The Battle of Cable Street took place on Sunday 4 October 1936 in Cable Street in the East End of London. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, overseeing a march by the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, and anti-fascists, including local Jewish, socialist, anarchist, Irish and communist groups. 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, which had a large Jewish population. Feature: The Battle Of Cable Street - The day the Fascists were stopped in their tracks | Islington Tribune Battle of Cable Street - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia BBC - London - Places - Battle of Cable Street
The 75th Anniversary Exhibition http://www.battleofcablestreet.org.uk/cable%20street%20programme%204%20v8%20final.pdf Rob
I hold fairly strong views on the Cable Street demonstration on October 4th 1936 and have expressed them on the letters page of The Times. See below: Ron
Well put Ron, The problem with Professors is, that as an undergraduate, if you don't agree with their conclusions, they don't pass you...... Revisionism by stealth. Regards Simon
The problem with Professors is, that as an undergraduate, if you don't agree with their conclusions, they don't pass you News to me! Best, Alan
Professor Alderman is partly correct in saying that the battle was 'between anti-fascists and police', but his account is given from a right-wing perspective and is misleading. He also seems to suggest that because of Cable Street B.U. membership soared "to a peak of 400,000 in 1937". This figure is wildly out, in April 1934 membership of the B.U. peaked at 34,000 but in 1935, because of Abyssinia, it fell to around 5,000 rising to 15,000 at the end of the year and to 16,500 in 1938. According to Home Office figures, membership was around 9,000 at the time of Munich. The professor also fails to mention the behaviour of the police in 1936. Quoting from Stephen Dorrill (page 380)The police not only permitted anti-Semitic abuse to go unchallenged but also engaged in unnecessary violence against anti-Fascists. Reports describe them using batons and fists with little descrimination, causing injury to bystanders. The best account of what happened in Cable Street is Dorrill's in his monumental Black Shirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism (Viking, 2006). See extracts below.
Thanks for the reminder Owen. Five years have passed since I posted my letter to the Times but my views on Prof.Alderman have not changed one iota and my memories of the "Cable St. Rally" are still as strong today, eighty years after the event. Ron
Thanks Owen, I've not seen this before. Like Ron, my father in law, a Jew, was living in the area at the time. He must have been a teenager. His father took him to watch and he was so terrified that he spent the rest of his life trying to pretend he wasn't a Jew. Another point, Geoffrey Alderman is Jewish, but not very loyal apparently. ps FiL served in the RAF during the war.
The Battle of Cable Street, East London I took these Monday 22-01018. This plaque is actually in Dock street, just past the Cable street junction. Apparently there is a mural on the gable-end of a building around there somewhere. Drove slowly along there again today, still couldn't find it....
here you go took the mural and the red plaque last year mural is further down the road actually in Cable Street Cable Street 4th October 1936
Many thanks for that CL1, I did try searching for any Cable Street / Dock Street posts but it didn't show any. Same as all the others that I doubled-up with yours.
On BBC Audio - "Last Word" : BBC Radio 4 - Last Word, Aubrey Manning, Max Levitas, Babs Beverley, Janet Paisley, Stan Lee Re. Max Levitas Born 1 June 1915; died 2 November 2018, aged 103. At about 9min 20 secs in "Last Word" spoke to writer and broadcaster Matthew Sweet re. "The Jewish Communist campaigner Max Levitas who fought Oswald Moseley's fascist blackshirts." I don't think that there is currently a wiki on Max Levitas, but he is referenced in his brother's wiki page ref: Maurice Levitas - Wikipedia e.g. "He and his brothers Max and Sol, were involved in the 1936 ‘Battle of Cable Street’ against the British Union of Fascists."
BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Mosley Must Fall Mosley Must Fall Drama It's 1936, and as political unrest sweeps across Europe, the spectre of fascism is looming over the East End. One Irish family, living in Whitechapel, finds itself divided as Oswald Mosley and his fascist followers prepare to march through the heart of East London. When the march descends on Cable Street, an area highly populated by the Jewish and Irish working class, loyalties are tested as two brothers fight to make their mark in a historic battle. Written by Martin McNamara. CAST Liam McEnroe ..... Stephen Hogan Maureen McEnroe ..... Maggie Cronin Jim McEnroe ..... Joseph Ayre Dessie McEnroe ..... Shaun Mason Bernard Duffy ..... Lloyd Hutchinson Esther Cohen ..... Grace Cooper Milton Leon Saltzman ..... Justice Ritchie Directed by Anne Isger
