Catalogue Number
NMLH.2025.27.39
Object Name
Poster
Title
'1936 1986 They Shall Not Pass'
Place
Cable Street, London
People
Jeremy Corbyn, David Kitson, Tony Benn, Eric Heffer, Dennis Skinner, Phil Parratin, Tower Hamlets Trades Council, Anti Fascist Action
Events
Battle of Cable Street
Date
1968
Description
Poster advertising a march, rally and festival commemorating the Battle of Cable Street, and also fighting back against fascism. The poster shows a montage of images, depicting racist violence, as well as images of Nazis and racists. "1936" is printed at the top of the poster in red, whilst "1986 They Shall Not Pass" is printed beneath the images. Details of the event are at the bottom of the flyer, with a list of the speakers, including Jeremy Corbyn, Tony Benn and Dennis Skinner.
The Battle of Cable Street took place on 4 October 1936, when thousands of anti-fascists fought to stop Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) from marching through the East End of London, an area they had intentionally selected as it was home to a large Jewish migrant community. The march was allowed by the police, despite local politicians demanding it be banned. As the police would not stop it, and in fact protected the fascists from protestors, anti-fascists came to prevent the march, from all across society - trade unions, Jewish people's organisations, communists and socialists, as well as East End residents.
The exact numbers for each side are unknown, but the most common figure used by historians is 3000 BUF members were prevented from marching by up to 100,000 anti-fascists. The Battle of Cable Street is viewed as one of the most successful British anti-fascist protests, and is still commemorated by anti-fascists, leftists and East End residents today
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