September 30, 2006

Memories of the Battle of Cable Street, seventy years on.
posted by bobboggis 18 years ago
  • That Mosley was a right arsehole.
  • Cheers bob, especially enjoyed the interviews in the first link. Some memories of East End anti-fascism and Cable Street in the autobiography of incorrigible old anarchist Albert Meltzer. He's a bit cynical about the legend, but then it sounds like he managed to miss most of this one. From what I read, this marked the beginning of the end for Mosely, but it was a slow decline. Jewish ex-servicemen formed the 43 Group, as they returned from the war to find fascists active again in the East End. Vidal Sassoon was a member - perhaps not the first figure you'd associate with a militant street-fighting organisation.
  • Siegfried, okay, but ... Vidal Sassoon?!? *mind boggles* Expect tossing marbles underhoof could only bring horses down when the footing is paved. Otherwise the landscape would be studded with marbles.
  • Interesting!
  • Good stuff. There's a nice mural in Cable Street (much changed since seventy years ago), but I can't find a decent picture of it.
  • Also on the "Street" link, though Chyren's link is much better. Abiezer: Yes, I've seen Meltzer's autobiography, being rather fond of incorrigible old anarchists as I am. I think he's a bit harsh on the legend; but I do, on occasion, find myself wondering whether it was quite the turning point it was made out to be (revisionist! revisionist!). Still, whatever the effect, a more or less spontaneous display of solidarity like that can't be a bad thing. By the way, the CPGB bit on Cable Street has some interesting contemporary newspaper reports.
  • D'oh!
  • Semi-tangent: There is a mural that tries to be similar to this at my school, deep and dark in the bowels of the Chicano Studies department. It depicts the injustice done to the illegals here, with vampire INS (now ICE) agents and protesters with signs saying, "Only the Creator is going to relocate us!" I have pics here somewhere. *looking* Here it is. Forgive the super-suck photomerge.
  • And, it may not be over yet.
  • YouTube has some old newsreel footage, including bonus silly accent from the narrator.
  • Thanks for that, Abiezer. And there is something singularly disturbing about that particular kind of silly accent pointing out with relish that "heads were cracked."