On Thursday 22nd May 2025, the CST brought to us a documentary film that told the story of the history of British Jews defending themselves. Whilst the CST is a household name now, its history is not well known, and it follows from a proud and mostly secret tradition.
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Going back to the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 the film showed how London’s Jews and other anti-fascists stood together to ensure that Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts could not pass through the Jewish East End, even though that meant fighting a battle with the Police.
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The next chapter was after World War 2 when, after defeating Nazism, Jewish servicemen came back to the UK only to find that there were Nazis here. sympathisers in their own country who also wanted to persecute Jews. A clandestine organisation called “The 43 Group” was formed. Using intelligence and, where necessary, violence, this group fearlessly fought these would-be Nazis until, after eradicating the threat, it disbanded in the mid-1950s.
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All was quiet again until the early 1960s, when another group of fascists arose and was countered again by a fresh Jewish group called “The 62 Group”. Using similar tactics, they prevailed again against hate.
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The film included extracts from interviews with people who were at Cable Street, with 43 Group members and with 62 Group members.
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It then went on to give similar treatment to the more modern incarnations of Jewish Defence. AJEX INDEX, the CSO, and finally the CST as we know it today.
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Finally, there were interviews with current CST staff about their modern ways of working. How they identified the neo-Nazi nail-bomber in 1999 and furnished the Police with information about him. And how they have supported and protected the Jewish community through the dramatic rise in antisemitism that has occurred since the 7th of October 2023.
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The evening was presented by Alan, a staff member of CST who, after the film, answered several questions from the audience, from his knowledge of having been involved in much of this history.
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Adam Burr
