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Resignation |
The Battle of Cable Street
The communists had
been organising such a "anti-Mosley" demonstration for some weeks, and many of those
arrested that day came from as far away as Glasgow - a well know
communist 'stronghold' in those days. Others who took part in the 'battle'
with the police that day were local Jewish criminals - Jack 'Spot' 1and
three of his thugs (Spot ran a lucrative protection racket on local Jewish
shopkeepers) were also among those arrested. However, of the thousands
of BUF members and supporters who gathered in the East End of London
that day none were arrested, or involved in any confrontation in or near
Cable Street. It was the Communist Party which organised that struggle and it was in the face of the opposition of their own leaders that many Labour people joined the fight.2 After a series of well-supported marches through the East End of London which had attracted little opposition, Mosley decided to hold a mass rally on 4 October 1936 to mark the fourth anniversary of the founding of the party. The intention was that the BUF should assemble at Royal Mint Street at 2.30 p.m. for an inspection by Mosley. This would be followed by a march through the East End and he was due to speak at Salmon Lane, Limehouse, at 5 p.m.; Stafford Road, Bow, half an hour later; Victoria Park Square at 6 p.m. and Aske Street, Shoreditch, at 6.30 p.m. Appeals by the mayors of the East London boroughs for the march to be banned were ignored by Sir John Simon, the Home Secretary. The Commissioner of Police, Sir Philip Game, set up field headquarters off Tower Hill and 6,000 constables and the whole of the mounted division were drafted in to the area. The BUF began to assemble at 1.25 p.m. but they had been pre-empted by a group of some 500 or so communists who were already there, with the Communist 'Daily Worker' being sold in Leman and Cable Streets. By 2.15 it was estimated that there were around 2,000 communists and anti-BUF demonstrators in the Aldgate area, about half of whom had blocked the Commercial Road at Gardiner's Corner. At 3 p.m. the BUF, still in Royal Mint Street, now totalled around 2,000 including women and cadets and four bands. At 3.30 p.m, Sir Philip Simon after receiving reports from the police of the potential for trouble decided that he did not have the resources to keep the communists and BUF apart and consequently forbade the march. He instead allowed the BUF to march West through the City and the BUF moved off at 4 p.m, ending their march at Somerset House in the Strand at 4.30 p.m. The actual "battle" did not
concern them, as they had not been permitted to march along Cable Street
that day. Meanwhile the communists in Cable Street had overturned
a lorry; timber was expropriated from a builder's yard, along with bricks
with which to pelt the police. Broken glass was strewn across the road
to hamper and injure the police horses and the battle between the police
and communists lasted for some hours, overall there were dozens of injured
police and 70 arrests. "The general cry was that the entire population of East London had risen against Mosley and had declared that he and his followers should not pass and that they did not pass owing to the solid front presented by the workers of East London. This statement is, however, far from reflecting accurately the state of affairs.
Ten days after this infamous confrontation between the communists and the police, the BUF did march effectively through the East End. According to John Warburton: "Mosley
held a meeting in Victoria Park Square; an unannounced meeting but people
knew Mosley was coming that night. The message flashed through. At the
end he was going to speak in Limehouse. "In the March 1937 elections the BUF polled 23 per cent of the vote in Bethnal Green; l0.3 per cent in Limehouse and 14.8 per cent in Shoreditch. ... the size of their vote was a surprise even to those in touch with the East End" - The Observer, 7 March 1937. The fact is there was considerable support in the East End of London for the British Union from 1936 to 1939, and this was reflected in both the large number of BUF members from the East End of London, and in the high number of votes the BUF received in the LCC elections. 1.James Morton - Jack Spot 1998 |
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One
of the biggest myths about the BUF is the so-called "battle" of
Cable Street when it is alleged that on the 4 October 1936, the whole
of Stepney rose as one to prevent a march by the BUF through the East
-End of London. There was certainly a confrontation that day, but whatever
confrontation there was was strictly between the police on one side and
communists / left-wing sympathisers on the other. The overwhelming majority
of whom did not even live in the East-End but who had travelled there
from various parts of the country. 
He
was told he couldn't march there. 'Very well,' he said, 'I'll walk.'
And the crowds followed him. As he walked the couple of miles there were
crowds behind him and singing. Shouts of 'Good old Mosley', people leaning
out of their downstairs windows to try to shake his hand. There was this
great mass movement of support".4