A Necessary Myth: Cable Street revisited

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper is a continuation by other means of the theme of autobiographical memory explored in an earlier paper (Changing English, 3:1, March 1996). It tells the story of the author's participation in a demonstration (now known as Cable Street) which prevented the British Union of Fascists from marching through the Jewish East End. The oral story was told over 60 years and eventually achieved canonical form. It was retold in a lecture room with interspersed comment and analysis, which show that the story is ‘a myth embedded in real experience, both growing from it and helping to shape its perception’ (Samuel & Thompson, The Myths We Live By, Routledge, 1990).