Today (4th October) is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street.
Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists wanted to march through a part of east London with a large Jewish population. Unsurprisingly, the police wanted to assist; a large protest meant the original route was unviable so the police helped Mosley to make a new route going to Cable Street, right in the heart of that area's Jewish community.
Thousands of people from across London came to stand in solidarity with their neighbours and prevent the fascists from coming through, people of all sorts of backgrounds, political inclinations, social classes etc. An entirely disparate group united with a single aim: to stop the fascist march by whatever means necessary.
And they won. Attacked from all sides by fascist thugs and similarly-minded thugs in police uniform, the community and its allies stood firm until eventually Mosley had to give up and withdraw.
This story, this fight, this victory feels extremely important today. It reminds us that solidarity matters most of all. And it reminds us that the state can never be trusted to care for vulnerable communities, and that we will always have to fight for our neighbours and for those who need us.
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Here's a song by the Young'uns about that day, based on the reminiscences of Johnny Longstaff, a boy from Stockton-on-Tees who had joined a Hunger March to London two years earlier. Longstaff fought at Cable Street and later joined the International Brigades in Spain and fought against yet more fascists in north Africa during ww2.
https://youtu.be/AKhAlsXgOy8
RolloTreadway
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2026-10-04 09:51:23 UTC
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2026-10-04 09:51:23 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Today (4th October) is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. \n\nOswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists wanted to march through a part of east London with a large Jewish population. Unsurprisingly, the police wanted to assist; a large protest meant the original route was unviable so the police helped Mosley to make a new route going to Cable Street, right in the heart of that area's Jewish community.\n\nThousands of people from across London came to stand in solidarity with their neighbours and prevent the fascists from coming through, people of all sorts of backgrounds, political inclinations, social classes etc. An entirely disparate group united with a single aim: to stop the fascist march by whatever means necessary. \n\nAnd they won. Attacked from all sides by fascist thugs and similarly-minded thugs in police uniform, the community and its allies stood firm until eventually Mosley had to give up and withdraw. \n\nThis story, this fight, this victory feels extremely important today. It reminds us that solidarity matters most of all. And it reminds us that the state can never be trusted to care for vulnerable communities, and that we will always have to fight for our neighbours and for those who need us. \n \n------\n \nHere's a song by the Young'uns about that day, based on the reminiscences of Johnny Longstaff, a boy from Stockton-on-Tees who had joined a Hunger March to London two years earlier. Longstaff fought at Cable Street and later joined the International Brigades in Spain and fought against yet more fascists in north Africa during ww2.\n\nhttps://youtu.be/AKhAlsXgOy8",
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