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The Battle of Cable Street 4th October 1936 remembered
  My father was a participant
against (obviously) the Fascists: his name was Isaac (Phil) Finklestein.
He and his brother Alfred were members of the "gang" of young Jewish men
who called themselves the Aldgate Boys, which combated - literally -
anti-Semitic actions and individuals in the East End and protected many
Jews and their houses from attacks. My father was also a local boxing
champion who fought under the name of Phil Clay, displayed the Star of
David on his shorts, and had a lot of success in stifling the
anti-Semitic slogans and cat-calls which dominated East End and other
London areas' Boxing events. One 'juicy' bit of information I recall
was how on the day of the Battle of Cable Street the police were
'neutralised' by the "gang". In order to neutralise the mounted and
foot-police who were protecting the Sir Oswald Mosley's Fascist marchers, the Aldgate Boys
brought barrels of glass marbles and scattered them in front of the
police horses as well as before and on the marchers. Not only was this
done in the street itself but also marbles were emptied out from
residents' windows along the route. Unable to maintain their footholds,
both horses, police and marchers were for a short while out of action
which allowed the 'gang" to enter the march's ranks and beat up the
marchers.....chaos ensued..... and the march disrupted.
Dr Harold Fenton, November 2005
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