A season of cultural events to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street – full current listings below, but subject to change and addition. Watch this space for updates.
Launch Event: Sunday 10th May, 1pm, Genesis Cinema, including screening of “From Cable Street to Brick Lane”
TOGETHER on Cable Street will be formally opened by Abdullah Faliq, a leading local anti-racist campaigner and a member of the national Together Alliance steering group that organized the huge anti-racist demonstration in London on 28th March, when hundreds of thousands marched for Love, Hope and Unity.
“From Cable Street to Brick Lane” (2011, 74 mins) was made by local film makers Phil Maxwell and Hazuan Hashim to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. It tells the story of 4th October 1936 through the words of people who were there, while celebrating the tradition of anti-racism in the East End.
Followed by Q and A with the film directors.
BOOKING LINK [VIA GENESIS CINEMA WEBSITE]: https://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/event/109432
PUBLIC MEETING: REMEMBERING BLAIR PEACH
Tuesday 2nd June, 5.30pm, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, Bethnal Green, E2 6HG, organised by Tower Hamlets and City National Education Union (NEU)
Blair Peach (1946 – 1979) was an anti-racist activist, Tower Hamlets teacher and member of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), predecessor of the NEU. He was murdered while taking part in an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against the neo-Nazi National Front in Southall on 24th April 1979.
The Tower Hamlets and City NEU banner proudly bears Blair’s image. This meeting will discuss his life and death, and link it to the wider struggle against the far-right and the violent threat it poses.
Guest speakers will include Kevin Coutney, former NEU General Secretary and other union members who knew Blair Peach.
“a people’s history of london”, tuesday 9th june, 7pm, the people’s letters, 395 cambrdige heath road, e2 9ra, with lindsey german
Lindsey, a co-convenor of Stop the War, will talk about the second edition of her book (written with John Ress). When the book was first published in 2012, The Guardian review recommended it for “those who continue to uphold London’s living traditions of protest”. At a time when there is again talk of banning marches. It will be fascinating to hear Lindsey relate this on-going tension to the issues that swirled around the Battle of Cable Street in 1936.
Cable Street and the Bryant and May Matchwomen, Tuesday 23rd June, 7.30 pm, St Paul Old ford, 84 st stephens road, e3 5JL, with Louise Raw
In her groundbreaking 2011 book, “Strike a Light”, Louise Raw uncovered the stories behind the historic 1888 strike at the Bryant and May match factory in Bow. Like The Battle of Cable Street, this was a pivotal episode in labour history, centred on the East End. Louise will talk about her book and the women who also went on to play a role in fighting the far-right.
Women and the Spanish Civil War, 2nd July, 7pm, Peoples Letters, 395 Cambrdige heath road, e2 9ra, with Meirian Jump
There are close and important links between the Battle of Cable Street and the Spanish Civil War. Many people from the East End went from one, to the other and joined the International Brigade to fight fascism. Meirian Jump will tell the often-overlooked story of women who went to Spain to support the Republican government against Franco.
Meirian is the Director of the Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School (MML). An archivist, she has worked at MML – home to the most significant and comprehensive archive on the Spanish Civil War in the UK – for over a decade. She is also granddaughter of international brigader, Jimmy Jump.
Book event: “A People’s History of the Anti-Nazi League”, 7th July, 7pm, The Common Press bookshop, 118 Bethnal Green Road, E2 6DG, with author Geoff Brown
The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was formed in 1977, an important example of a “United Front” approach to resisting the far-right. The ANL has a particular connection to Tower Hamlets because of its link to Rock Against Racism and its huge concert in Victoria Park on 30th April 1978, attended by 100,000 people. Tower Hamlets teacher Blair Peach was also a member of the ANL. Geoff’s book looks at the history of the ANL and why its tactics remain relevant today.
Geoff Brown has been an active socialist and trade unionist since the late 1960s and was an ANL organiser in Manchester from 1977 to 1979 and later worked for the University and Collee Union (UCU). He has written extensively on apartheid and anti-racism.
The Common Press bookshop is twenty yards from a particularly important landmark in the resistance to the far right. During the 1970s and 80s, the top end of Brick Lane was where the National Front used to gather and sell their racist materials, until they were driven away by the local Bangladeshi community and anti-racist activists, including the ANL.
Book Event: “Bye Bye Black Bird”, 22nd September, 7pm, Peoples Letters, 395 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, E2 9RA, with author, Mark Krantz
Mark’s newly published book tells the history of the two years of anti-fascist struggle that successfully broke the rise of Oswald Mosley and his antisemitic British Union of Fascists. Opposition to Mosley took place across the country; from Newcastle to Plymouth, Hull to Liverpool, Scotland to Wales, and reaching its climax in Cable Street. The movement that halted the rise of fascism in Britain was made up of members of the Communist Party, the Independent Labour Party, the Labour party, trade unionists, church and community groups, and social and cultural organisations.
Mark Krantz’s previous works include The 1842 General Strike (Bookmarks, 2014) and The Cotton Famine: Lancashire Textile Workers and the American Civil War (Red Roof, 2017). He lives in Manchester and is a member of the Socialist Workers Party.
Cable Street History Walk, 26th September, 11am, meet Aldgate East station, with Dave Rosenberg
The walk starts near Gardners Corner, where local anti-fascists gathered on 4th October 1936. It then follows the historic route to Cable Street, finishing at the famous mural. Your guide is noted local historian, Dave Rosenberg, author of Rebel Footprints – Pluto Press
(The walk takes about two hours, is flat and about 2 miles long.)
the ballad of johnny longstaff, 3rd october, 3.30pm and 7pm, st george in-the-east church, cannon street road, e1 0BH, perfomed by the young’uns
On the eve of the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street, we are delighted to welcome the brilliant Young’uns to the East End to give to performances of their working class folk opera, The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff.
CURRENT LISTING
TOGETHER on Cable Street 