‘We must learn the lessons from 1936’

Burnham told his government must improve the lives of the working class or risk fuelling a ‘fascist fire’

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Unions have criticised the Labour leader after he announced plans to pass legislation to axe the triple lock before the next general election at the Labour conference in Liverpool last week.

Addressing crowds gathered at St George’s Gardens in east London today, Ms Graham said that there were “clear parallels” with the rise of Sir Oswald Mosley’s blackshirt fascists in 1936 and today’s black-masked anti-migrant thugs “on our streets and spreading their hatred.”

“This is a defining moment, it’s a working-class moment,” she said, adding after decades of being told “there is no where else to go … it should be absolutely no surprise to these politicians that people look for alternatives.”

“But the siren voices of [Reform leader] Nigel Farage once again whisper in the ears of the working class,” she said.

“Our communities are literally on their knees, they are waiting for the new dawn but who pays — that is the question and how that is answered will define this government.

“Is it the pensioner or super rich, is it City banker or the bus driver?

“If our politicians put their hands in the working class pockets again, Nigel Farage will be the least of our problems … many will turn their back on Westminster for good and if that happens our current disagreements will look like child’s play.

“The anger, that resentment, will fuel the fascist fire.”

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also addressed the crowds at the end of the march to honour the Jewish and Irish communities of the East End, the communists and socialists who mobilised to stop the fascists marching through Cable Street 90 years ago.

He said that like antisemitism in the 1930s it is “no accident that the biggest proponents of now Islamophobia” are the far-right across Europe.

“They are funded by Elon Musk and the big money flowing into these parties.

“They think that this party, Reform and others, can use the language of hatred against refugees and migrants in order to divide our society while at the same time they promote an economic strategy that enriches the very wealthy, impoverishes the poorest and attempts to destroy all of our organisation through public order legislation.”

Communist Party general secretary Alex Gordon said: “This unity between peoples of different faiths, ethnicities and backgrounds, with different mother tongues and diverse cultural traditions, was essential to the victory of anti-fascism in 1936 — and it is needed more than ever today as far-right politicians in Britain, Europe and North America call for so-called ‘remigration,’ deportations and demonise migrant and minority communities.

“Winning this unity and building a united front of the working class against fascism did not happen by magic. And if we want to build such unity today, it will only be possible if we learn the lessons from 1936.”

Jewish, Muslim, Irish, trade union and Communist Party blocks were among the thousands that marched together.

A number of zionists were reported to have been “provoking” the demonstrators.

One of the marchers Jeremy Deller, 60, told the Morning Star that a social media personality was among a group of around six people who was “going to people filming them in the face.”

Marchers being filmed “reacted to the provocation” by making off with an item belonging to the group and a man was arrested by officers surrounded by up to 60 people shouting.

Revolutionary Communist Party member Jonathan Hinckley, 28, told the Morning Star: “It was police doing what they did [at the] last Cable Street [commemoration]. It really was like a military operation. It was very forceful — there was a point where they pushed the whole line back.”

Primary school teacher Adam Seifert, 42, of Islington, north London, attended the march wearing a T-shirt stating “Zionism Identity.”

He told the Star that he came from a family of “staunch communists” with his grandfather Sigmund Seifert attending the Battle of Cable Street, but he was punched and kicked from behind while on today’s march.

Mr Seifert said that he was against fascism of any form including that of the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza, Hamas.

Scotland Yard said: “Officers have arrested a man in his 30s for breach of peace, he was further arrested for public order act offences. He remains in custody.

Police remain in the area to allow groups to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. No other incidents have been reported.”

Cable Street at 90 / 3 October 2026 Patient work on class issues can help turn the tide against the far right 3 October 2026 One of the lessons highlighted by the anti-fascists of the 1930s is that confronting fascism physically and ideologically must go hand in hand with solid alternatives on the social and economic issues that affect its supporters, argues GAWAIN LITTLE

Battle of Cable Street / 2 October 2026 ‘They did not pass, they will not pass’ 2 October 2026 Anti-fascist, trade unionists and Eastenders to celebrate victory over Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts at the Battle of Cable Street 90 years ago

Cable Street at 90 / 3 October 2026 We need unity, clarity and mobilising power to defeat the far right 3 October 2026 Racism in all its forms needs to be confronted by united mass activity that challenges the far right organisationally and ideologically, argues SABBY DHALU