Israel’s genocide in Gaza persists, while the war in Ukraine continues with no negotiated settlement in sight. As Europe rearms and Britain expands its nuclear capabilities, CAROL TURNER reviews the alternatives
October 1934: The British Union of Fascists celebrated the launch of their first branch in London’s East End. Oswald Mosley, writing in The Blackshirt could barely contain his excitement.
“Thursday October 4 … The Blackshirts marched in procession from Bow Branch premises … into Stepney Green, where a large crowd … had gathered which later increased to well over 1,500. The Blackshirts had a very noisy reception as the larger part of the audience were aliens who resented British people holding a meeting in what they considered to be their own territory … October 4 will go down in Blackshirt history as a memorable day.”
But October 4 became our memorable day. Two years later, it fell on a Sunday. By then the British Union of Fascists (BUF) had four well-organised branches in the East End, with Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Limehouse augmenting its Bow branch.
Once again Tower Hamlets is being targeted by anti-Islam campaigners, this time a revamped and radicalised version of Ukip — the far-right event is now banned by the police, but we’ll be assembling this Saturday to make sure they stay away, says JAYDEE SEAFORTH
JAMIE TUCKNUTT reports on an initiative that brings together two epochs of the city’s anti-fascist struggles



