The 43 Group: Battling British Fascism
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 October 2017
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How British Jewish ex-servicemen and volunteers came together to form The 43 Group to fight a resurgent British fascist movement on the streets of post-war Britain. Fascist leaders, like Sir Oswald Mosley, had been released from detention at the end of the World War Two. Soon they were holding meetings in London and around the country, often espousing the same violently anti-Semitic rhetoric used before the war.
In response the 43 Group was formed in the late 1940s to gain intelligence on the fascist movement, expose their activities and physically break up their meetings. Its activities became a model for future militant anti-fascist groups. Alex Last has been speaking to 43 Group veteran, Jules Konopinksi.
(Photo: British Fascist Sir Oswald Mosley speaking at a rally, Hertford Road, Dalston, London, 1 May 1948. Credit: Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 1:04.7 | sounds hello and thank you for downloading the witness podcast from the |
| 1:09.2 | BBC World Service with me Alex Last and today we go back to the late 1940s when in Britain a group |
| 1:16.7 | of predominantly Jewish ex-servicemen and volunteers battled British fascists who'd re-emerged as a political movement after the Second World War. |
| 1:27.0 | The anti-Semitism was hydraulic. |
| 1:35.0 | You had public meetings, shouting out the same abuse you heard before the war. |
| 1:40.0 | The only way to beat them was go for them before they came to us. |
| 1:43.6 | And so we did. We didn't look away. We didn't bow. We went for them. Jules Konopinskii |
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