The Battle of Cable Street

Perhaps even more obscured by communist myth-making than were the events of Olympia in 1934 was the so-called "Battle of Cable Street" in 1936, another attempt by the alliance of the Communist Party and some Jewish organisations to confront British Union and create disorder. It should be noted that police reports at the time of the Olympia meeting implied that Jewish militants composed a high proportion of interrupters and protesters. Anti-fascist organisations had been growing in East London ever since British Union took a foothold and made some significant progress under the local leadership of "Mick" Clarke. Most of these Jewish organisations were communist fronts with respectable bodies such as the Board of Deputies of British Jews standing aloof, if not condemning this militancy outright. Mosley had already made his presence felt in East London by speaking at massively attended rallies in Finsbury Park and other venues. He could draw audiences in their thousands, thrilling the people of East London with displays of marching with flags accompanied by music and song. These were heady days with street corner meetings becoming a part of East London culture. On Sunday, October 4, 1936, British Union had arranged to begin a great march through ten miles of East London ending up with four mass rallies at venues it had been using regularly for the past year. 3,000 Blackshirts had assembled at Royal Mint Street near Tower Bridge, many wearing the "Action Press" uniform of cap, armband and high boots. Mosley himself arrived in such a uniform. The alliance of communists and Jews organised opposition with barricades at nearby Cable Street and this was where the stuff of myth and legend was first created. The police (6,000 of them on foot and on horse) attempted to clear this obstruction so that British Union could go about its lawful and rightful business. The "battle" of Cable Street was not a pitched battle between Blackshirts and a "spontaneous uprising of the angry working class". It was, in fact, a pitched battle between the communists and the police who were trying to clear a way through for Mosley. There were isolated incidents such as the waylaying of the Blackshirt, Tommy Moran, a man of tremendous courage, who can still be seen on newsreels of the event standing alone amidst the communist mob picking them off one by one until he finally fell in a pool of blood. One communist group attempted to breach the police lines in order to get at Mosley, standing in his car, but his Blackshirt bodyguard fought them back, sustaining several injuries into the bargain. The Commissioner of the Metropoliton Police, Sir Philip Game, confessed that his men were incapable of preventing the communist mob from pursuing its aim of violence and instructed Mosley that he should call off his march. This he did and the Blackshirts dispersed. By Wednesday, the coaches bringing the thugs from outside had returned to Leeds and Glasgow (eye-witnesses later accounted for this on television in 1969) and Mosley then led a triumphant march through East London, culminating at the four meetings planned for the previous Sunday. According to a Special Branch report released by the Public Records Office, "... the British Union of Fascists, during the week following the banning of their march, conducted the most successful series of meetings since the beginning of the movement. On October 11, Sir Oswald Mosley addressed a meeting of 12,000 at Victoria Park Square and was enthusiastically received later marching at the head of the procession to Salmon Lane, Limehouse, without opposition or disorder ... meetings of anti-fascist bodies have been abandoned owing to lack of support. Briefy, a definite pro-fascist feeling has manifested itself throughout the districts mentioned since the events of October 4 ... it is reliably reported that the London membership has increased by 2,000". _____________________________________________________________