On October 4 th Sir Oswald Mosley marched 8, black shirts and fascist supporters threw the highly Jewish east end of London. They were met by what the daily herald estimated to be around , 18 anti-fascist protestors and 10, metropolitan police officers 3, of whom were on horseback. The protestors consisted of communist, Jews, anarchists and many other people that disapproved of the British Union of Fascist and particularly their anti-Semitic policies and rhetoric.
The aim of the Anti-fascists was to simply prevent the passage of the BUF and after the efforts of the police, to allow the BUF threw, failed they succeeded. It induced widespread despondency and demoralization in their ranks … [and] the East End Fascist movement declined. The event still maintains a strong footing in the fight against right extremism.
This however is disputed buy the British Nationalist Party, the current right wing party in Britain. Furthermore they believe that the whole event was an artificial creation engineered by the communists and Jews; that the protester where not in fact from the east end 3 , that many were criminals 4 and that it is presented to be much more of a victory than it actually was 5.
Based on this it is important to understand the context, the day and the aftermath of the Battle. This climate stemmed mainly from the instability that World War One had caused. The radical parties that gained control in many other countries around the world were not able to gain a large footing in British politics. Mosley was an adventures and often distasteful aristocrat. He also navigated all sides of the political spectrum as a politician Tory Harrow, ' Independent Conservative Harrow, ' Independent Harrow, ' Labour Smethwick, The party failed miserably gaining 16, votes in 24 constigencies.
The 50, included very powerful and influential members of the aristocracy such as Lord Rothermere and had the support of powerful institutions such as the Daily mail. The party however,by many, including the Daily mail, was seen to become progressively more and more violent and anti-Semitic. At this point the Daily mail relinquished their public support. They began to connect unemployment, bad economic growth, poverty and almost anything else negative with Jews, communists and the current astablishment.
