Battle of Cable Street (1936)
In October 1936, thousands of Londoners gathered to stop Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists marching through the East End.
Fascism will not pass
The fascists aimed to win support by dividing Londoners at a time of economic crisis, as have many other political groups past and present. Their march targeted the East End’s large Jewish community – who they used as a scapegoat for the area’s problems.
But the fascists never made it into Whitechapel. In what became known as the Battle of Cable Street, thousands of people, mainly local East Enders, came out and built barricades to stop them, clashing with police who tried to clear the way.
The event remains a symbol of Londoners’ resistance to the rise of fascism and antisemitism in the lead up to the Second World War (1939–1945).