> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.ourfight.uk/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Blackshirts Return - URL: https://www.ourfight.uk/the-blackshirts-return/ - Published: 2026-09-28T13:56:35.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-28T13:56:35.000Z - Description: On the weekend of the anniversary of the Battle for Cable Street, the Green Party will be debating a motion at its conference which resurrects the core bigotries of the Blackshirts, writes Arthur Nobes. - Author: Our Fight The Battle of Cable Street on 4 October 1936 is rightly remembered as a defining moment in British political and social history. Jews and their allies put their bodies on the line to block Sir Oswald Mosley's fascist Blackshirts from marching through London's East End, then home to at least 60,000 mostly impoverished Jewish immigrants. In this 90th anniversary year it is more important than ever to defend the authentic legacy of Cable Street. [Remembering the Battle of Cable Street85 years ago today, the working class of London's East End organised against Oswald Mosley's race hatred – and delivered the greatest defeat in British fascism's history.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/logo-favicon-efbf34f0-bdb4-4bba-a88a-81573753b4a4.png)David Rosenberg![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/411713875018-77a0f587-b6fe-4d56-b07d-4a603c41a3ac.jpg)](https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/10/remembering-the-battle-of-cable-street?ref=ourfight.uk) ## Trade Union Movement The failures of the Labour Party and much of the trade union leadership in 1936—both of which opposed direct confrontation with the Blackshirts—are well documented. [Cable Street at 90: The Communist Party, the Jewish community and the fight against antisemitismIT IS remarkable that the role of the Communist Party and the Jewish community continues to be overlooked by sections of the left in their eagerness to present Cable Street simply as an anti-racist victory led by vaguely defined “socialists.”Within the labour movement, the Communist Party stood at the forefront of the struggle against fascism in Britain.Antisemitism was a defining feature of 20th-century fascism, a fact well understood by both communists and Jews.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-c02cdaf5-61f7-4b15-88cf-bd9a42bdf408.png)Morning StarMary Davis![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/DWMS_1936_10_05_001.jpg-e02bdb34-28ff-4ccd-b235-be647cd47780.webp)](https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/cable-street-90-communist-party-jewish-community-and-fight-against-antisemitism?ref=ourfight.uk) Despite this, tens of thousands of people formed a working-class alliance of Jews, Irish dockers, and leftists occupied Cable Street in Aldgate, chanting "they shall not pass", borrowing the battle's defining slogan from forces fighting fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Records suggest about 175 people were injured and up to 150 arrested. The lack of leadership ninety years ago has not stopped contemporary Leftist ideologues and the wider labour movement from seeking to stamp their ownership on the fascists' defeat at Cable Street. But the trade union movement's continued failure to understand what the battle represented was illustrated by Unite's original announcement of the anniversary march, which did not even mention the role of the Jewish community. [Unite claims it erroneously erased Jews from its Cable Street anniversary event - The Jewish ChronicleUnion failed to mention Jewish community role in battle and tabled its commemoration on Shabbat![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/icon-d68e10c6-0c9b-41ef-9677-ab430fdd007e.png)The Jewish ChronicleJane Prinsley![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/gettyimages-613607292-jpg-b4e1328f-cb57-44bf-9616-30792b210c4a.webp)](https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/unite-claims-it-erroneously-erased-jews-from-its-cable-street-anniversary-event-lz66wf8a?ref=ourfight.uk) ## Decisive The Battle of Cable Street was a decisive moment in the fight against fascism in Britain, seen by many as the undoing of the Nazi and Benito Mussolini-funded British Union of Fascists (BUF)—an organisation that deliberately sought to inflame hatred towards Jews in its propaganda, blaming them for Britain's industrial and social ills during the 1930s. "The yelling mob of socialists and communists are paid by the Jews," Mosley thundered to the crowd at a BUF East End rally in 1935, depicting Jewish financiers as controlling political parties, and Jewish businesses as running sweatshops. [Nick Cohen: Following Mosley’s East End footstepsNick Cohen: Appeals to communalism are once again echoing across the streets of Bow.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-ae51231b-3d5e-4cd9-b50b-74e42948ccf0.ico)The GuardianNick Cohen![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/fallback-logo-b725fbbd-6bdb-4b50-a845-4ccff62e0970.png)](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/apr/17/religion.otherparties?ref=ourfight.uk) But thanks to the show of force at Cable Street, politicians and commentators vowed anti-Semitic rhetoric of this kind would never again be tolerated in British society and that London's Jews would no longer be forced to endure violence and intimidation. ## Anti-Semitic Parties Return Yet this hatred has resurfaced today, and is particularly manifest in Zack Polanski's Green Party. Elected Green councillors have faced allegations of anti-Semitism in their social media posts; other members have discussed killing Zionists in WhatsApp groups; and the Antisemitism Policy Trust has suggested that it has been "effectively banned" from holding an educational fringe event at the party's forthcoming autumn conference. [Tension and dissent: inside the Green party’s antisemitism struggleWith a fast-expanding membership and historic electoral gains in sight, the Israel–Palestine debate is testing party unity![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32-8cc6d86e-4773-45be-9194-36e7b7fcf19c.ico)The GuardianBen Quinn and Peter Walker![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/4548-1f0f14aa-b917-4f07-8e0d-cbac2a5e4331.jpg)](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/may/02/inside-green-party-antisemitism-struggle-israel-palestine?ref=ourfight.uk) But nowhere will the parallel with Mosley's Blackshirts be more clear than at the Green Party's annual conference during the same weekend as Cable Street's anniversary, where members are set to vote on a motion carried over from the Spring conference, which states that "Zionism is Racism". [Green Party. Racist Party.Green Party activists are campaigning for their party to adopt a motion that demands the destruction of Israel and brands as racist anyone who disagrees with this. Mark Birbeck says no other party has yet adopted such extremist views, and it is transforming our political landscape.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/favicon-bdf2538b-17ee-4194-9231-5b884dcf0e39.ico)Our Fight: For Israel, Against Anti-SemitismOur Fight![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/WhatsApp-Image-2026-03-25-at-16.23.55--2--e2202abb-d83b-4c82-9e79-fc792f807d0e.jpg)](https://www.ourfight.uk/green-party-is-racist/) The motion not only places the party in direct opposition to the majority of British Jews—who regard the world's only Jewish state as both an ancestral homeland and a haven from persecution—but also stacks Polanski against his own family. One of them told the *Daily Mail* that should the conference motion pass it will mean the Greens have become "the most anti-Semitic party in British history since Oswald Mosley's BUF". This is no exaggeration: the motion calls for the destruction of the world's only Jewish state through the use of violence, and accuses anyone who would defend that state of being racist. [EXCLUSIVE: If Zack Polanski gets into power I may move to Israel, says relative - The Jewish ChronicleWarning over Green leader’s ‘dangerous’ rhetoric comes as party expected to make huge gains in May 7 local elections![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/icon-be58b085-bad7-4e29-879b-17c0af5fa96f.png)The Jewish ChronicleLorin Bell-Cross![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/copy-of-cohen-jpg-869a51dc-c55f-4bdd-8e1c-f90a241deed2.webp)](https://www.thejc.com/news/politics/exclusive-if-zack-polanski-gets-into-power-i-may-move-to-israel-says-relative-nb50hyar?ref=ourfight.uk) ## We Fight On The fascists may have returned, but so have those willing to stand up to them and fight for Britain's Jewish community. On 4 October, Jewish organisations and their allies will come together in their own bloc on the Unite march. We want the anniversary celebrations and those marching to be faithful to what Cable Street was actually about: standing alongside British Jews against organised anti-Semitism and refusing to allow extremists to intimidate them on the streets of London. > 🚨 CABLE STREET: SUNDAY 4 OCTOBER > > Join us for the 90th Anniversary Cable Street March. > > Cable Street Jews are organising a proud, unapologetically Jewish bloc on the Cable Street anniversary march, and we are honoured to be marching with them. > > 90 years ago, Jews led the battle… [pic.twitter.com/OXfXBnbaWV](https://t.co/OXfXBnbaWV?ref=ourfight.uk) > > — OurFightUk (@OurFightUk) [September 24, 2026](https://x.com/OurFightUk/status/2103115075502383213?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref=ourfight.uk) This year's march will almost certainly include many activists who are fiercely hostile to Israel and therefore to Jewish safety. And the Green Party discussion that the Jewish state is *by definition* racist will no doubt embolden them to put pressure on others to act against Israel, too. But Cable Street belongs to those who stood against anti-Semitism, not to those rewriting its history. If you would like to march with us, then register at the link below. [Register for the Cable Street 90th Jewish BlocMade with Tally, the simplest way to create forms.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/favicon-c7565187-2d67-4eff-8832-2574bd8a388f.png)Tally Forms![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/Gemini_Generated_Image_o178vgo178vgo178-a3f5ba35-3e96-4010-af20-e20f2d5c57a0.jpg)](https://tally.so/r/1AjQ5W?ref=ourfight.uk) ## Further Reading [‘My grandparents were at Battle of Cable Street – now I’m fighting the same hate’ - The Jewish Chronicle‘Nearly a century later, we are here again having to deal with this same hate in our streets,’ said one attendee at the Standing Strong rally![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/icon/icon-929405c2-a216-49fb-9c6a-275384606129.png)The Jewish ChronicleJamie Shapiro![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/f0/b8/f0b8221b-04e2-44a1-80aa-6bee05ed1ed6/content/images/thumbnail/screenshot-2026-05-10-at-16-49-51-png-cf79c754-9059-41ed-92e2-d03c88a8708e.webp)](https://www.thejc.com/news/uk/my-grandparents-were-at-battle-of-cable-street-now-im-battling-the-same-hate-pfrh8v8h?ref=ourfight.uk)