Unleashing the Fight: The Battle of Cable Street
In this account, the showdown between Mosley's fascist followers and the East End London community is detailed, shedding light on the infamous Battle of Cable Street.
Sparks flew in the East End of London on Sunday, October 4, 1936! Sir Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts, a horde inspired by Mussolini's fascist regime, planned to march through a cultural melting pot - home to many Jews and immigrants. But they met a brick wall, quite literally!
The Metropolitan Police, backing the Blackshirts, approached the scene, only to find themselves clashing with an anti-fascist alliance. The result? Chaos erupted along Cable Street, leaving a bitter taste in the area.
Who were these Blackshirts?
Oswald Mosley, an ambitious man with far-right ambitions, founded the British Union of Fascists (BUF) on October 1, 1932. His political journey began when he was a young conservative MP in 1918, and his career took a turn when he joined Labour in 1924.
After crossing the lines multiple times, Mosley returned to his Conservative roots and founded the New Party in 1931. Following the Wall Street Crash and an unsuccessful election campaign, Mosley developed an infatuation with Benito Mussolini's Italy.
Mosley molded the New Party into an authoritarian organisation, replicating Italian Fascism, and renamed it the BUF. The paramilitary unit, the Biff Boys, took on a new and more intimidating name, the Blackshirts, inspired by Mussolini's own paramilitary.
The Blackshirts' Counterproductive Vision
The Blackshirts aimed to establish an authoritarian state under a single leader's total command. They despised Britain's democratic system and advocated for a one-party state. They pledged allegiance to British imperialism and decried immigration, communism, and capitalism.
Mosley proposed a corporatist economic model, inspired by Mussolini's Italy, which sought to reorganize society into state-controlled sectors, or corporations, representing various industries. The model aimed to promote unity by aligning worker and employer interests under state supervision.
Why Cable Street?
The East End of London was a beacon for Jewish immigrants during the late 19th century. By the 1930s, it welcomed German Jews escaping religious persecution in Nazi Germany. As their numbers swelled, they faced mounting threats from growing extremist sentiments within Britain itself.
Posters announcing the BUF's march through the East End ignited a wave of fear and resistance among the Jewish and wider communities. Despite the Mayor of Stepney's warning of potential violence and Mayor of West Ham's refusal to allow the march, the Home Secretary, Sir John Simon, declared that it would proceed with police protection.
The Standoff at Cable Street
The expected 6,000 to 7,000 police officers clashed with an anti-fascist crowd numbering anywhere between 100,000 and 310,000 residents and activists. The standoff continued for hours, with the police trying to break through the barricades and the residents chanting, "¡No pasarán!//" ("They shall not pass").
Projectiles, from rotten vegetables and bottles to bricks and paving stones, were hurled at the police, while passersby even dropped chamber pots from windows onto the streets. The clashes resulted in injuries across both sides, and some arrested.
Faced with this formidable resistance, Mosley was forced to abandon the march and rally at Hyde Park. The East End residents had stood their ground against the fascist tide, delivering a relentless blow to Mosley's vision for a fascist Britain.
The Aftermath for Mosley
Despite this defeat, Oswald Mosley remained unbowed. Two days later, he married Diana Mitford, a notorious Mitford sister, in Nazi Germany in the presence of Adolf Hitler. Following the Battle of Cable Street, the BUF membership rose slightly for a time. However, the ban on political uniforms under the Public Order Act dealt a severe blow to the movement in 1937.
As the threat of war with Nazi Germany loomed, the BUF's fortunes further waned. With Britain on the brink of World War II, Mosley and other BUF members were interned under Defence Regulation 18B in 1940. The BUF was banned outright by July 1940, a testament to the power of the grassroots anti-fascist movement.
The Legacy of Cable Street
The memory of the Battle of Cable Street lives on in the East End of London. A large mural once adorned the side of St George's Town Hall, commemorating the event. The anti-fascist message echoed by thousands at Cable Street serves as a reminder to all who stand together to fight against fascism and racism.
Today, the story of the Battle of Cable Street endures as a beacon of hope for those resisting extremism and hate, inspiring future generations in their struggle to foster unity and protect democratic ideals.
War-and-conflicts unfolded on Cable Street in London on October 4, 1936, when an anti-fascist alliance clashed with the Metropolitan Police, who were supporting Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts, a paramilitary unit inspired by Mussolini's fascist regime. Politics played a significant role in this event as Mosley, a former Conservative MP and Labour member, had found a new ideology in the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and sought to establish an authoritarian state under a single leader's total command. General-news reports regarding the standoff at Cable Street often highlight the resistance by the local community, particularly Jewish immigrants, against Mosley's vision for a fascist Britain.
