Fascists Defeated at Cable Street

1936
Silent
1m

Newsreel record of the 1936 crushing defeat of the British Union of Fascists in East London

The newsreel documentation of the 1936 crushing defeat of the British Union of Fascists. The Battle of Cable Street, on Sunday 4th October, saw numerous anti-fascist groups and local residences take to the streets of a predominantly Jewish area in London's East End to resist Oswald Mosley’s Black Shirts. The fascists were forced back, but protesters also clashed with police and there were 150 arrests.

The Battle of Cable Street has since been immortalised as a key event in the history of the British left and resistance to fascism. Mosley's movement survived the encounter, and even saw its membership swell in the late 1930s, but the British Union of Fascists was banned in 1940 and its leader and many of its members were interned for much of the war.

Jewish Britain

Jewish life on screen: a century of insights and hidden histories

This collection uncovers insights, injustices and hidden histories across a century of Jewish life on British screens. It brings together documentary and first-person accounts of Jewish life in the UK, alongside historical dramas and artists’ work exploring the 20th century Jewish experience. The earliest surviving depictions of Jewish characters in British cinema offer a troubling insight into antisemitic representation, yet prejudice was later tackled head-on, with newsreels documenting the anti-fascist movement of the 1930s.

Drop in on joyous family weddings and community gatherings, and see the ways in which UK Jewry supported Jews young and old, and those fleeing persecution, in a selection of fascinating films from the 1900s to the 1980s.

This collection is generously supported by the Neil Kreitman Foundation, Shoresh Charitable Trust, John S Cohen Foundation, and Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation.