| Battle of Cable Street | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Flyer distributed by the London branch of theCommunist Party of Great Britain | ||||
| Date | 4 October 1936 | |||
| Location | 51°30′39″N0°03′08″W / 51.5109°N 0.0521°W /51.5109; -0.0521 | |||
| Caused by | Opposition to a fascist march through East London | |||
| Methods | Protest | |||
| Resulted in |
| |||
| Parties | ||||
| ||||
| Lead figures | ||||
| Number | ||||
| ||||
| Casualties | ||||
| Injuries | c. 175 | |||
| Arrested | c. 150 | |||
TheBattle of Cable Street was a series of clashes that took place at several locations in theEast End of London, most famouslyCable Street, on Sunday 4 October 1936. It was a clash between theMetropolitan Police, sent to protect amarch by theBritish Union of Fascists (BUF),[2] led byOswald Mosley, andanti-fascist demonstrators organised by theIndependent Labour Party, theCommunist Party of Great Britain and the Jewish Peoples Council. The anti-fascist counter-demonstration included both organised and unaffiliated participants.
On 26 September 1936, theBritish Union of Fascists (BUF) advertised a march to take place the following weekend, on Sunday 4 October, the fourth anniversary of their organisation. Thousands of BUF followers, dressed in their Blackshirt uniform, were to march through the heart of the East End. The BUF had been founded inChelsea and was headquartered inWestminster, so the decision to celebrate their anniversary with a march in East London, an area that then had a largeJewish population, rather than at their West London HQ was seen as an intentional provocation.[3][4]
The BUF planned to march fromTower Hill and divide into four columns, each heading for one of four open-air public meetings where Mosley and other speakers would address gatherings of BUF supporters. The meetings were to be atLimehouse,Bow,Bethnal Green andHoxton.[5]
The Jewish People's Council organised apetition calling for the march to be banned, which gathered the signatures of 100,000 people, including the Mayors of the five East London Boroughs (Hackney,Shoreditch,Stepney,Bethnal Green andPoplar)[6][7] in two days.[8]
We, the undersigned citizens of East London, view with grave concern the proposed march of the British Union of Fascists upon East London. The avowed object of the Fascist movement in Great Britain is the incitement of malice and hatred against sections of the population.
It aims to further ends which seek to destroy the harmony and goodwill which have existed for centuries among the East London population, irrespective of differences in race and creed…
We therefore make an earnest appeal to His Majesty’s Secretary of State for Home Affairs, to prohibit such marches and thus retain peaceable and amicable relations between all sections of East London’s population.
— Petition to the Home Secretary,John Simon.[8]
On 1 October 1936, the five East London mayors, led by Helena Roberts, the Mayor of Stepney, visited the Home Office, and had a one hour meeting in which they expressed their fear at the consequences of the march. But despite the Home Secretary John Simon's known opposition to the BUF political approach "this dressing up in fancy uniforms and this aping of military organisation for political purposes", the Home Office did not agree to ban the march.[9][4]
The following day, 2 October 1936, The petition was presented to the Home Office by representatives of a broad coalition of local groups:
Jack Pearce of the JPC recounted that the delegation was courteously received by a senior Home Office official, but advised that the Home Secretary could not, or would not intervene.[4]
Although disappointed by the decision not to ban the march, the Labour Party and theBoard of Deputies of British Jews (an organisation dominated by deputies from outside East London) decided to oppose any counter-demonstrations. In addition, newspapers supportive of Labour and the Board, such as theDaily Herald,News Chronicle andJewish Chronicle, ran editorials urging people to stay away from any counter-demonstration.[4]
TheCommunist Party of Great Britain also initially opposed direct action; like the Labour Party and the Board of Deputies, they were worried about being portrayed as hooligans. The communists had a further complication in having arranged another event: a rally at Trafalgar Square in the West End on the same day to demonstrate support for Spain's Republican government, an event they gave priority. Under pressure from East End branches of their party, they did compromise and organised an event atShoreditch Town Hall for the evening, after Mosley's march and after their West End event had taken place.[4]
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) called for a counter-rally, and on the evening of Thursday 1 October, having hired loudspeakers, they took a van round the streets of East London calling on the people to take to the streets on Sunday to block the entry points to the East End. TheEvening Standard reported on their call for action, and through the headline "Big ILP counter-rally" on billboards across the London area, inadvertently amplified the ILP's message. At a meeting atHackney Town Hall on the ILP, they went further and resolved to telegram the Home Secretary telling him that any adverse consequences of the march would be his responsibility.[4][7]
Having organised the petition, the Jewish People's Council distributed hundreds of thousands of leaflets insisting the march must not take place, and in so doing implicitly encouraging people onto the streets. One of their members, the mainly Jewish "Ex-Servicemen's Movement Against Fascism" already intended an anti-fascist march on Sunday 4th October but were denied permission for the event on the basis that the BUF had organised their march first. They supported the calls for a counter rally and resolved to march through the East End despite having been denied permission.[4][10]
Late on Wednesday night the Communist Party, under continued pressure from East End branches, changed position and agreed to cancel the Trafalgar Square event and counter-protest against Mosley in the East End instead. On Thursday, thousands of leaflets advertising the Trafalgar Square event were overprinted with the legend "Alteration! Rally to Aldgate. 2PM". On Friday, theirDaily Worker newspaper, which carried the party's influence well beyond its limited membership, included a front page article urging readers to attend the counter-protest.[4][11]
A legacy of the long-ago demolishedLondon Wall is that there are just three main routes into the East End from the direction of the City of London. From north to south, these are: Bishopsgate, Aldgate (440 metres south-east of Bishopsgate) and Tower Hill (450 metres south of Aldgate). The BUF was to gather its supporters at the southernmost of these three entrances, at Tower Hill and adjacent Royal Mint Street inEast Smithfield, at 2:30.[5]
The intention was that Mosley would formally review the assembled force, after which it would march fromTower Hill and divide into four columns, each heading for one of four open-air public meetings where Mosley and other speakers, includingWilliam Joyce,John Beckett,Tommy Moran andAlexander Raven Thomson, would address gatherings of BUF supporters:[5][12][4]
In response their opponents, who knew of the intended meetings but not the intended routes from Tower Hill, called on the public to assemble at key points:[13]
The main mass of anti-fascist protesters would gather at Aldgate, the central of East End's three entry points, for 2 pm. In doing this the crowd could occupy the important road junctions in that area, includingGardiner's Corner, the junction of Whitechapel High Street with Leman Street, Commercial Street and Commercial Road. (The junction of Commercial Road and Whitechapel High Street has since moved east by 100 metres.)[14][15]
The counter-protesters had reserves positioned in a number of locations, including Brick Lane and Commercial Street, ready to create obstructions and offer resistance should the Police and BUF attempt passage. Thousands more waited in the side streets leading to Limehouse. In addition, the Communists sent groups of men to attempt to seize some or all of the speaking platforms that the BUF intended to use later in the day.[13][16]
The aim of the police was to allow the march to proceed, but as peacefully as possible. Thehead of the Metropolitan Police,Philip Game, established his HQ at the junction of Mansell and Royal Mint Streets by Tower Hill. There was also a major police station halfway along Leman Street, between Tower Hill and Aldgate.[17]
Very large numbers of people took part in the events, in part due to the good weather, but estimates of the numbers of participants vary enormously:
The fascists were to gather from all over the country, at and around Tower Hill for 2:30 pm; the first to arrive did so in a piecemeal fashion from around 1:25 pm; and were vulnerable to groups of hostile local people, around 500 in total, waiting for them. A party entering Tower Hill from nearbyMark Lane tube station was attacked, as was a group inMansell Street. The anti-fascists also temporarily occupied theMinories.[12][17]
The fighting intensified as more BUF members and their opponents arrived, with many BUF arriving in armoured vans whose windows had been reinforced with iron grilles. A private car bearing the slogan "Mosley shall not pass" drove onto Royal Mint Street, veering through the melee. It was attacked by Fascists who police cleared away with a baton charge, the car making its escape. The casualties in this stage of fighting included Tommy Moran, who was leading the BUF force until Mosley's later arrival. Moran resumed command after receiving first aid.[12]
At 2pm, the fighting took on a three-way character as police began the process of separating the factions. During this fighting the Police attacked and were attacked by both fascists and anti-fascists.[24]
After separating the factions, there was then fierce fighting as police then moved to clear counter-protesters from the crossroads where Royal Mint Street, Leman Street, Dock Street and Cable Street meet. The counter-protesters were moved onto these neighbouring streets, including a large number forced into Dock Street.[17]
The largest confrontation took place around Aldgate, where the conflict was between those seeking to block the BUF march, and the Metropolitan Police who were trying to clear a route for the march to proceed along. The public were requested to gather in the area at 2 pm, but large numbers were already present by mid-morning.[25] Attempts to clear Gardiner's Corner began in late morning.[19]
Despite having had permission to march denied to them, a column of the 'Ex-Servicemen's Movement Against Fascism', wearing theirGreat War medals and carrying theirBritish Legion standard before them, had spent the morning marching round the district to advertise the counter-protest. At 11:30, they were passing along Whitechapel Road when they found their way blocked by a cordon of police at the New Road junction, half a mile east of their destination at Gardiners Corner. They demanded the right to march in their own borough, the same right granted the incoming fascists. Fighting broke out, they were attacked by mounted police, and there was a battle for the standard. The police eventually captured the standard, tore it to pieces and smashed the flag pole to pieces in front of the eyes of the ex-Servicemen.[4][16]
The streets around Aldgate were broad, and impossible to effectively barricade except by blocking them with large crowds of determined people. Several tram routes went through Gardiner's Corner, and efforts to hold the junction were helped when a number of tram cars, perhaps four,[13] were abandoned in the road by their drivers, possibly deliberately. These abandoned vehicles would assist the counter-protesters by breaking up mounted police charges.[19][26]
Dense crowds gathered from Aldgate Pump, along Aldgate High Street andWhitechapel High Street toSt Mary Matfelon Church (nowAltab Ali Park) and some way along Whitechapel Road and Mile End Road, extending around a mile in total.[27] The adjacent side streets, most notably Minories and Leman Street, which led from Tower Hill to Aldgate, also became congested. The greatest concentration of people was atGardiner's Corner, the junction of Whitechapel High Street with Leman Street, Commercial Street and Commercial Road.[15][28][4]
By 1:30 Aldgate, and in particular Gardiner's Corner, was solidly blocked by a mass of people who had already endured a series of baton and mounted charges by police. The police continued to try to secure a route through Gardiner's Corner, but also tried to secure alternative routes that the BUF marchers might resort to instead.[4]
At around 1:40 pm, a large group broke off from the main body and headed into theMinories which leads to Tower Hill. At around 2:15 pm, individuals were making their way through the Aldgate crowds shouting "All to Cable Street", encouraging people to join the defence of the Cable Street/Leman Street junction near Tower Hill. The Police secured the junction after bitter fighting, and then sought to clear both Cable Street and Leman Street.[28]
Although some counter-protesters had headed to Cable Street, large numbers remained around Aldgate and its approaches. The police successfully fought to clear a route along two parallel avenues of approach, Minories and Leman Street, that lay between Tower Hill and Aldgate. They methodically advanced along each of the avenues and secured them by setting cordons of foot police along the side streets. They also continued their attempts to clear Aldgate itself, but the crowd remained solidly packed, chanting: "They shall not pass."[25]
One of the main organisers of the counter-protest,Fenner Brockway, Secretary of the Independent Labour Party, who had already been injured by a police baton, decided to try to contact the Home Secretary, John Simon.[14] Just after 3pm, Brockway found a phone box onWhitechapel Road and called the Home Office; the Home Secretary was not available so Brockway apprised a civil servant of the serious ongoing violence:[14]
There are a quarter of a million people here, they are peaceful and unarmed, but they are determined that Mosley's provocative march shall not pass. If you permit it, yours will be the responsibility for the serious consequences
— Fenner Brockway, Secretary of the Independent Labour Party[22]
The official assured Brockway the message would be passed on. It is not known whether this actually happened, or whether it contributed to the decision by the authorities, soon after, to ban the march.[14]
As the afternoon progressed, and with the Minories cleared, the Police tried to clear a route through the western flank of the counter-protesters, who were located on Aldgate High Street in the vicinity ofSt Botolph's Aldgate. They aimed to clear a route through toHoundsditch and beyond. This would allow the BUF marchers to reach their rally points via theBishopsgate Without neighbourhood. This action was known as theBattle of Aldgate Pump, and the Police's failure to clear a route was partly a result of the casualties they suffered.[17][29]
Protesters built a number of barricades on narrow Cable Street and its side streets. An initial barrier, made of materials taken from a nearby builders yard, was placed 170 metres along Cable Street immediately east of its junction with Shorter Street (now called Fletcher Street), in theSt George in the East area ofWapping.[19][17] There was also a barrier on Back Church Lane (a side street leading toward the Aldgate area); the Back Church Lane barrier was erected under the railway bridge, just north of the junction with Cable Street.[30]
The police took the first barricade and dismantled it, but several policemen were taken prisoner in fighting, held in empty shops and had their helmets and truncheons taken from them as souvenirs.[19][25]
A second Cable Street barricade was placed by the junction with Christian Street, about 130 metres past the first barricade. This second barricade was formed by an overturned lorry reinforced by other materials.[19] Materials for a third barricade had also been gathered.[25]
The police attempts to take and remove the barricades were resisted in hand-to-hand fighting and also by missiles, including rubbish, rotten vegetables and the contents ofchamber pots thrown at the police by women in houses along the street.[19][31] At Cable Street, as elsewhere, children's marbles were also used to counter charges by mounted police.[25]
Mosley arrived in an open-topped black Bentley sports car, escorted by Blackshirt motorcyclists, at 3:30pm. By that point, with the exception of a crowd in Dock Street contained by a police cordon, and people at the upper windows of some of the buildings, the area had been cleared of counter-protesters. As Mosley's car turned right from Leman Street into Royal Mint Street some counter-protesters threw objects at the car.[17][32]
By this time, his force had formed up in Royal Mint Street and neighbouring streets into a column nearly half a mile long, and was ready to proceed, however the police had failed to clear a path for them to march along.[32]
Mosley received the fascist salute from his followers as he arrived, and had a debrief from his second in command Tommy Moran. A police officer summoned Mosley to Sir Philip Game's HQ at the junction of Mansell Street and Royal Mint Street. When he arrived he was told that if he proceeded with his march and meetings that serious disorder was certain and that the march could therefore not go ahead. He was told that he could march to the West End, and if he wished hold a meeting inHyde Park instead. Mosley said that he would consult with his ‘officers’.[17][8]
On hearing the news there were boos and shouts of "We want free speech" from the angry Fascists, who sang the fascist songs "Up the Blackshirts" and the NaziHorst-Wessel-Lied. At around 3:40 Mosley told the head of the Mounted Police, Major G.H.B. De Chair, that they would not hold a meeting in Hyde Park after their march west.[17][32]
Mosley came back to Game to request to be able to walk up and down the line to review his followers. Game assented but said he wanted the Fascists to move off as soon as possible afterwards, as his officers had been holding the crowds back for a long time. Mosley drove along the line one way, and walked the other, receiving salutes and cheers from one section of Fascists after another.[17][32]
About 150 demonstrators were arrested, with the majority of them being anti-fascists, although some escaped with the help of other demonstrators. Around 175 people were injured, including police, women and children.[33][34] Many of the arrested demonstrators reported harsh treatment at the hands of the police.[35]
Around 4:00, the Fascist column, interspersed with its marching bands, turned, left the East End and headed west. The column marched through the deserted streets of theCity of London business district, preceded by around fifteen mounted Police. The route taken was viaByward Street,Great Tower Street,Eastcheap, downQueen Victoria Street and onto theVictoria Embankment on the edge of the West End.[17][32]
The head of the column reachSomerset House on the Embankment at 4:30, and many dispersed viaTemple tube station. Others continued with Mosley to the BUF HQ at Westminster.[17]
The march had been shadowed on parallel routes by anti-fascists, and when the BUF neared Westminster Bridge, scuffles broke out as large crowds came down from the Strand and other directions to confront them. Many of the Police had been dismissed by this time, but scores rushed back so that within a few minutes relative calm was restored.[32]
The remaining Fascists continued to the BUF HQ at Great Smith Street, Westminster. Mosley appeared at an upper window, to be greeted by cheers and fascist salutes. After he delivered a speech there, around 400 fascists proceeded toTrafalgar Square and at around 5:30 announced they wanted to hold a meeting, however the Police told them that would not be permitted as it was past sunset. The refusal led to fighting and disorder, with six blackshirts arrested.[17]
The BUF had organised four public meetings, but Mosley and his marchers never reached them. The counter-protestors also had a number of pre-organised and impromptu meetings.[12]
Mosley's columns were expected at the meeting at Salmon Lane, in Limehouse, at around 5pm. As this time approached a speaker addressed a crowd who could not be heard except in the very front rows due to the heckling of the counter-protesters who surged forward against the Police cordon surrounding the speakers. This confrontation was characterised by reporters as mostly good natured.[12]
As 5 o'clock approached, the Police cordon was sagging under the pressure of a growing crowd. Mounted Police who had been waiting in reserve then advanced carefully through the crowds to the speaker so he could be removed under police protection. The Mounted Police then made their way through the crowd, who were unaware of events at Tower Hill, calling "All over, there will be no march, you can go home".[12]
Around 200 people waited in vain for Mosley, for several hours, at the junction of Stafford Road and Roman Road in Bow. He had been expected at around 6pm.[12]
Mosley had been expected at around 6pm, but plans for a meeting were foiled by a handpicked group of men led by the communist 'Tiny' Brooks (who was 6'4" and a half). They had seized Victoria Park Gardens in Bethnal Green at 7am, intending to prevent Mosley from speaking there. Following the cancellation of the march, thousands of leaflets were distributed, calling for counter-protestors at the 'front' to make their way to Victoria Park Gardens to link up with Brooks and to attend a victory rally there.[16]
The Fascists had organised a meeting at the junction of Aske Street and Pitfield Street, where Mosley was scheduled to speak around 6:30. The communists also had a rally organised atShoreditch Town Hall, an event they had initially scheduled as an alternative to counter-protest, in the period before they decided to take part. Shoreditch Town Hall was packed so loudspeakers were placed in nearbyHoxton Square so that speeches could be heard by an overflow crowd.[32]
The presence of both sides in a small area led the deployment of very large numbers of Police, some of whom escorted the Fascists safely away after their meeting finished.[32]
The ILP[22] and Communists made statements celebrating the united response, in which East-Enders of all backgrounds — including Irish Catholics, Jews, dockers and Somali seamen — successfully resisted Mosley and his followers.[36]
East London workers supported by all London in united action have barred the road to Mosley. Gentile, Jew, Catholic, Protestant, Labour and Communist, men, women and children determined that Fascism shall not pass here…East London workers have not only defeated Mosley, they have demonstrated that English people have no time for any sort of toleration for Fascism. East London has torn neutrality to shreds and given a lead to the whole Labour and democratic movement to move into action against Fascism.
— Press Release by the London District of the Communist Party, published in the Daily Mirror.[37]
The BUF sought to maximise the publicity from the aftermath, portraying their failure to complete the march as a sign of an ineffectual government allowing a dangerous mob to deny their right to free speech.
Brother Blackshirts, Today the government of Britain has surrendered to the Red Terror. Today the government of Britain has surrendered to jewish corruption. The British Union will never surrender. We will never cease this fight until corruption is overthrown and Britain saved. Tomorrow all England will read and learn the necessity for fascism and National Socialism. When they confess they cannot govern it, the country sends for us to govern it…
— Oswald Mosley's speech to supporters at Westminster, Sunday 4th October 1936[17]
The day after the battle, Mosley flew toGermany to marry his second wife,Diana Guinness (nee Mitford), at a ceremony inJoseph Goebbels' drawing room inBerlin.Adolf Hitler was the best man and gifted the couple a signed photograph in a silver frame. The episode caused considerable embarrassment among rank and file BUF members.[38]
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Mosley continued to hold rallies around London, and the BUF increased its membership in the capital city.[39]
The Battle was a heavy psychological blow to the BUF and undermined Mosley's authority among senior party figures, leading to resignations, sackings and splits in the months that followed. The BUF also lost prestige with Mussolini and Italian funding began to dry up, leading the BUF to identify more closely with Hitler. As part of this shift, they renamed themselves the "British Union of Fascists and National Socialists".[38]
Conversely however, the Metropolitan Police Special Branch estimated that the BUF increased its membership in London by around 2000 people in the immediate aftermath of the battle – mostly very young men attracted by the chance of engaging in violence, rather than people with a strong ideological conviction.[4]
Despite the setback of 4th October, the BUF continued its activities across the country, including anti-Semitic attacks in Leeds, Manchester and London. The most serious incident was theMile End Pogrom, which happened the weekend after the battle when anti-fascists held a victory march ending with a public meeting inVictoria Park, East London. They were confronted by BUF supporters on the route and then in the park. With the anti-fascists and police tied down by the fascists in Victoria Park, 150 fascist teenagers broke off and rampaged down the Mile End Road, smashing the windows of Jewish owned shops, turning over a car and assaulting people they took to be Jews. The attacks included throwing an elderly man and a seven year old girl through a plate glass window. The girl lost an eye.[40][16]
While confrontation continued, some anti-fascists also wanted to engage with and better understand why Mosley's message struck a chord for some ordinary working-class men and women, including trade unionists.Phil Piratin of theCPGB sought, and eventually gained, permission to set up a small CPGB group to join local boxing clubs and engage with young men who had joined the BUF or were attracted to it. In this way relationships were built and Piratin was able to promote his message of working-class solidarity being better than the scapegoating and division of the BUF.[16]
Soon after Piratin's group had opportunities to advocate for tenants of all ethnic and political backgrounds, including BUF members, against unscrupulous landlords who wanted to evict them. The BUF, like the CPGB, emphasised the importance of housing issues to the working class, so some BUF members tore up their BUF membership cards in disgust as a result of the CPGB helping them when their own party failed to.[16]
This led to Piratin's CPGB colleague Maurice 'Tubby' Rosen, and Father Groser of Watney Street Church, to establish theStepney Tenants Defence League, which was able to continue this housing advocacy and protest at a much greater scale. The League attracted 11,000 members.[16][41][4]
SirPhilip Game, head of the Metropolitan Police, warned that the BUF had become a much more dangerous movement during 1936. At his recommendation thePublic Order Act 1936 outlawed party political "defence corps" and the wearing of political uniforms which Game felt would go some way to reducing some of the BUF's "spectacular appeal to the young and foolish". The Act also required organisers of large meetings and demonstrations to obtain police permission, this was in part due to the practice of the BUF to hold provocative meetings where opposition was virtually guaranteed. Game lobbied for an outright ban on the BUF but the government would not go that far.[42][38]
The BUF was banned in May 1940, amid the unfolding crisis of theBattle of France, with Mosley - having anticipated the decision - first destroying all the organisations records. Mosley and his main lieutenants were arrested and interned on theIsle of Man. One notable exception wasWilliam Joyce, who had fallen out with Mosley and left the party in 1937. Joyce, who was to have been one of the speakers at the four meetings the BUF planned on 4 October 1936, escaped to Germany days before the war began and served Germany as its chief English-language broadcaster, earning the nickname "Lord Haw-Haw".[43][40][38]
After the war, Mosley lived mainly inIreland andFrance, but continued to participate in British politics by founding theUnion Movement whose main focus was the creation of aUnited Europe. The Union Movement's campaigns also included an element of racial politics.[38]
The events of 4 October 1936 are frequently cited by modernAntifa movements as "the moment at which British fascism was decisively defeated".[40][44]
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Between 1979 and 1983,a large mural depicting the battle was painted on the side ofSt George's Town Hall. It stands inCable Street, about 350 metres east of the main barricade that stood by the junction with Christian Street. Commissioned soon after the 40th anniversary of the battle, the Cable Street Mural is the collective work of four artists: David Binnington, Paul Butler, Desmond Rochfort, andRay Walker.[54]
Ared plaque in Dock Street (just south of the Royal Mint Street, Leman Street, Cable Street, Dock Street junction) also commemorates the confrontation.[55]
Numerous events were planned in East London for the battle's 75th anniversary in October 2011, including music[56] and a march,[57] and the mural was restored. In 2016, to mark the battle's 80th anniversary, a march took place fromAltab Ali Park to Cable Street,[58] attended by some of those who were originally involved.[59]
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)The News Chronicle claimed that some 310,000 people had been there, though other witnesses claimed the figure had been nearer to half a million.
{{cite episode}}:Missing or empty|series= (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
