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 lawful march by the British Union of Fascists, on one side and anti-fascists including local Jewish, socialist, and communist groups on the other. The majority of both marchers and counter-protesters travelled into the area for this purpose.
In spite of the East End at that time having a large Jewish population, and the anti-Semitic nature of the B.U.F., the government refused to ban 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 1980's, 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.
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.
External links
- The Communist Party of Britain maintains an extensive section on the 'Battle' on its website, although some feel that parts of it are historically inaccurate and designed primarily to portray the Communist Party in a good light. It includes extracts from the then pro-BUF Daily Mail, the communist Daily Worker, other newspapers and also from the organisations involved themselves. See [The Battle of Cable Street]
- [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 local resident and participant.
- [Cable Street and the Battle of Cable Street]
- eastendtalking.org.uk: [Battle of Cable Street]
- * [More on the Battle of Cable Street]
- [A photo of the mural]
- [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.
- The mural was drawn by several local artists, and completed in 1993, according to [eastendtalking.org.uk]
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