The Cable Street myth: how the left launders antisemitism in Britain

So if the Guardian really wants to write about “history is repeating itself”, it could examine how once again, anti-Jewish agitators march the streets under police protection. Only recently, a Jewish legal observer was arrested at an anti-Israel protest and interrogated for wearing a Star of David necklace, which police said was “provocative” on the grounds it could agitate the marchers.

The distortion of the events that took place nearly nearly 90 years ago in East London has long been wielded by figures on the left. In January, Jeremy Corbyn told supporters that Cable Street was where communities “stood for the right to protest,” revealing how thoroughly the mythology has been corrupted. Jews were trying to get the fascist march banned. For years, Corbyn invoked his mother's alleged presence at Cable Street as a shield against antisemitism allegations – even speaking at a Cable Street rally alongside an activist suspended for antisemitism.

But all too frequently, those who invoke the celebrated battle for various causes show limited solidarity with the Blackshirts' original target. On the contrary: while they enjoy cosplaying Cable Street, they more often embody the threat to Jews.

The left has a long history of dismissing the Jewish community's warnings about where the real threats lie and the mythology of Cable Street has helped to cover that failure. This celebrated moment of unity against fascism was never quite what the legend suggests. The notion of the Communist Party riding in like white knights to join British Jews is more myth than reality. As Joe Jacobs, a Communist activist of the time revealed, the party had in fact initially opposed standing up for their Jewish comrades.

That week, the party leadership – following Moscow’s orders – had other priorities. Rather than confronting the British Union of Fascists, it instructed members to attend a rally for the Spanish Republic in Trafalgar Square. It was only due to pressure from Jewish members and local activists that two days before the BUF march, the party changed course, fearing it would otherwise lose support in East London.

And contrary to popular belief, Cable Street didn't crush the BUF. Thousands more fascists were recruited in the weeks after, and attacks against Jews increased. Just as before Cable Street, afterwards there were no left-wing saviours rushing to defend Jews. For far too long, we have allowed our Jewish history to be distorted, reduced to mere set pieces for non-Jewish guilt-washing, adorned with tales of their supposed selfless heroism.

The 1936 Public Order Act likely did far more to defeat the fascists, outlawing the uniform of the BUF blackshirts. It underlines the crucial role of policing – and how the failure to enforce the law properly has devastating consequences. The lessons for today could not be clearer: when the state acts decisively, extremism is curbed; when it shirks its duty, the streets are surrendered.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) applied for a march against Israel on October 7, 2023, as Hamas was still butchering Jewish families in their homes. One PSC branch lauded “the brave fighters” who had given them “a glimpse of a liberated Palestine”. When one of their hate-characterised marches was finally restricted to protect synagogue-goers, the PSC leader called it “a huge assault on the right to freedom of assembly and to protest”. When UKIP's march was barred from Tower Hamlets, they too cried it was a “direct breach of our democratic right to peaceful assembly”. Those who target minorities often pretend to be the victims, posing as righteous challengers of an allegedly oppressive system.

UKIP’s “crusade on Whitechapel” has rightly been stopped because of the risk of “serious disorder”, but the crusade against the Jewish community by all types of extremists continues unabated, as it has for the last two years. We shouldn't have to throw marbles under police horses or threaten serious disorder to receive the same rights others automatically enjoy. Yet until antisemitic disorder is treated with the same seriousness, extremists will go on believing they have the right to parade their hate unchecked — and will keep exploiting the mythology of Cable Street to launder their bigotry.