“East London was the storm centre of the struggle against Oswald Mosley’s fascists in the 1930s. The British Union of Fascists officially adopted antisemitism in Autumn 1934.”
Richard Price writes on taking on the far-right ahead of the public meeting on The Struggle Against Fascism in East London in the 1930s’ on 25 January.
This week Sadiq Khan, writing in the Observer, warned that “the far right is on the march. From Switzerland and Sweden to Hungary, Austria and Italy, European nations are coming under the influence of extreme nativist parties that are hostile to democratic institutions, immigrant populations and fact-based journalism … We should be in no doubt, this is a perilous moment. The spectre of a resurgent fascism haunts the west.”
This Saturday, 25th January, Leyton & Wanstead CLP is holding a public meeting on The Struggle Against Fascism in East London in the 1930s. Our speaker is David Rosenberg, author of Battle for the East End and Rebel Footprints, and a historian and activist specializing in the history of East London.
East London was the storm centre of the struggle against Oswald Mosley’s fascists in the 1930s. The British Union of Fascists officially adopted antisemitism in Autumn 1934. Its East London Campaign, which targeted the Jewish community of the East End, was launched with a rally at Stratford Town Hall on 24th July 1935. It unleashed violent attacks on Jewish shops, places of worship and anti-fascists throughout the core of the East End. Only after the Battle of Cable Street on 4th October 1936, when 100,000 EastEnders rallied to stop Mosley’s fascists from marching, did they begin to recede.
The topic has particular resonance today. The riots in August 2024 were the largest manifestation of the far right in Britain since the National Front in the 1970s. Some sections of the far right in Europe remain clearly anti-Semitic. Others, like Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, have sought to distance themselves from anti-Jewish persecution, only to pivot to embrace islamophobia.
Fascism and far right populism isn’t a static category. Its methods and targets evolve. But scapegoating immigrants, asylum seekers and ethnic minorities remains the common currency not only of openly fascist groups but also of the populist right wing parties like Reform UK. It feeds off economic insecurity and anxiety. It draws inspiration from the advances of the far right across Europe.
Please put the date in your diary and help promote the meeting on social media.
- This Saturday, 25th January, Leyton & Wanstead CLP is holding a public meeting on The Struggle Against Fascism in East London in the 1930s, with David Rosenberg, author of Battle for the East End and Rebel Footprints, and a historian and activist specializing in the history of East London.
- Richard Price is the Political Education Officer, Leyton & Wanstead CLP, and a regular contributor to Labour Outlook.
