Battle of Cable Street

"Cable Street riots" redirects here. For the 1919 attack on a shop in the street, see 1919 British race riots.

Battle of Cable Street
Flyer distributed by the London branch of the Communist Party of Great Britain
Date	4 October 1936
Location	Cable Street, Whitechapel, London, United Kingdom 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	British Union of Fascists (BUF) members prevented from marching through the predominantly Jewish neighborhood Public Order Act 1936
Parties
British Union of Fascists Blackshirts Anti-fascists Communists CPGB Socialists ILP Trade unionists British Jews Metropolitan Police
Lead figures
Oswald Mosley Phil Piratin Philip Game
Number
3,000 c. 100,000 6,000
Casualties
Injuries	c. 175
Arrested	c. 150

The Battle of Cable Street was a series of clashes that took place at several locations in the East End of London, most famously Cable Street, on Sunday 4 October 1936. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, sent to protect a march by the British Union of Fascists, ^[1] led by Oswald Mosley, and anti-fascist demonstrators, including local trade unionists, communists, British Jews, and socialist groups. ^{[2] [3] [4]} The anti-fascist counter-demonstration included both organised and unaffiliated participants.

Background

BUF announce march

On 26 September 1936, the British 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 in Chelsea and was headquartered in Westminster, so the decision to celebrate their anniversary with a march in East London, an area that then had a large Jewish population, rather than at their West London HQ was seen as an intentional provocation. ^{[5] [6]}

The BUF planned to march from Tower 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 at Limehouse, Bow, Bethnal Green and Hoxton. ^[7]

Calls for a ban

The Jewish People's Council organised a petition calling for the march to be banned, which gathered the signatures of 100,000 East Londoners, including the Mayors of the five East London Boroughs (Hackney, Shoreditch, Stepney, Bethnal Green and Poplar) ^{[8] [9]} in two days. ^[10] Home Secretary John Simon denied the request to outlaw the march. ^[11]

Counter-rally prepared

Although disappointed by the decision not to ban the march, the Labour Party and the Board of Deputies of British Jews (an organisation dominated by deputies from outside East London) decided to oppose any counter-demonstration and newspapers supportive of Labour and the Board, such as the Daily Herald, News Chronicle and Jewish Chronicle ran editorials urging people to stay away from any counter-demonstration. ^[6]

The Communist 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, for 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 at Shoreditch Town Hall for the evening, after Mosley's march and after their West End event had taken place. ^[6]

The Independent Labour Party (ILP) called for a counter-rally, and on the evening of Thursday 1st 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. The Evening 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 at Hackney 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. ^{[6] [9]}

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. ^{[6] [12]}

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 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, their Daily 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. ^{[6] [13]}

Field of operations

A legacy of the long-ago demolished London 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 in East Smithfield, at 2:30. ^[7]

The intention was that Mosley would formally review the assembled force, after which it would march from Tower Hill and divide into four columns, each heading for one of four open-air public meetings where Mosley and other speakers, including William Joyce, John Beckett, Tommy Moran and Alexander Raven Thomson, would address gatherings of BUF supporters: ^{[7] [14] [6]}

• Salmon Lane, Limehouse, at 5pm
• Stafford Road, Bow, at 6pm
• Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, at 6pm
• Aske Street, in the Hoxton area of Shoreditch, at 6:30pm

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: ^[15]

• Leman Street and Aldgate - Anti-fascists considered Leman Street to Aldgate, the logical route for the BUF to take, with the force then expected to divide into smaller columns after reaching the junctions there.
• Cable Street - Considered challenging for the BUF, as it was then a narrow street, overlooked by homes.
• St George's Street (now known as The Highway) - This was considered an even harder route for the BUF and the Police did not attempt to clear it.

The main mass of anti-fascist protesters would gather at Aldgate, the central of East End's three entry points, for 2pm. In doing this the crowd could occupy the important road junctions in that area, including Gardiner'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.) ^{[16] [17]}

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. ^{[15] [18]}

The aim of the police was to allow the march to proceed, but as peacefully as possible. The head 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. ^[19]

Numbers involved

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:

• Estimates of Fascist participants range from 2,000 to 3,000, up to 5,000. ^{[14] [20]} The Fascists had a casualty dressing station at their Tower Hill assembly point. ^[14]
• There were 6,000–7,000 policemen, including the whole of the Metropolitan Police Mounted Division. ^{[14] [20] [19]} The police had wireless vans and a spotter plane ^[14] sending updates on crowd numbers and movements to Philip Game's HQ, at Tower Hill. ^[19]
• Estimates of the number of anti-fascist counter-demonstrators range from 100,000 ^{[14] [21]} to 250,000, ^[22] 300,000, ^[23] 310,000, or more. ^[24] The Independent Labour Party and Communists, like the Fascists, set up medical stations to treat their injured. ^[14]

Events

Tower Hill

The fascists were to gather from all over southern England, at and around Tower Hill for 2:30 p.m; the first to arrive did so in a piecemeal fashion from around 1:25 p.m; and were vulnerable to groups of hostile local people, around 500 in total, waiting for them. A party entering Tower Hill from nearby Mark Lane tube station was attacked, as was a group in Mansell Street. The anti-fascists also temporarily occupied the Minories. ^{[14] [19]}

The fighting intensified as more BUF members and their opponents arrived, with many BUF arriving in 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. ^[14]

At 2pm the police began the process of separating the factions, by which time there were already a significant number of injuries including Tommy Moran, who was leading the BUF force until Mosley's later arrival. ^[14]

There was fierce fighting as police then moved on the counter-protesters to clear 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. ^[19]

Aldgate and its approaches

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 2pm, but large numbers were already present by mid-morning. ^[25] Attempts to clear Gardiner's Corner began in late morning. ^[26]

Despite having had permission to march denied to them, a column of the 'Ex-Servicemen's Movement Against Fascism', wearing their Great War medals and carrying their British 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. ^{[6] [18]}

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, ^[15] were abandoned in the road by their drivers, possibly deliberately. These abandoned vehicles would assist the counter-protesters by breaking up mounted police charges. ^{[26] [27]}

Dense crowds gathered from Aldgate Pump, along Aldgate High Street and Whitechapel High Street to St Mary Matfelon Church (now Altab Ali Park) and some way along Whitechapel Road and Mile End Road, extending around a mile in total. ^[28] 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 at Gardiner's Corner, the junction of Whitechapel High Street with Leman Street, Commercial Street and Commercial Road. ^{[17] [29] [6]}

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. ^[6]

At around 1:40 a large group broke off from the main body and headed into the Minories which leads to Tower Hill. At around 2:15 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. ^[29]

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. ^[16] Just after 3pm Brockway found a phone box on Whitechapel Road and called the Home Office; the Home Secretary was not available so Brockway apprised a civil servant of the serious ongoing violence: ^[16]

"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 ^[23]

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. ^[16]

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 of St Botolph's Aldgate. They aimed to clear a route through to Houndsditch and beyond. This would allow the BUF marchers to reach their rally points via the Bishopsgate Without neighbourhood. This action was known as the Battle of Aldgate Pump, and the Police's failure to clear a route was partly a result of the casualties they suffered. ^{[19] [30]}

Cable Street

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 the St George in the East area of Wapping. ^{[26] [19]} 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. ^[31]

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. ^{[26] [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. ^[26] 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 of chamber pots thrown at the police by women in houses along the street. ^{[32] [26]} At Cable Street, as elsewhere, children's marbles were also used to counter charges by mounted police. ^[25]

Decision at Tower Hill

Mosley arrived in an open-topped black sports car, escorted by Blackshirt motorcyclists, just before 3:30. ^[33] 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. ^[33]

However, the police, fearing more severe disorder if the march and meetings went ahead, instructed Mosley to leave the East End, though the BUF were permitted to march in the West End instead. ^[10] The BUF event finished in Hyde Park. ^[34]

Arrests

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. ^{[35] [36]} Many of the arrested demonstrators reported harsh treatment at the hands of the police. ^[37]

Aftermath

The anti-fascists celebrated the community's united response, in which East-Enders of all backgrounds — including Irish Catholics, Jews, Orthodox Jews, dockers and Somali seamen — successfully resisted Mosley and his followers. ^[38] The day after the battle, Mosley flew to Germany to marry his second wife, Diana Guinness (nee Mitford), at a ceremony in Josef Goebbel's drawing room in Berlin. 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. ^[39]

The day after the battle, Mosley flew to Berlin to marry Diana Mitford at the home of Josef Goebbels.

The events of 4th October 1936 are frequently cited by modern Antifa movements as "the moment at which British fascism was decisively defeated". ^{[3] [40]}

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. ^[39]

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. ^[6]

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 serous incident was the Mile End Pogrom, which happened the weekend after the battle when anti-fascists held a victory march ending with a public meeting in Victoria 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. ^{[41] [18]}

Sir Philip Game, head of the Metropolitan Police, warned that the BUF had become a much more dangerous movement during 1936. At his recommendation the Public 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] [39]}

In May 1940, amid with unfolding crisis of the Battle of France, the BUF was banned with Mosley and his main lieutenants arrested and interned on the Isle of Man. One notable exception was William 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 October 4th 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] [3] [39]}

Notable participants

British Union of Fascists

• Oswald Mosley ^[10]
• Tommy Moran ^[14]

Metropolitan Police

• Philip Game ^[10]

Counter-demonstrators

• Bill Alexander, communist (CPGB member) and commander of the International Brigade's British Battalion. ^[44]
• Fenner Brockway, Secretary of the Independent Labour Party. ^[33]
• Jack Comer, a gangster of Jewish heritage. ^[45]
• Ted Grant who would become founder-leader of Militant and then Socialist Appeal. ^[46]
• Father John Groser, Anglican priest and prominent Christian socialist. ^[47]
• Charlie Hutchinson, communist (CPGB member) and only Black-British member of the International Brigades ^[48]
• Gladys Keable; communist (CPGB member) and the future children's editor of the Morning Star. ^[44]
• Bill Keable; communist (CPGB member) and the husband of Gladys Keable, who would become the Morning Star's director. ^[44]
• Winifred Langton, communist, internationalist and activist ^[49]
• Max Levitas, a Jewish Communist activist (CPGB member) described by the Morning Star in 2018 as the "last survivor of the Battle of Cable Street". ^[50]
• Betty Papworth, communist organizer (CPGB member) and anti-war activist ^[51]
• Phil Piratin, member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). ^[52]
• Alan Winnington, communist (CPGB member), journalist and war correspondent. ^[44]

Commemoration

Commemorative plaque in Dock Street

Between 1979 and 1983, a large mural depicting the battle was painted on the side of St George's Town Hall. It stands in Cable 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, and Ray Walker. ^[53]

A red plaque in Dock Street (just south of the Royal Mint Street, Leman Street, Cable Street, Dock Street junction) also commemorates the confrontation. ^[54]

Numerous events were planned in East London for the battle's 75th anniversary in October 2011, including music ^[55] and a march, ^[56] and the mural was restored. In 2016, to mark the battle's 80th anniversary, a march took place from Altab Ali Park to Cable Street, ^[57] attended by some of those who were originally involved. ^[58]

In popular culture

Music

• British folk punk band The Men They Couldn't Hang relate the battle in their 1986 song "Ghosts of Cable Street". ^[59]
• The song "Cable Street" by English folk trio The Young'uns tells the story of the confrontation from the perspective of a young anti-fascist fighter. ^[60]
• The song "Cable Street Again" by the Scottish black metal band Ashenspire references the Battle of Cable Street in its title and lyrics. ^[61]
• The Scottish anarcho-punk band Oi Polloi refers the event in several of their songs, most prominently in "Let The Boots Do The Talking". ^[62]
• German melodic death metal band Heaven Shall Burn refer to this event in the song "They Shall Not Pass" on their 2016 album Wanderer. ^{[63] [64]}

Stage

• The Arnold Wesker play Chicken Soup with Barley depicts an East End Jewish family on the day of the Battle of Cable Street. ^[65]
• In 2023, Tracy-Ann Oberman starred as Shylock in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice: 1936, adapted and directed by Brigid Larmour. The production was set during the Battle of Cable Street and toured the UK (including a run at the Royal Shakespeare Company) before transferring to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in March 2024 for a limited run. ^{[66] [67]}
• A new musical called Cable Street by Tim Gilvin and Alex Kanefsky premiered at the Southwark Playhouse in February 2024. ^[68]

Literature

• The confrontation is depicted in the 2012 novel Winter of the World by Welsh-born author Ken Follett. ^[69]
• The book Night Watch by Terry Pratchett has a Battle of Cable Street. ^[70]

Television

• In the 15 February 2019 episode of EastEnders , Dr Harold Legg and Dot Branning watch a documentary about the battle on DVD and Dr Legg recounts the events of the battle to Dot before dying, telling her that he met his wife Judith there. ^[71]
• The 2010 BBC revival of the Upstairs Downstairs series devotes an episode to the Battle of Cable Street. ^[72]

See also

• Battle of George Square – a riot in Glasgow in 1919 in which William Gallacher (CPGB member & colleague of Phil Piratin) was involved
• Battle of Carfax – skirmish in Oxford between the BUF and anti-fascists of the Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain.
• Battle of Stockton – an earlier incident between BUF members and anti-fascists in Stockton-on-Tees on 10 September 1933
• Battle of South Street – an incident between BUF members and anti-fascists in Worthing on 9 October 1934
• Battle of De Winton Field – a clash between BUF members and anti-fascists in the Rhondda on 11 June 1936
• Battle of Holbeck Moor – a clash between BUF members and anti-fascists in Leeds on 27 September 1936
• Siege of Sidney Street – a gunfight that took place in 1911, a few streets away
• Christie Pits riot – a similar incident that took place in Toronto on 16 August 1933
• 6 February 1934 crisis – a similar event that took place in Paris
• Battle of Praça da Sé – a similar event that took place in São Paulo in 1934
• National Socialist Party of America v. Village of Skokie – a court case arising from a similar situation, a planned fascist march and the response to it, in 1977.
• Battle of Lewisham – a clash involving National Front demonstrators, anti-NF counter-demonstrators, and police on 13 August 1977.

References

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External links

• The Battle of Cable Street 80th anniversary
• News footage from the day News reel from YouTube.com
• Video for the Ghosts of Cable Street by 'They Men They Couldn't Hang' set to images of the battle
• Historical article by David Rosenberg linked to the 'battle's 75th anniversary
• The Battle of Cable Street Archived 19 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine as told by the Communist Party of Britain.
• "Fascists and Police Routed at Cable Street" a personal account of the battle by a participant.
• Cable Street and the Battle of Cable Street.
• Google Earth view of the junction of Cable Street and Christian Street as it is now
• The Myth of Cable Street on the History Today website
• A police constable's account – Tom Wilson was on duty at Cable Street