Skip to main content
Advertise with the Morning Star
Battle of Holbeck Moor: don’t let them erase the communists
An attempt to give the church credit for the mobilisation of 30,000 anti-fascists in Leeds in 1936 is an insult to the communists and socialists who fought the fascists, writes SAM KIRK
THEY SHALL NOT PASS! Blue Plaque unveiling for Battle of Holbeck Moor on September 29 2024 [Lajmmoore/CC]

IT has long been recognised that Shakespeare’s play, The Merchant of Venice, has anti-semitic tropes and has been problematic in a world where this is abhorrent.

This new version is set in 1936 at a time when Oswald Mosley was trying to build The British Union of Fascists (BUF) along the same lines as Hitler and Mussolini.

By setting the play in these times, the role of Shylock is based on writer and actor Tracy-Ann Oberman’s grandmother who fought against Mosley at the Battle of Cable Steet.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Scotland / 23 September 2025
23 September 2025
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Joseph Andrews (left) and James Andrews
Features / 15 May 2025
15 May 2025

JAMIE TUCKNUTT reports on an initiative that brings together two epochs of the city’s anti-fascist struggles

An anti-racism ‘Unity Over Division’ counter-protest in
Features / 26 October 2024
26 October 2024
Our message on today’s demonstration is that we can stop the fascists – but to do so it’s essential that we mobilise, says WEYMAN BENNETT of Stand Up to Racism
NO PASARAN: (Above and below) Anti-racism protest organised
Features / 17 October 2024
17 October 2024
We need the biggest possible mobilisation next weekend against Tommy Robinson and the forces of the far right, who are looking to exploit social misery to spread division and hatred against minorities, write MARK SERWOTKA and KEVIN COURTNEY