Reddit mentions of Political violence & public order: A study of British fascism

>Your ‘sources’ are a paywalled articles and a popular history book on Amazon - jog on.

I didn’t realise the article was paywalled. I read it years ago. Maybe it wasn’t paywalled back then.

If you just search for the title of that article though you’ll be able to find other sources.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-true-history-behind-londons-much-lauded-anti-fascist-battle-of-cable-street/

And calling it a popular history book to demean it’s worth means nothing when you are talking about a respected Professor in the subject.

If you want another, more academic book, you could read Political Violence and Public Order: A Study of British Fascism where Benewock identifies the contradiction between extreme nationalism and supporting fascist governments abroad as the main reason for the BUF’s collapse.

>After Cable Street Mussolini was so appalled with Mosley’s failure to gain “mastery of the streets” that he decided to end his financial subsidy

A couple of points to be made here.

Firstly, given your original point was that ‘Cable Street shows that violence can be an effective anti fascist strategy today’ this kind of effect does nothing to support you. There is no comparable Mussolini figure who will withdraw funding if you beat ‘em up good. White supremacists today don’t require the funding Mosley did to organise.

Secondly, although you attribute the withdrawal of the subsidy to the battle of Cable Street afaik it is more commonly attributed to the second of those two things mentioned there. The electoral success. That is definitely what was mentioned in the first book I provided a link to, and it is also what was blamed on this.

>At local council elections in 1937 the BUF stood in several parts of the country but did not win a single seat. Unimpressed, Mussolini withdrew the BUF’s subsidy.

Also, I googled your first couple of paragraphs and an interesting source came up.

http://www.cablestreet.uk

It appears to be where you lifted those paragraphs from. You might want to read more of it.

>Cable Street helped set in motion a more sophisticated and ultimately more successful brand of anti-fascist politics.

>The surge in support for Mosley immediately after Cable Street helped convince many, including Communist Party organiser Phil Piratin, that to defeat the BUF they had to tackle the genuine socio-economic grievances exploited by Mosley within the East End rather than simply meet it with physical force.

>Working with a network of tenants committees before forming the Stepney Tenants Defence League (STDL), Piratin and colleagues tackled the high rents charged by slum landlords for substandard accommodation. The STDL orchestrated rent strikes aimed at bringing landlords to the negotiating table, winning vital concessions and rent reductions for beleaguered tenants.

>Although the STDL was organised by Communists – many of whom were Jewish – they also saved fascist tenants from eviction. The STDL soon extended its work into the heart of the “fascist” East End, particularly areas such as Duckett Street, Stepney. The BUF had done nothing for them. As a result BUF cards were torn up in disgust.

>By helping local people overcome their problems and helping them to understand that these were not caused by “Jews” or “immigrants” the STDL proved that it is unity, rather than division, which enables communities to overcome its social deprivation.

>The lessons are there to be relearned.