The 90th anniversary of the Battle of Stockton is celebrated
The Battle of Stockton will be remembered and celebrated tomorrow (9 September) at the Georgian Theater and across Stockton-on-Tees.
The battle took place on September 10, 1933 and was a clash between Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, known as the “Blackshirts”, and anti-Fascist protesters.
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The whole city is invited to the free celebrations, which include entertainment, live music and “immersive” living history as the battle comes back to life.
The event officially begins at 3:30pm with a performance by the Cockerton Brass Band at the Town Hall Fountains.
Visitors can then enjoy more performances and be ‘taken back in time’ by Northeast musicians including Frazer Lambert, Lily Brooke, Ella-Joy-Hunton and Andy Jones.
This is the sixth year the Battle of Stockton campaign has been run to raise awareness of the event and educate locals about far-right extremism.
A detailed retelling of the battle explains how 2,000 Teessiders chased the Fascists out of town after being warned of their impending arrival.
Against a backdrop of mass unemployment and poverty inherited from the Great Depression, Sir Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists sought to recruit the disenfranchised to build his army of blackshirts, and Stockton-on-Tees was no exception.
On that second Sunday in September 1933, the Blackshirts arrived at Thornaby Town Hall and marched in formation across Victoria Bridge into Stockton town centre.
They made their way to the market cross on Stockton High Street with the intention of bolstering support and encouraging locals to join their ranks.
The people of Stockton were warned about the fascist attack on the city. Over two thousand people from Teesside waited to push back Mosley’s men.
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The ranks of the resistance included communists, socialists, trade unionists, members of the Independent Labor Party and members of the National Unemployed Workers Movement.
The fascists were chased down Silver Street to the river and fled back to their carriages and out of the city.
To learn more about the battle and celebrations, Click here.
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/23776530.90th-anniversary-battle-stockton-celebrated/?ref=rss The 90th anniversary of the Battle of Stockton is celebrated
