AnarWiki/markdown/43_Group.md

The **43 Group** was a militant [anti-fascist](Anti-Fascism "wikilink")
group composed mainly of Jewish veterans in the British Armed Forces
from [World War II](World_War_II "wikilink"), who fought fascist groups
following [Oswald Mosely](Oswald_Mosely "wikilink") in the [late
1940s](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Northern_Europe "wikilink").

It would not be the last. This direct action sparked the formation in
March 1946 of the 3 Group: a militant anti-fascist organization composed
mainly, though not entirely, of Jewish British veterans dedicated to
shutting down fascism through direct action and pursuing legislation
against racist incitement. Later, militant anti-fascists would reject
the legislative route because of their revolutionary anti-state
politics. But the <mark>43 Group</mark> was avowedly ecumenical. It was
open to “anyone who wants to fight fascism and anti-Semitism.” Although
the group was named after the number of original members, within a month
membership increased to three hundred people, organized into “commando”
units that attacked fascist events, an “intelligence” department that
collected and organized information, and, later on, a propaganda
department, social committee, and a team that published the <mark>43
Group</mark> newspaper <em>On Guard</em>.<sup>139</sup>

The <mark>43 Group</mark> commando units had several methods of
disrupting outdoor fascist meetings. If a single member could get
through the cordon of fascist stewards to tip over the speaker’s
platform, the police had a policy of not allowing the fascists to set it
up again. With that in mind, the Group organized units of about a dozen
into wedge formations that, at an agreed time, would start far out in
the crowd and build up steam so that they “could break through many
times \[their\] number of muscular stewards” and get to the platform. If
the platform was too well guarded, however, the commandos would disperse
in the crowd and start arguments and fights all over, to the point where
the disorder led the police to shut down the event. Another method was
to “jump the pitch” by occupying the fascist meeting space well before
they could set up.

By the summer of 1946, the <mark>43 Group</mark> was attacking six to
ten fascist meetings per week. Beckman estimates that about a third were
disrupted by the Group, a third were ended by the police, and a third
continued successfully. After a while, the <mark>43 Group</mark> became
so popular that locals would join them or even shut down fascist events
on their own using similar tactics. With the emergence of the “fucking
hard case East End Yids,” as the Blackshirts called them, “the
keep-your-head-down and get-indoors-quickly mentality had gone for
good.”<sup>140</sup>

In 1947 Oswald Mosley, who had been imprisoned as leader of the British
Union of Fascists, formally returned to lead his followers. Given the
disruption that the <mark>43 Group</mark> and an assortment of
communist, Trotskyist, anarchist, and unionist antifascists had
unleashed on outdoor meetings, Mosley started holding his events
indoors. When anti-fascists couldn’t break through to disrupt Mosley’s
first indoor meeting, they hurled bricks and rocks at the fascist
stewards guarding the building, though to no avail. After that, though,
the <mark>43 Group</mark> managed to forge tickets to gain entry to
Mosley’s appearances, and once inside, they would start heated arguments
with those who had the same seat numbers, thereby disrupting and, often
enough, ending the proceedings. Thus were more than half of Mosley’s
indoor meetings shut down. Even when Mosley’s new Union Movement held
meetings under false names, infiltrators from the <mark>43 Group</mark>
tipped off the commandos, who would once again disrupt the
rallies.<sup>141</sup> A <mark>43 </mark>

“jump the pitch” by occupying the fascist meeting space well before they
could set up.

By the summer of 1946, the 43 Group was attacking six to ten fascist
meetings per week. Beckman estimates that about a third were disrupted
by the Group, a third were ended by the police, and a third continued
successfully. After a while, the 43 Group became so popular that locals
would join them or even shut down fascist events on their own using
similar tactics. With the emergence of the “fucking hard case East End
Yids,” as the Blackshirts called them, “the keep-your-head-down and
get-indoors-quickly mentality had gone for good.”<sup>140</sup>

In 1947 Oswald Mosley, who had been imprisoned as leader of the British
Union of Fascists, formally returned to lead his followers. Given the
disruption that the 43 Group and an assortment of communist, Trotskyist,
anarchist, and unionist antifascists had unleashed on outdoor meetings,
Mosley started holding his events indoors. When anti-fascists couldn’t
break through to disrupt Mosley’s first indoor meeting, they hurled
bricks and rocks at the fascist stewards guarding the building, though
to no avail. After that, though, the 43 Group managed to forge tickets
to gain entry to Mosley’s appearances, and once inside, they would start
heated arguments with those who had the same seat numbers, thereby
disrupting and, often enough, ending the proceedings. Thus were more
than half of Mosley’s indoor meetings shut down. Even when Mosley’s new
Union Movement held meetings under false names, infiltrators from the 43
Group tipped off the commandos, who would once again disrupt the
rallies.<sup>141</sup> A 43

Group infiltrator who became one of Mosley’s most trusted bodyguards
once let a group of commandos into Mosley’s mansion, where they stole a
trove of documents showing the close relations between the fascist
leader and a number of MPs.<sup>142</sup>

The attacks took a heavy toll on the British fascists (who no longer
publicly identified with the term “fascist,” given its unpopularity). As
Morris Beckman recounted, “we were going to regard \[the fascists\] as
much an enemy as those we had been fighting during the war…We were very
disciplined. We had to be. Our job was to put as many fascists in
hospital as we could.”<sup>143</sup>

The injuries inflicted upon Mosley’s right-hand man, Jeffrey Hamm, bear
this out. He had his jaw broken at the “battle of Brighton”; he was
knocked unconscious by a flying brick as he addressed a meeting in
London; and 43 Group commandos, formerly of the Royal Marines and
paratroops, assaulted him at his home even though he had a former Nazi
SS paratrooper for a bodyguard.<sup>144</sup>

By 1949, the fascist threat had receded. A number of former Mosleyites
had even become vocal anti-fascists. In part, this was because “the
fierce aggression of the anti-fascists made them depressingly aware that
every time they showed their faces they were going to be savagely
attacked.” For many it was simply not worth it.<sup>145</sup> In 1950,
the 43 Group disbanded, believing that their goal of stamping out
Mosleyite fascism had been achieved, at least for the time being.