Skip to main content
Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Cable Street Forever!
The famous victory in 1936 is still felt today far beyond the East End, says LIZ PAYNE
The Cable Street mural

The routing of Oswald Mosley’s black-shirted thugs and their police escort by 250,000 residents of London’s East End in Autumn 1936 had significance way beyond the local streets or the year. 

The Communist Party and YCL’s rallying call (Daily Worker, 3 October 1936) read: “Against Fascism! For Freedom and Democracy! For the victory of the Spanish People! For the raising of the blockade which deprives them of arms! For Peace and Freedom in East London!”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks during a visit to BAE Systems in Govan, Glasgow, to launch the Strategic Defence Review, June 2, 2025
War & Austerity / 19 June 2025
19 June 2025

LIZ PAYNE condemns how Labour backs war in Gaza and Ukraine, and massive funding for Trident’s nuclear bombs, when billions are needed just to restore public services

ABANDONNED BY THE WEST: Amani Abu Zarada, fourth from left,
Features / 24 December 2024
24 December 2024
If we want to take on war in 2025, we must take on our own governments in the West, and most of all, take on Nato, writes the convener of the British Peace Assembly, LIZ PAYNE
A young girl takes part in a sombre lantern ceremony for the
Hiroshima Day 2024 / 6 August 2024
6 August 2024
LIZ PAYNE draws the parallels between 1945’s atomic horrors and today's conflicts, calling for mass resistance to Western aggression and a renewed push for global disarmament
This image taken from a video released by the Ukrainian Tsun
Features / 19 June 2024
19 June 2024
LIZ PAYNE explains that the only valid political demand over the conflict in Ukraine is that it is brought to an end as quickly as possible
Similar stories
THEY SHALL NOT PASS! Blue Plaque unveiling for Battle of Hol
Features / 28 February 2025
28 February 2025
An attempt to give the church credit for the mobilisation of 30,000 anti-fascists in Leeds in 1936 is an insult to the communists and socialists who fought the fascists, writes SAM KIRK
A mural depicting the Battle of Cable Street
Features / 4 October 2024
4 October 2024
DAVID ROSENBERG assesses the far-right threat in the wake of the summer's Islamophobic pogroms and asks what lessons we can learn from the 1930s
NO PASARAN: The crowd at Holbeck Moor with police cavalry
Features / 30 September 2024
30 September 2024
The mobilisation in 1936 of 30,000 anti-fascists to drive Sir Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirts out of Leeds has been commemorated in the city, reports PETER LAZENBY
Features / 14 August 2024
14 August 2024
From Lee Anderson's sad parliamentary antics to Tommy Robinson's lager-soaked rallies, STEPHEN ARNELL skewers the hollow bravado of Britain's resurgent right and looks at how mass mobilisation can counter its influence