There will be an anarchist bloc at the upcoming October 4th march to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. During this battle, people from all over London came together to drive the British Union of Fascists and the police that protected them out of the east end. This was made possible by decades of previous organising in workplaces and the community that built working class solidarity, including between migrant Jewish garment workers and migrant Irish dock workers. They built trust by supporting each other’s strikes, something which undermined fascist attempts to divide working class communities and enabled anti-fascist mobilisation across lines of ethnicity, religion, and migrant background. Cable Street remains a reminder of both the need to organise in our communities in order to defeat the far right and the fact that, united, the working class is more powerful than both the fascists who seek to divide us and the state that seeks to control us.
In 1936, more than 100,000 working class Londoners came out and stopped the British Union of Fascists from marching by building barricades and fighting the police who were protecting the fascists, just as they do today. This became known as the Battle of Cable Street.
This confrontation was the culmination of a series of battles between fascists and anti-fascists across Britain in the 1930s, and it marked the end of the British Union of Fascists as a serious force both in politics and on the streets. After Cable Street, British fascism was forced to retreat.
This October 4th is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. We want to join the commemoration called by trade unions and the local community with a large anarchist presence to show unity and solidarity as we face fascism down again today.
Come join the anarchist bloc at midday, outside Tower Hamlets Town Hall on Saturday the 4th of October. Find us by our red and black flags.
Racism and fascism must be smashed by strong communities today as it was 90 years ago!