| Battle of Holbeck Moor | |
| Date: | 27 September 1936 |
| Place: | Holbeck, Leeds, United Kingdom |
| Causes: | Opposition to a fascist march through Leeds |
| Methods: | Protest |
| Side1: | British Union of Fascists (Blackshirts) |
| Side2: | Anti-fascists |
| Leadfigures1: | Sir Oswald Mosley |
| Howmany1: | 1,000 |
| Howmany2: | 30,000 |
| Casualties1: | 40 injured, of which 14 taken to infirmary |
The Battle of Holbeck Moor was a clash between the British Union of Fascists and various anti-fascist demonstrators that took place in Holbeck, Leeds, on 27 September 1936.[1]
Led by Oswald Mosley, the British Union of Fascists planned to march through the Leylands, a working-class Jewish quarter in Leeds. The Leeds City Watch Committee rejected their plans, fearing an outbreak of riots.[2] [3] Since the committee had not banned the fascists from marching elsewhere, they changed the route to march from Calverley Street (in the city centre) to Holbeck Moor.
In the days before the march, anti-fascists (primarily the Communist Party of Great Britain) set about countering the march, distributing flyers to workers in the engineering, textile and tailoring factories and on working-class housing estates, calling for a mobilisation against Mosley and his fascists.[4] Due to differences, the Labour Party refused to attend and help the Communist Party.
The night before the march, the Leylands was targeted with swastikas and slogans daubed on windows and doors,[5] and Jewish people were attacked in the streets.[6]
On the 27th of September, the blackshirts met at Calverley Street, and were greeted with a small amount of booing. They then marched down the Headrow, Briggate, Meadow Lane, Dewsbury Road, Trentham Street, Tempest Road and Beeston Road, before finishing at the side of Holbeck Moor near St Matthew’s School.
Mosley joined the march near the end, at Beeston Road. On arriving at Holbeck Moor, the fascists were met by 30,000 anti-fascist demonstrators led by the Leeds Communist Party branch. With horse-mounted police forces shielding the fascists, Mosley climbed on top of a van and attempted to give a speech, but was quickly drowned out by protesters who had surrounded the van, singing the socialist song 'The Red Flag' repeatedly.[7]
The stand-off then became violent, with protesters pelting Mosley and the blackshirts with stones. The excitement and danger grew as mounted police then went into the crowd to arrest those throwing stones. Realising they were vastly outnumbered, the fascists retreated with great difficulty from the moor.
During the clash, Mosley was hit twice with stones, resulting in a gash under one eye. This wound was still visible when he attempted to march at Cable Street in London a week later. 40 blackshirts were also injured, of which 14 were treated at an infirmary.
The Battle reinforced opposition to fascism in the city, and the news of the battle spread through anti-fascist movements elsewhere in the UK, and helped serve as inspiration in the planning for the more famous Battle of Cable Street, which took place on 4 October 1936 in London. In the build-up to Cable Street, publications such as the Daily Worker proclaimed that “what happened in Leeds must happen in East London!”[8] [9] [10] [11]
The day after the march, Mosley made a statement in the Leeds Mercury:
The Leeds Mercury also published a list of names and addresses of the injured who received medical treatment, The participants were brought in from distant towns and cities such as Newcastle, Liverpool, Blackburn, Scunthorpe, Lincoln and Lancaster. Few were from Leeds.
In January 2020, John Mann, Baron Mann cited the Battle in his maiden speech in the House of Lords, stating:[12]
A blue plaque dedicated to the event was unveiled on 29 September 2024 at Holbeck Moor, to a crowd of over 300. The plaque was commissioned by Stand Up To Racism and Leeds Civic Trust.[13] The unveiling was attended by Fabian Hamilton, Hilary Benn and Richard Burgon[14] as well as descendants of participants. It is now fixed to the south wall of St Matthew's Church, facing the moor.