Battle of Cable Street

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Battle of Cable Street (English Battle of Cable Street ), the violent clashes during a demonstration by supporters of the British Union of Fascists in the Cable Street in London's East End called on 4 October 1936th The approximately 3,000 supporters of the fascists were led by Oswald Mosley and accompanied by a large contingent of the Metropolitan Police Service . The police were supposed to enable the demonstration to proceed as planned, but the numerous counter-demonstrators prevented this. The fascist protest march was finally canceled.

background

In London's East End were during the Great Depression , many factory and dock workers made redundant from the 1929th Both left-wing and right-wing extremist parties received strong support. Oswald Mosley had introduced black uniforms for his party members and wanted these black shirts to march through the Jewish quarter of the East End in the manner of the marches of the camicie nere in Italy or the Nazi German SA or SS .

The Board of Deputies of British Jews advised Jews to stay away from potential march-related arguments if they did not want to "help the Jewish agitators." The Communist Party also initially tried to keep its members from a direct confrontation, and with leaflets advertised a separate rally in Trafalgar Square - but the leaflets were overprinted with the new Aldgate meeting point.

course

Portrait of Oswald Mosley, painted by Glyn Warren Philpot in 1925

In the run-up to the demonstration, a large number of counter-demonstrators gathered at Aldgate . The fascists took up positions - already accompanied by mocking songs and boos from the crowd - in order to keep the planned route of the march a secret. Among other things, they met at the junctions with Commercial Road and Whitechapel Road and in Leman Street, but finally in Royal Mint Street with the intention of following Cable Street east through the East End. Mosley arrived one and a half hours late around 3:30 p.m. and the demonstration was due to start, but the counter-demonstrators had learned of the planned route from a mole in the ranks of the police and they put up road barricades. The number of counter-demonstrators had grown to over 300,000 people. It was composed primarily of Jews , communists , trade unionists , Irish Catholic dock workers and other residents of the East End, including women and children. They blocked the street and shouted “They Shall Not Pass” to the black shirts, the English broadcast of the anti-Franco slogan No pasaran! ( You won't get through ) the Spanish Civil War . Black shirts and more than 10,000 police officers were thrown with rubbish and cobblestones, the law enforcement officers used their batons , 4,000 police officers on horseback were called in as reinforcements and tried unsuccessfully to break through the blockades by force. The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis , Sir Philip Game , decided to break off the demonstration after a short time. The black shirts were diverted to the west and marched along the Thames Embankment under strong police protection and followed by the crowd of counter-demonstrators until the demonstration split up and broke up. There were also isolated skirmishes.

consequences

A plaque in Dock Street near the junction with Cable Street commemorates the “battle.” They shall not pass is the English version of the battle cry No pasaran .

The following day's police report, issued by Scotland Yard , mentions 84 arrests, later sources over 150. Most were fined £ 5 for obstruction of the police force, but some leaders received three months of forced labor for engaging in a brawl . Fifteen wounded were treated at the Royal London Hospital , dozens of others were treated by "about five hundred members of St. John's Ambulance".

The British Union of Fascists , which had already lost membership before 1936, emerged from the confrontation further weakened.

The clashes in Cable Street were the main reasons for the Public Order Act 1936 , which, among other things, banned the wearing of political uniforms.

A plaque on Dock Street and a wall painting completed in 1993 on the side of St. George's Town Hall commemorate the event today. Ken Follett also dealt with it in his historical novel Winter of the World .

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Jews who, however innocently, become involved in any possible disorders will be actively helping anti-Semitism and Jew-baiting. Unless you want to help the Jew baiters, keep away. " Gillan, Audrey: Day the East End said 'No pasaran' to Blackshirts. The Guardian , September 30, 2006, accessed August 16, 2010 .
  2. ↑ According to the police report the next day, also because of the nice weather.
  3. ↑ See Reading, Kate: Battle of Cable Street. BBC , October 3, 2006, accessed August 16, 2010 .
  4. ↑ See Fascist march stopped after disorderly scenes. The Guardian , October 5, 1936, accessed August 16, 2010 .
  5. ↑ See Fascist march stopped after disorderly scenes. The Guardian , October 5, 1936, accessed August 16, 2010 . and Reading, Kate: Battle of Cable Street. BBC , October 3, 2006, accessed August 16, 2010 .
  6. ↑ Fascist march stopped after disorderly scenes. The Guardian , October 5, 1936, accessed August 16, 2010 .
  7. ↑ Ken Follet: Winter of the World. The saga of the century . Cologne 2012, pp. 230–256.

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