Remembering Cable Street

In the current political climate, with the rise of the authoritarian right-wing in its current visible form, we should do well to remember the resistance to the previous forms of right-wing authoritarianism and the birth of anti-fascist movements out of the Second World War and beforehand. Perhaps the greatest of popular mobilizations against fascism was the Battle of Cable Street. It originated out of a march of the British Union of Fascists, a march which would cut through the heart of a Jewish neighborhood, and an armed clash with the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and a planned effort by 86 organizations to stop the march of the Fascist Union. The first attempts to end the march were peaceful, a petition signed by 100,000 people, and other such attempts. When this did not end the march, a member of the CPGB would organize a blockade of the fascist march through popular organization.

The group organized barricades which would be used to block the fascist route, blocking streets and strewing broken glass, stones, and other obstructions to slow police efforts to clear the barricades as well as armed attacks upon the police, who attempted to clear the route of the march. This is one of many cases where the government of western countries appears to be suicidal, allowing the organization of groups that seek the overthrow of democracy, while spurning movements that seek to continue it. While freedom of expression is an important part of democracy, a paradox forms, the paradox of tolerance—tolerance of intolerance will lead to the destruction of tolerant society. The assumption of democracy is that everybody and every group will play by the rules of a democratic society. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Fascism seeks the destruction of democratic society by any means possible, and as such, the fascists, in this case Oswald Mosley, will seek the support of the political establishment and armed forces to the ends of voting away or couping democratic government.

The Battle of Cable Street is important to the United States as well, not only to the United Kingdom. Fascism is on the rise. The right has begun its attempts to unite and subvert society under the alt-right movement, a neo-fascist group whose members include white supremacists, the KKK, members of the American Fascist Movement and American National Socialist Party, fascist organizations whose goals are the murder and deportation of tens of millions, including people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, and all political opponents. Fascism is not respectable, nor will it play by the rules of a civilized society. They will attempt to murder the opposition—their goal is not the restriction of democracy. It is the eradication of people who they consider unfit for society. We must remember that fascism is not to be toyed with. For it will not play games—they will seek to murder anybody who gets in their way of implementing a white ethno-state.

Oppressed communities such as the East London Jewish community during Cable Street must band together with friendly organizations to provide communal self-defense and protection from the enemies of their race and class. The police cannot be trusted to protect them and their communities because the police are often on the side of their oppressors. Indeed the police are there to guarantee their oppressors the right to oppress the groups in question, not to question what laws they enforce or to change the law. Therefore, all laws must be applied equally, and if laws are racist, the police must act racist. If the oppressors seek to change the law to allow further oppression and succeed, then the police will become the instruments of that oppression. The lessons of Cable Street are this. The state cannot be trusted to stop fascism or fascist organizations from influencing policy and enforcing their will. The people must act to do so.