Around 10,000 people marched through East London on Sunday 4 October to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street when the local community came out to stop the fascist Blackshirts from marching.
There was a great turn out from trade unions, with many union banners on display as well as some local trades council’s. Red Unite flags fluttered in the light breeze as the RMT marching band played the classics at the back of the march.
ACR had a banner specially made by members and supporters in London which we carried along the route of the march to the famous Cable Street Mural. We also handed out leaflets for our forthcoming ecosocialism organising school on 17 October. We celebrate Cable Street but the fight for a better world continues today!
One of the only critical remarks should be aimed at the speakers on the rally who prasied the role of the Communist Party back in 1936. This was a party that actively argued against any mobilisation against the Blackshirts until about 3 days before and then at the last minute saw the scale of the mobilisation that was being organised and decided to opportunistically back it. Not a proud moment in their history!
Lessons of Cable Street for today
Given the growth of far right and authoritarian politics globally – a consequence of decades of neoliberalism, austerity, militarism and rising racism against refugees – is a serious threat to the gains of the post war social liberation movements and the working class. This is why learning from the battle of Cable Street and how we blocked the fascists then is so useful.
Some people might ask why not just let the fascists march? Don’t they deserve ‘free speech’. This is not an argument we can accept, because the fascists are intent on building a totalitarian state that crushes all dissent in order to maintian capitalism. They cynically use ‘free speech’ to create platforms and movements from which to spread hate and organise violence. The fascists are a movement that want to impose terror on communities, the left and anyone they deem “subhuman”.
This is why the people of Cable Street came out to block the Blackshirts – because Oswald Mosely’s march through a very Jewish area was in tended to spark a pogrom there.
The lessons for today are also about building links with the local communities and mobilising people in large numbers. It wasn’t just the fascists marching that day – the police turned out in large numbers to beat up anti fascists to try and force a march through the area. Police protect the Nazis!
A lot of far right marches now are in city centres, not through our communities. This can give them an advantage. Our strongest wins were when they tried to march through places like Cable Street (1936) or Lewisham (1977). However the recent Carnival Against Fascism in Brighton also shows a successful mobilisation of a wider working class community based on collaboration and unity.
Why we need an ecosocialist party
But as long as the socialist left does not have a credible party to call its own we will always be hampered in the fight back against the far right who have done incredibly well with Reform and Restore Britain. The failure of Your Party was a real setback for our side. The Greens have emerged as the left party most people are looking to for some kind of social democratic change – others have gone back to Labour under Andy Burnham.
Ultimately however unless we have a party that can break with the logic of capitalism entirely – and can lead a mass movement to overthrow the capitalist class then we will be trapped in this death cult logic until ecological collapse overwhelms us.
AntiCapitalist Resistance is arguing we need an ecosocialist party, one rooted in our communities, workplaces and campaigns, one that uses parliament as a platform for radical politics without being under the illusion that socialist change can come through parliament.
As our banner on the protest loudly and proudly proclaimed – the spirit of Cable Street lives on! We can buiild a movement to defeat not just fascism but also capitalism as well.