HISTORY, REPEATING

Ridley Road, the BBC drama series about extreme right-wing activity in the 1960s and the anti-fascist activists who combatted it, shines a light into a dark corner of East End history.

The TV series, starring Aggie O’Casey as Vivien, a Jewish girl who infiltrates the National Socialist movement, is based on the 2014 novel by author Jo Bloom, which is founded in Jo’s research into Jewish defence organisation The 62 Group. ‘I learned of the story at a funeral,’ Jo told the Evening Standard. ‘My dad and a veteran were talking about anti-semitism growing up in post-war East London. When they started talking about the 62 Group, I’d never heard of any Jewish defence organisation.’

Whilst Jo readily found information on the 43 Group that was set up in the East End after WW2 to counter the threat of right-wing agitators, she uncovered nothing on the 62 Group until she was put in touch with Steve Silver, who edited anti-fascist Searchlight Magazine. ‘He had worked really closely with the 62 Group and interviewed them, he’d heard all their stories. Without him, I absolutely can’t imagine how I would have found anything… He led me to sources, he led me to footage... The big thing was to directly oppose the fascists on the streets, close down their meetings; [they] tried to erase them having a platform.’

Jo notes that almost sixty years later, in a time where right-wing populism is on the rise, the story has a timely relevance. ‘Which is deeply sad… this doesn’t feel quite as much of a historical piece as one would want. I think those people are protesting because they feel the need to do something really concrete… It’s about directly engaging, about acting and doing. I think it’s got more relevance now, what the 62 Group did, than ever.’