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 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 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 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 was a major factor leading 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.
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[edit] Popular culture
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- 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 "How Green Is The Valley".
- Famously anti-fascist punk band Oi Polloi references the battle in their song "Bash the Fash", which is about the British National Party.
[edit] References
- ^ Day the East End said 'No pasaran' to Blackshirts by Audrey Gillan, The Guardian, 30 September 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2006.
[edit] External links
- News footage from the day News reel from youtube.com
- video for the Ghosts of Cable Street by TMTCH set to images of the battle
- The Battle of Cable Street as told by the Communist Party of Britain.
- "Fascists and Police Routed at Cable Street" a personal account of the battle by a participant.
- 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.
- 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.
- Virtual reality panorama photograph and mural information from the 70th anniversary celebrations, October 2006
[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
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