The Battle of Cable Street in east London
The Battle of Cable Street of 1936 in east London is famous. But the British anti-fascist movement was wider than that one confrontation. How would you describe this movement?
The decisive confrontation was at Cable Street, but years of anti-fascist action led to it.
I live in Manchester and was spurred on to find out what happened here.
The British Union of Fascists (BUF) was building support everywhere but local opposition became confrontational. In 1934, fascists were driven out of a whole number of cities, such as Hull and Leeds.
This was a mass movement led by young Jewish Communists. A handful of Communists were able to lead thousands against BUF leader Oswald Moseley.
Moseley was holding really big rallies of thousands of people. So the anti-fascists organised protests. Sometimes they were able to shut the meetings down.
The movement ended with thousands of working class people confronting groups such as the Fascist Defence League. These were paramilitaries in black shirts, wielding lead-filled pipes and cricket bats. They physically attacked anyone who stood up to Moseley with rocks and bricks.
The movement lasted years, and was organised and sustained by local committees.
How did the anti-fascist movement become so powerful?
When Moseley first came to Manchester, the anti-fascists decided not to confront him. They held a meeting the same day in a different location.
Some young Communists, including Benny Rothman, refused to wait—they wanted to confront Moseley immediately.
Rothman was on the balcony when a Evelyn Taylor started heckling Mosely. She was a 22-year-old member of the Communist Party. Taylor had led strikes against attempts to victimise her at the engineering factory where she worked. Rothman and her started heckling together.
Rothman was attacked and thrown over the balcony. Taylor was thrown out by women fascists.
Rothman went to the anti-fascist meeting across town and told the others what they did.
Moseley was furious that his meeting had been disrupted by a woman—and a “red” at that. He took Taylor to court for infringing on his right to free speech.
Evelyn was fined £25, which she refused to pay, so she did time in prison. When she came out, she appealed against her conviction.
Why is this history so important to return to at this moment?
In the 1930s, the far right was on the rise. Mussolini was in power in Italy. Hitler had come to power in Germany by defeating the most powerful and most organised working class movement in the world. The fascists were rising in Austria and there was Franco’s victory in Spain.
The question was who is next, and it seemed to many like the answer was going to be Britain.
It was the young people who said we’re not having it. It was not just heroic resistance—it was a victory over fascism.
We stopped a takeover by the British Union of Fascists. We can do it again.
- Bye, Bye Blackshirts by Mark Krantz will be available from Bookmarks: the socialist bookshop in September
Grenfell documentary uncovered the British state’s crimes
The Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017 was the worst residential fire since the Second World War. In London’s richest borough, 72 people perished needlessly.
Grenfell Uncovered, directed by Olaide Sadiq, is a harrowing watch, steered powerfully by the research of Peter Apps.
According to Apps the fire “ripped families apart, traumatised an entire community”. “It is the most serious crime committed on British soil this century,” he says.
The documentary balances a range of technical aspects of the flammable cladding and the difficulty the fire fighters had extinguishing the inferno. There were a range of safety failures which are not directly touched on.
We are drawn into the story of two firefighters’ attempts to rescue people. The failures of the London Fire Brigade on the night exposes a service in crisis.
Above all, the government’s deregulation designed to benefit developers and companies, lay at the heart of it.
Interviews with the survivors and bereaved families are poignant–it is their pain and anger that fuels the fight for justice.
As a witness of the horror of the fire, Grenfell Uncovered is an important reminder that the fight for justice has to continue.
It paints a picture of the state’s failures, the crimes of corporations and public institutions and the need to challenge these through continuing resistance.
Moyra Samuels
- Grenfell Uncovered is available on Netflix
Book review: Ten Years That Shook The World
We live in dark times. Is there an alternative?
We can look to the past to find examples of how society can be organised differently. One was the other is the Russian Revolution of 1917 which brought the first fully blown workers’ state into existence.
A new book, Ten Years That Shook the World, is an enthralling account of the impact of the Russian Revolution.
The Russian Revolution was a vast social experiment which brought about social change in ways that have not been seen since.
The book outlines the process by which the workers revolution took place in what was a relatively backward society and the impact this had on the lives of the people of Russia.
Included is a chapter on language, thought and consciousness. It then details the impact of the revolution on culture and art.
The revolution brought many important changes for ordinary people. Women’s lives were transformed with changes to childcare and marriage laws. The right for abortion was introduced. It was no longer a crime to be LGBT+.
The realm of culture and art was an area of immense experimentation. The book discusses the revolution in the theatre, the brilliant development in cinema, as well as the work produced by Avante Garde artists.
Not everything was successful, but nevertheless there was an immense flowering of creativity.
The revolution allowed the ordinary people of Russia to enjoy what was once only available for the few.
It cannot be stressed enough that this took place in circumstances of immense hardship. Its existence was a miracle and a testament to the people who made it.
It was an immensely important laboratory for human potential and creativity. It needs to be celebrated and understood. This book is an important contribution to that end.
Bob Fotheringham
- Ten Years That Shook The World by Donny Gluckstein, Judy Cox and Roger Huddle, £12.50 is available from Bookmarks
