Skip to main content
Forty years on, Altab Ali is not forgotten
LYNNE WALSH looks forward to an event marking the racist murder of a young Bengali worker in London
Catalyst: Altab Ali's murder sparked protests in the Bengali community

MAY 4 marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Altab Ali, an immigrant clothing worker who came to Britain as a teenager and laboured in a clothing workshop in Hanbury Street off Brick Lane in London.

The day Ali was killed in 1978 was the day of local elections. There were 50 seats in Tower Hamlets, with the National Front fielding 43 candidates.

They had been organising in the area for a few years regularly, with a paper sale at the corner of Brick Lane and Bethnal Green Road and a bookstall selling Did Six Million Really Die? They frequently terrorised the local Bengali community.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Lynne Walsh piece webpic.jpg
Features / 22 April 2025
22 April 2025

LYNNE WALSH previews the Bristol Radical History Conference this weekend

REMARKABLE: The Danish writer Karen Blixen as a recipient of
International Women's Day 2025 / 8 March 2025
8 March 2025
With most of recorded history dominated by the voices of men, LYNNE WALSH encourages sisters to read the memoirs of women – and to write their own too
International Women's Day 2025 / 8 March 2025
8 March 2025
LYNNE WALSH attempts to unravel the latest advice from local authorities on tackling violence against women and girls
A unit of the Bulgarian International Brigade, 1937
Features / 25 January 2025
25 January 2025
Anti-fascists from around the world will soon be travelling to Spain to commemorate the International Brigades and walk in the footsteps of the bravest of their generation, writes LYNNE WALSH
Similar stories
Hiba Medina as Antiya in Antigone (On Strike) 
Theatre Review / 4 February 2025
4 February 2025
SIMON PARSONS applauds a tense and thoughtful production that regularly challenges our political engagement and prejudices
Perspiration flies from the head of George Foreman as he tak
Men’s Boxing / 8 November 2024
8 November 2024
JOHN WIGHT explains how the eighth-round stoppage back in 1974 remains among the most important moments in the entire history of sports
Labour leader Keir Starmer during the BBC Head-to-head debat
Britain / 27 June 2024
27 June 2024