90 years on: The Battle of Cable Street
90 years ago, thousands of Londoners built barricades to stop a fascist march through the East End. Here's the story of the Battle of Cable Street.
Image: At the Battle of Cable Street, Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists clashed with protesters | Public Domain
Cable Street might look like an ordinary East End location in London, but it was once the site of a series of skirmishes that would go down in British political history.
The Battle of Cable Street saw the British Union of Fascists, also known as the BUF, take to East London to march alongside their leader Oswald Mosley. But what Mosley and his supporters didn’t expect was a significant standoff against protestors who were unwilling to let fascism take hold.
Sky HISTORY examines how a march designed to intimidate London's Jewish community instead united thousands of ordinary Londoners against it.
What was the BUF?
Before we get into the Cable Street fights, we first need to know exactly what the BUF was and what it stood for. The BUF was a right wing political party that mirrored the antisemitic, fascist, and racist ideology of the Nazi party and the Italian Fascist regime.
The party was founded and led by the aforementioned Oswald Mosley in 1932. Mosley was a former MP for the Conservative Party (from 1918 to 1922) and then the Labour Party (from 1924 to 1931). He was also a would-be dictator who actively attempted to form alliances with Mussolini and Hitler.
The BUF was initially quite popular. Mosley managed to attract a fair amount of supporters, but he also had a group of thug-like bodyguards called the Blackshirts. These enforcers were inspired heavily by Mussolini’s Blackshirts, the national militia of the Italian fascist government.
The march begins
On Sunday, 4th October 1936, Mosley organised a march for the BUF to celebrate its fourth year. Rather than marching in the Westminster area close to the group's headquarters, the decision was made for the march to take place in East London. This area of the capital city had a large Jewish population. The decision to target the East End was clearly an attempt to deliberately provoke the Jewish community.
Alongside an escort of thousands of Metropolitan Police officers, the group tried to march from Tower Hill through to Aldgate and Shadwell. However, they were quickly met with significant opposition. Protestors of all kinds – from local Jewish residents to everyday workers, Irish dockers, communists, women, socialists, trade unionists and more – came together to put a stop to the display.
The Battle of Cable Street
Upon arriving at Gardiner’s Corner in Aldgate, the BUF faced an enormous crowd. Official estimates fluctuate wildly, with numbers ranging from 20,000 people to 200,000 people. The group blocked the path of the fascist group while chanting ‘They Shall Not Pass!’
The crowd could not be cleared by the police, so the BUF diverted the march to Cable Street, but the protestors were prepared. Three barricades were already established by the time the BUF got to Cable Street. This included an overturned lorry as well as marbles and broken glass thrown across the street. Thousands of locals chanted anti fascist remarks, but they did not stop there. They fought the police and massed behind the barricades.
People began to throw rubbish, milk bottles and basically anything they could get their hands on from the upper floors and roofs of buildings. Elderly women and housewives were part of the protestors throwing items.
Children were also involved, such as a 16-year-old named Charlie Goodman. Goodman had been beaten by police, but he managed to climb a lamppost to shout out, ‘Don't be yellow bellies, forward, we are winning!’
A 12-year-old girl named Joyce Rosenthal was also on the front lines (and ended up marrying Charlie Goodman later in life). The police ordered Mosley to shut down the march at Hyde Park after diverting it to the West End and along the Embankment.
The impact of the Battle of Cable Street
The conflict might not have immediately shut down the fascist agenda in London, but it certainly wounded its pride. The battle was considered a victory for the protestors, as they showed that no matter what, they would not be intimidated by violence and threatening tactics. They suffered for it, as the police brutally beat and arrested many of the protestors, but the impact was undeniable.
Although the BUF saw a slight rise in popularity immediately after the Battle of Cable Street, support started to decline by 1937. Hostility towards Nazi Germany became more prominent as World War II approached. In May 1940, not long after WWII began, the BUF was proscribed under Defence Regulation 18B by the British government. The crackdown on organisations seen as a security risk would result in Mosley himself being imprisoned until 1943.
The Battle of Cable Street well and truly humiliated the BUF, and it is remembered as an example of what a community can do when united against an intimidating force.
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