ANTI-FASCISM
An extremely important part of my work in the Party at that time was the fight against the resurgence of the British Union of Fascists. Oswald Moseley, the leader of the fascists had been imprisoned during the war because of his allegiance to Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. He was released in 1943 and immediately started to re-organise the Blackshirts; so-called because of the black-shirted uniform they wore. In reply to this danger the Party decided to organise the returning members of the armed forces and in Manchester, Jewish Party members were instrumental in forming the Union of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. The fascists, using the situation in Palestine as the excuse, where the underground Jewish terrorists organised in Irgun Tvie Leumi and the Stern Gang had hung two British Sergeants in retaliation for the execution of Jewish underground fighters, mounted attacks on the Jewish areas of Manchester, Leeds, London and other towns throughout the country. The Union of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women was able to unite the Jewish people in the fight back and wherever the fascists appeared they were met head on by the ranks of Jewish ex-servicemen and women who having served in the forces in the massive struggle to destroy German and Italian fascism were in no mood to allow the home-grown variety freedom to terrorise the people.
The ending of the War, and the news and pictures of the opening of the concentration camps across Nazi-occupied Europe, brought to the notice of the world the truth of the horror that had been inflicted by German fascism. What has since become known as the "Holocaust", the deaths of 6,000,000 Jews, along with millions of Gypsies, Homosexuals, the physically and mentally disabled, helped to unite Jew and Gentile in the fight to put an end to fascist activity in Britain. That fight is, at the time of writing, still to be won.
Any attempt by me to explain the "Holocaust" would, I feel, be futile. I am not a historian. Many books have been written by eminent historians on the subject, each one giving a different view of what happened and why 6,000,000 Jews were deliberately murdered. All I am able to do is point the way for the reader to find out from other sources, the explanation as to why the premeditated murder of millions of people of Jewish origin was carried out as the deliberate policy of the Nazis.
From the installation of Hitler as Reichs Chancellor in 1933, to the latter part of 1941, the policy of the German Government was to encourage Jewish emigration and following the riots of 9th November 1938, "Kristallnacht", when a pogrom (an organised massacre) was launched throughout the whole of Germany, the policy centred on Jewish emigration. Kristallnacht, (the night of broken glass) named because of the many Jewish shop windows smashed during that night when some six hundred synagogues were burned, stores looted, houses broken into and Jews beaten and killed. Approximately 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps as an immediate result of the violence.
On October 23rd 1941 Heinrich Muller, Gestapo (German secret police) Chief, passed an order from SS Chief, Heinrich Himmler which heralded a change in Nazi policy towards the Jews. The change meant that in the future no Jews would be allowed to leave Germany or any part of Europe occupied by the Nazis. From then action was taken to build the infamous death camps and on the 8th December 1941 the first Jews to die in the gas chambers went to their deaths at a camp called Chelmno which will go down in history as the place where the deliberate mass slaughter of Jews began. Apologists of the Nazis who say that there was not a deliberate policy to massacre the Jewish population should read what was said by Franz Rademacher of the German Foreign Office, "The Jewish question must be resolved in the course of the war, for only so can it be solved without a world-wide outcry."
On 29th November 1941, leading Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, in charge of the SS, sent out invitations to so-called "Jewish Experts" to attend a planning conference at Wansee. It was at this conference that historians believe the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question" was decided. On 27th March 1942, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, wrote in his diary, "No other government and no other regime would have the strength for such a global solution to this question."
It is reported that the well-known Jewish historian, Simon Dubnow , who was shot and killed in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, by the Nazis as they cleared the ghetto, said in warning to his co-religionists as he died, "Write and record"; in other words he was saying to those who came after him to tell the story of what happened.
Amongst those involved in the Manchester Branch of the Union of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women were people like Max Druck who was a leading member of the Communist Party. Louie Rubens, another Party member who had the distinction of being commissioned to the rank of Captain on the field of battle during the Second World War. My brother Leon and I were both very involved in the anti-fascist struggle and we both served on the Executive Committee.
In London there had been an organisation formed of Jewish ex-servicemen and women. Because the founding meeting was attended by 43 people they called themselves The 43 Group. Like the Union of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women in Manchester, the 43 Group took a very active and physical part in the anti-fascist struggle and the two organisations worked closely together in keeping track of known members of the Blackshirts. One of these, a man called Jeffery Hamm came to live a few hundred yards from our house in Russell Street and I often trailed him in order to keep UJEX and the 43 Group informed of his whereabouts.
As the fight in Palestine by the Jewish refugees from the hell of Nazi occupied Europe grew more intense, it was natural that some of the victims who escaped from the genocidal acts of the Nazis, would, in their desperation, turn to terrorist methods in order to secure a place to live where they felt they would be free from further attacks on them simply because they were Jews. So, organisations like Irgun Tsvi Leumi and the Stern Gang sprang into prominence using terrorist methods in what they saw as their right to a home in the "Land of their Fathers". Inevitably the use of terror against British troops in Palestine was hypocritically used as an excuse for attacks on Jews here in Britain by the right-wing forces. The newspapers like the Daily Express and the Daily Mail played up the stories which were then used by the fascists in their attacks on the Jewish areas in Britain.
Some of the clashes between the fascist and anti-fascist forces in Manchester were memorable occasions. I recall two in particular. The first was when we heard that the British Union of Fascists intended holding a meeting in the centre of Manchester on a bombed site where Piccadilly Bus Station now stands. We immediately called for a response from the people and a massive counter demonstration was organised. When the fascists turned up, their speaker was in what can only be described as an armoured vehicle with loud-speaker equipment so that the speaker could address the crowd from inside, thus being protected from the inevitable attacks that would be made against him. The crowd, realising that the only thing to do was attack the van, surged forward and began rocking the van in an attempt to turn it over. The occupants took immediate action and drove out as quickly as they could. One up to the anti-fascists. The second occasion took place near Belle Vue when Oswald Moseley, leader of the British Union of Fascists, attended a rally of his Blackshirts with the intention of marching round the area and then holding a meeting. We had been informed well in advance and when Moseley arrived he was met, not by his own supporters but by a crowd of anti-fascists. As he got out of his car he was attacked by a woman who hit his head with her handbag. We later found out that the contents of the handbag were not what would normally be carried but in fact was half a brick. So friend Moseley arrived in court in London the next day with a black-eye.
The march took place with the fascists protected by a phalanx of police and accompanied by our ranks of protesters calling for the banning of fascist organisations which only recently had supported the German and Italian fascists with whom we had fought a war costing 55 million lives throughout the world.
Eventually the fascists were allowed to hold a meeting on a piece of waste ground. The speakers and the ragtag of supporters were surrounded by a police cordon and the protesters were not allowed to get through the police ranks. Some of the more intrepid members of the crowd did manage to break through and a number were arrested and charged the next day with causing a breach of the peace. The actual cause, the provocative march and meeting of the British Union of Fascists, was of course not addressed.
Besides direct action on the street against the fascist scum, the Union of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women organised many public meetings involving speakers from across the political spectrum. The first Chairman of the organisation was a local Rabbi , Rev B.M. Caspar and other leading members came from the Zionist organisation in Manchester. The Management Committee in July 1949 consisted of 14 members, 6 of whom were members of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
The fight to clear the streets of fascists was complimented by the struggle to get legislation passed making fascist and racist propaganda illegal. But, despite the fact that a Labour government was in office, a government expected to oppose all aspects of racism, it was found necessary to hold meetings and pass resolutions demanding action from the Home Secretary on this most important matter.
One such meeting was the Annual General Meeting of the National Council for Civil Liberties in May 1947. At that meeting Mr D.N. Pritt, KC MP revealed that he had written a Bill that would make anti-Semitism and racism illegal. He had submitted it to the Government whose draughtsmen then amended it - then the Government decided that legislation was not necessary.
A similar meeting held in Manchester and organised by UJEX was told by Harold Lever MP that legislation against anti-Semitism was practicable. "We are told that Gentiles would not like Jews to campaign for such legislation." Mr Lever said. "I was on a committee of 5 MPs set up to advise the Home Secretary on the subject. I was the only Jew on the committee, which was unanimous that such legislation was practicable. We drafted a Bill which was presented to the Home Secretary but was turned down."
The feeling that something had to be done was wide spread and brought together people from all walks of life and philosophies, "Better to face up to it" says Rabbi Wise; this was the headline to a report in the Jewish Clarion February 1948 which said, "My soul revolts when Communism and Fascism are mixed up as though they were one and the same thing," said Rabbi Stephen Wise, speaking in the Free Synagogue New York (according to a report in the Canadian Jewish Weekly). "Fascism, purposely turns its back on democracy, while Communism is aimed in the direction of freedom as well as democracy."
An important part of the fight against racism was the struggle against the re-arming of Germany and the rise of the extreme right-wing forces there. Often our public meetings passed resolutions demanding the government take action against this new menace. The importance of this part of the campaign is illustrated by the following quotations from newspapers in 1954 reporting the view of Theodor Blank, Konrad Adenauer's "Shadow" Defence Minister. "We make no differentiation between the applicants (for the West German Army). We shall consider each application individually and decide upon the applicant in accordance with his technical knowledge and his human qualities. The problem of re-employing the Waffen SS will thus be solved" - the Deutsche Soldatenzeitung, 1.1.1954.
"...Of course former German officers are employed in my office. There is no secret about this. In selecting them I have made sure, in particular, that no one is employed who was a Nazi or who has been guilty of any crime whatsoever...All the officers intended for senior appointments will be chosen by a personnel committee. This committee will be composed of respected personalities, both civilians and former soldiers..." The London Star 16.3.54.
This sounds very proper, as though every step was being taken to ensure that the new German Army would not be tainted by its past - until you understand that a member of the "personnel committee" that will make these important decisions is none other than Major General Freiherr Smilo von Luettwitz who commanded a Nazi tank division in the invasion of France, and then in 1943 played a leading part in the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto and was wanted by the post-war government of Poland for trial as a war criminal. The request was turned down by the American military authorities.
In the chapter dealing with my time in Vietnam I have mentioned the fact that ex-Waffen SS troops were used by the French in their fight against the Vietnamese Liberation forces. It is obvious from the above quotations that the Waffen SS were still being employed as late as 1954.
A leaflet advertising a meeting held on 11th August 1947 at the Houldsworth Hall in Deansgate Manchester gave the following list of speakers; D.N. PRITT KC MP, HORACE NEWBOLD SECRETARY MANCHESTER & SALFORD TRADES COUNCIL, CAPT. L. REUBEN M.C, LEN JOHNSON and in the Chair HAROLD LEVER MP.
"All Parties are represented on this platform; Tory, Liberal, Labour and Communist, right minded, clear thinking citizens who will not allow events in Palestine to be used to stir up hatred of innocent people here in Britain." That was the measure of the unity of purpose that existed in the fight against the fascist menace. This unity of purpose was to be lost as a result of the change in attitude of many members of the Jewish community, along with wide sections of the rest of the population towards the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. As the period in World history that has come to be known as the Cold War developed, so public opinion was changed and many of those who had supported the Soviet Union and its valiant Red Army in the massive struggle against fascism, and coincidentally, supported the Communist Party, turned round to a position where they attacked their former "comrades".
From the time before the war when the Communist Party led the fight against the British Union of Fascists, many in the Jewish community found a certain affinity towards the Party. But this was dissipated as the Western Powers turned on their former ally.
Slowly and insidiously, the propaganda machine pumped out the anti-Soviet stories, particularly stories of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. An article in the Economist, March 1950 was headed "Anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union", the Daily Telegraph published an article by the former US Ambassador to Moscow General Bedell Smith, headed, "Soviet Removal of Jews from Positions of Influence."
Here in Britain the attack was mounted by leading members of the Labour Party like Professor Harold Laski who, in an article in the Daily Herald, February 9th 1950 asked, "Can the Communists fool the Jews?" In the article Laski says that he understands the indignation of Jews as regards the fascist activity that was being carried on unhampered by legislation to ban racism and anti-Semitism but then suggests the Communists took advantage of "Jewish simplicity". The Communist "Never pointed out the difficulties of drafting statutes to ban fascism..." It is strange to say the least that Professor Laski did not know of the Parliamentary Bill drafted by D.N. Pritt KC MP in May 1947, nor the Bill drafted by Harold Lever MP and the Parliamentary Committee which said that "such legislation was possible", also in May 1947.