths and Realities – by Richard Price and Martin Sullivan; a leftist but non-CPGB perspective. Originally published in Workers News, March-April 1994.

[edit] From eastendtalking.org.uk

• Introduction to the Battle of Cable Street
• More on the Battle of Cable Street
• About the mural
• Large photo of the mural

[edit] From The Guardian newspaper

• The Guardian - Audrey Gillan - Day the East End said 'No pasaran' to Blackshirts, September 30th, 2006
• The Guardian - From The Archives - Fascist march stopped after disorderly scenes, October 5th, 1936
• Interview with witness William Fishman, aged 85. MP3 audio file
• Interview with witness Max Levitas, aged 91. MP3 audio file

[edit] From the BBC

• The Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, 4 October 2006. Interview with anti-fascist Aubrey Morris, who was present at the event and Nicholas Mosley, son of Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Union of Fascists. RealAudio stream

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