A Rage In Dalston - listen again

The Archive Hour – A Rage In Dalston
Saturday 19 April
8.00-9.00pm BBC RADIO 4
Listen again here.

In 1945, Nazism had been defeated but across Britain the return of fascism to the streets of London and the South East provoked a series of vicious encounters. This was the war after the war.

For the next four years, London and the South East would witness brutal confrontations between the remnants of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists and Jewish ex-serviceman enraged at the reappearance of fascist meetings and rhetoric. Alan Dein uncovers the true story of post-war conflict on British streets.

This time the battlefields were Ridley Road, Bethnal Green, Clapham Common, Hampstead, Kilburn and Brighton. The weapons were knuckle-dusters, coshes and razor-edged caps, and no one would die in the fighting.

But for four years the paramilitary, primarily Jewish, 43 Group infiltrated fascist organisations, regularly attacked their meetings, seized literature and created headlines. Their members were decorated soldiers, airmen and sailors with a sprinkling of East End toughs and youngsters, including trainee barber Vidal Sassoon.

They broke with the leaders of the Jewish community in their no-holds-barred, physical opposition to the return of fascism to Britain's streets. They operated beyond the law and were fuelled by rage, guilt at the fate of Europe's Jews and the tension of British policy in Palestine. Their goal was to drive fascism from the streets and silence its message of intolerance, anti-Semitism and racism.

Presenter/Alan Dein, Producer/Mark Burman

For an interesting video on the 43 Group go here.