The 62 Group, originally the 62 Committee, was a militant broad-based coalition of

anti-fascists Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, headed by Harry Bidney. Based on the earlier

43 Group The 43 Group was an English anti-fascist group set up by Jewish ex-servicemen after the Second World War. They did this when, upon returning to London, they encountered British fascist organisations such as Jeffrey Hamm's British League of Ex- ...

, it was formed in 1962 largely in response to the resurgence of

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

in Britain at the time, and particularly

Colin Jordan John Colin Campbell Jordan (19 June 1923 – 9 April 2009) was a leading figure in post-war neo-Nazism in Great Britain. In the far-right circles of the 1960s, Jordan represented the most explicitly "Nazi" inclination in his open use of the st ...

National Socialist Movement National Socialist Movement may refer to: * Nazi Party, a political movement in Germany * National Socialist Movement (UK, 1962), a British neo-Nazi group * National Socialist Movement (United Kingdom), a British neo-Nazi group active during the lat ...

(NSM). It used violence against the remnants of

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980) was a British politician during the 1920s and 1930s who rose to fame when, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, he turned to fascism. He was a member ...

's Union Movement, the original British National Party, and the emerging National Front, as well as the NSM. The group was financed in part by the Jewish Aid Committee of Britain (JACOB).

Membership

The Group was modelled after the earlier

, to which Bidney and other leadership had also belonged. Another predecessor to the Group from which it drew its early membership was the Yellow Star Movement. Though the YSM was decentralised, its supporters had experienced a split concerning whether the organisation should engage in violence. The more militant faction of the YSM were among the founders of the 62 Group. Formal membership was only open to those who were

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, but the Group worked with people from other anti-fascist organisations and immigrant communities. The Group was led by Harry Bidney, a

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

night club manager, and managed day-to-day by Paul Nathan. Another significant member was

Gerry Gable Gerry Gable (born 27 January 1937) is a British political activist. He was a long-serving editor of the anti-fascist ''Searchlight'' magazine. Background The son of a Jewish woman and an Anglican father, Gable grew up in post-war east London ide ...

, an intelligence officer for the 62 Group, who later founded the magazine ''

Searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

''.

Activities

The Group's tactics consisted of

direct action Direct action originated as a political activist term for economic and political acts in which the actors use their power (e.g. economic or physical) to directly reach certain goals of interest, in contrast to those actions that appeal to oth ...

against those groups it believed were organising violence against minority groups, which sometimes resulted in violent confrontations. On one occasion in July 1962 this led to a riot in London's

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

, when

tried to address a crowd while standing in front of a large banner which read: "Free Britain from Jewish Control". It also used intelligence, including informers within the fascist groups. The Group frequently disrupted the meetings of Oswald Mosley's Union Movement, and this was a contributing factor to the Union Movement's demise. Commenting on the activities of the 62 Group, the

Board of Deputies of British Jews The Board of Deputies of British Jews, commonly referred to as the Board of Deputies, is the largest and second oldest Jewish communal organisation in the United Kingdom, after only the Initiation Society which was founded in 1745. Established ...

disapprovingly said that, "some of these anti-fascists are Jews who act as if throwing tomatoes at a British racialist speaker is somehow getting their own back on Hitler." The organisation attempted to expose connections between far-right groups in Britain and former members of the original Nazi Party. Two veterans of the 62 Group stated that they had encountered former members of the

Schutzstaffel The ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS; also stylized as ''ᛋᛋ'' with Armanen runes; ; "Protection Squadron") was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe d ...

(SS) at a meeting held by the neo-Nazi

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

. In 1975, the 62 Group dissolved. Some former members of the Group formed the Community Security Trust.

''Ridley Road''

Author Jo Bloom researched the events and wrote a novel, '' Ridley Road'', published in 2014, with the 62 Group and events in the summer of 1962 as a backdrop, named after a street in the

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

of London known as a fascist meeting place, around which battles took place. A television drama of the same name based on the book, written and adapted for television by Sarah Solemani, was announced in 2019 and broadcast by BBC One in October 2021.

References

{{reflist Anti-fascist organisations in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1962

Membership

Activities

''Ridley Road''

See also

References