THEY DID NOT PASS!

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: october 2021 :: RMTnews 19 When four anti-fascist tram drivers intentionally abandoned their vehicles at Gardiners’ Corner at Aldgate, to form barricades to stop the police clearing a route for Sir Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts, they played a crucial part in defence of the East End of London’s Jewish community. Mosley assembled his Blackshirts at Tower Hill and from there planned to march through the East End via Gardiner’s Corner on his way to Stepney. While fascism ravaged Europe surviving news footage shows an estimated 250,000 anti-fascists successfully blocking the route – the trams clearly visible – as they are attacked by truncheon wielding police on horseback. THE FASCISTS ARE COMING Mosley’s announcement that he intended to march his uniformed fascists through the heart of the East End on Sunday October 4 1936 sent shockwaves through the local Jewish community. In the run up there were numerous fascist incursions and antisemitic attacks in Stepney and feelings were running high. In spite of appeals, the government refused to ban the march so it was left to local people to defend their community. The labour movement led Jewish People’s Council (JPC) issued the call to “Bar the roads to fascism!” Other slogans of the day were “Remember Olympia!” – after a meeting in 1934 where anti- fascist protesters were severely beaten – and, borrowed from their republican comrades who were fighting the Falangist forces and their fascist allies in Spain, “They Shall Not Pass!” Jewish and non-Jewish establishment organisations called for people to stay off the streets, but the JPC, the trade unions, the Communist Party, the Independent Labour Party, the Labour League of Youth and others decided to mobilise. THEY SHALL NOT PASS Prominent at the head of the organised resistance on October 4 was Phil Piratin, who was later to represent Stepney as a Communist Party MP. The Young Communist League occupied Victoria Park from early in the morning, where the fascists intended to hold a rally. Meanwhile, the Jewish Ex- Serviceman’s Association held a march to advertise the counter-demonstration. When these First World War veterans marched along the Whitechapel Road, proudly displaying their medals, they found their route blocked by mounted police. They were ordered to disperse but refused and were attacked and beaten. The British Legion Union Jack was ripped apart and the banner poles smashed. It set the tone for the rest of the day. As news of this atrocity spread the crowd at Gardiner’s Corner roared “They Shall Not Pass!” and “Down with fascism!” Six thousand police including London’s entire mounted police division tried to clear the area. The police struck out with batons with extreme brutality causing many injuries. With Gardiner’s Corner in the hands of an immovable anti-fascist crowd the police decided they would clear an alternative route to the south: Cable Street. CABLE STREET The street had been ready since early morning. The initial defence was three sets of barricades, one containing an overturned lorry, erected across the narrow road using material from a builders’ yard and from the mainly Jewish people’s homes and shops that occupied the western end. Irish dockers armed with pick-axe handles came from the Wapping end of the street to the east and helped by ripping up paving stones. The road was strewn with broken glass and marbles as a defence against mounted police charges. Anti-fascists chanted slogans and gave clenched-fist salutes from behind the barricades. There was fierce fighting as the police attempted to clear the barricades, only to face a further barricade and thousands of regrouped anti- fascists. All manner of items rained down on the police from the small three-storey buildings that lined the street. With no route left for the fascists police commissioner Sir Philip Game told Mosley to march his troops west from Tower Hill and out of the area. Meanwhile, anti-fascists marched to Victoria Park for a rally, heralding a victory for the Jewish community, the people of the East End, and anti- fascists everywhere. Mosley never tried to march through the East End again and anti- fascists and anti-racists have been inspired by the battle ever since. THEY DID NOT PASS! On the 85th Anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street Steve Silver recounts the day the fascists were defeated in East London