AdminHistory | The Cable Street Group was founded in May 1986 as a voluntary organisation. Five of the leading members were Jil Cove, Roger Mills, Derek Gadd, Liane Venner and Richard Humm. Jil Cove carried out secretarial duties, Derek Gadd oversaw finance and Roger Mills co-ordinated historical research and writing, to which everyone seems to have contributed.
The Group's aim is to keep alive the memory and example of those who came together in October 1936 to stop the virulently anti-Semitic British Union of Fascists marching through a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in east London. Cable Street runs from Royal Mint Street near the Tower of London to Butcher Row in the east. The Battle, which took place on 4 October 1936, was concentrated at the west end of Cable Street and spilled over into Whitechapel. Some 20,000 anti-fascist demonstrators gathered to prevent the BUF march, constructing barricades across the street. Most of the violent clashes which occurred on the day were between demonstrators and the Metropolitan Police, who were there in force to try and clear a path through for the BUF marchers. There were about 150 arrests and 175 people injured. In the end, the BUF were ordered to withdraw by their leader Sir Oswald Mosley, and they were escorted back to central London by the police.
The Cable Street Group interviewed elderly residents of Cable Street and veterans from October 1936. They produced a short book on the history titled 'The Battle of Cable Street: 4 October 1936 - A People's History' (with two editions, 1995 and 2011). In 1986, along with others, the Group organised an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. The 70th, 75th and 80th anniversaries have also been commemorated. The Cable Street Group also kept a watching brief on the up-keep of the famous Cable Street Mural on the street itself, preventing vandalism and initiating repairs if necessary. The Mural was designed by Dave Binnington, and painted by him, Paul Butler, Ray Walker and Desmond Rochfort between 1979 and 1983. |
CustodialHistory | There are a number of cassette tapes in the collection: some were recorded in 1978 and these relate to research for the Cable Street Mural; they do not, therefore, strictly speaking form part of the Cable Street Group archives but are here on account of Roger Mill's involvement with that earlier project. The later cassettes were recorded by the Cable Street Group in connection with an oral history project to capture the broader recollections of residents of Cable Street as well as the memories of 'veterans' of the Battle; all of these later interviews recorded by the Group were transcribed, but not all of the actual tapes have survived.
At some point the extant 'Cable Street' tapes were passed by Roger Mills to Alan Dein and used by him as preparatory research before interviewing Max Levitas at Shadwell Idea Store. Alan retained the tapes for a number of years before depositing them with THLHLA in August 2019; they are the only tapes which have survived from the Group's oral history work. Roger Mills had been the main instigator of recording the testimonies of the Cable Street veterans and residents, and it was felt appropriate to add to these tapes and transcripts to S/CSG/2. |