¡No pasarán! The Battle of Cable Street as a Political Context for Youth Activism in Fiction for Children and Young People

Abstract

This article considers fluctuations in attitudes to political engagement and youth activism in modern British books for children and young people. Drawing on Walter Benjamin's theories of history and the messianic child, it examines a group of texts set against the political context of The Battle of Cable Street, an anti-fascist demonstration in 1930s London.