The re-innauguration of the renovated “Cable Street Mural” which adorns the side wall of St George’s Town Hall provided a focus for a celebration of people’s victory against adversity. The mural – a now world famous visual depiction of the ‘battle’ which raged in London’s east end in the 1936  – is also a story of a number of artists coming together to research, design and carry out a task that was both creatively and physically challenging. The magic that permeates around the mural is from the myriad of stories that The idea to paint a large mural depicting an event of local social and political significance is one story, another story is the task of carrying out the work. A number of histories about the mural’s evolution exist. The several artists who have been directly involved in the actual realisation of the mural have a number of stories to tell about the artistic and physical experience in carrying out the task, local groups and individuals who were associated in the campaign to have the mural and securing its location have another story, the events that are illustrated in the mural also bring in diverse collective memories of October 4th 1936 – the actual day the ‘battle’ against Mosley’s fascist march into the east end of London took place.

The arduous and physical process of locating, designing, and making a mural and the shifts and changes of all the people involved in achieving public artworks has led to disputes of ‘ownership’. Local people claim they initiated the idea for a mural, artists (muralists) claim they were looking for a location for their work. Certainly in the late 1970s there was a movement to paint murals in public spaces. The movement was most evident in Ireland during the “troubles” with a blossoming of massive illustrative murals on the sides of broken down buildings. NY punk hip hop graffiti was on the rise – artists in residence were encouraging children to decorate their drab urban environments.

The artist who kicked off the Cable Street mural project in 1979 was Dave Binnington. He contacted Paul Butler and following discussions and the pooling of visual ideas an idea for a mural emerged. Before this there was a combination of local people who were thinking murals: community groups, local authority arts officers, and artists who painted on walls. In the early stages of the Binnington /Butler mural production when the subject matter was becoming apparent it was attacked by the BNP. This attack along with other frustrations that had built up around the mural’s realisation resulted in Dave Binnington’s abandonment of the project. Paul Butler took up the task and contacted another muralist, Des Rochfort – who in turn pulled in Ray Walker. The three artists then set to work redesigning the mural whilst maintaining elements of Binnington’s proposal. The work was then sectioned up and apportioned out to the three artists who working three or four day weeks took a year to complete the painting of the mural. It was not an easy task both physically and with the occasional attacks from passing members of the BNP. The mural was completed in 1983. Ten years later, in 1994, the mural was seriously ‘paint bombed’ by the BNP – during the political turmoil of the 1980s and early 90s there had been a rise of (NF) BNP activities. in 1993 Tower Hamlets (Millwall) saw the first election of a BNP councillor, Derek Beacon. The extensive ‘vandalism’ against the mural, waged by the BNPs ‘Combat 18′, caused the artists to  think about protection – the type of paint – their own safety – costs – insurance – liability and legalities. Other issues that came to the surface were moral and intellectual rights.

Although care and research was made about the materials and paint processes (Keim paint – v – synthetic paint) the mural began to suffer from weathering. Structural problems and the rendering of the exterior walls of the Old Town Hall also had to be resolved.

At the time of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street substantial parts of the mural were in jeopardy. The paint was faded and flakey – details were slowly being lost forever. What had become a world famous mural was looking very shabby. The mural was universally liked both for its subject matter as well as its ‘picture’. Local people both individually and collectively called for its refurbishment. Eventually, S106 money was found by the council and allocated for the mural’s refurbishment. But there was further delay. After a change of the political regime in the local authority the newly elected Mayor abided by his election promise and saw to it that the mural would be renovated and brought back to its original glory. It was also assured that the renovation of the mural would undertaken by a team of artists led by Paul Butler – one of the originating artists initially involved in painting the mural during the early 1980s.This work took place during the summer of 2011 and was completed in time for the celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the ‘Battle of Cable Street.

‘As an artist, and as a man of the left, I am very proud of my role in painting the mural. I do not claim ownership of it. It was clearly a collaborative piece of work. But I am honoured to have been part of this huge creative project and to have worked with Ray Walker and Desmond Rochfort. We put a year of our lives into the painting of it, apart from repairing it. It cost us dear – and nearly cost me my life. I believe this gives me the right to do – or supervise – any repainting that needs to be done, and I would remind you that artist’s ‘Moral rights’ are now enshrined in law.’ Paul Butler *

One of the recurring problems is the culture of ignoring the role of the artist. In the thirty years since the inception of the Mural a myriad of ‘interests’ and a mass of support has been built to protect it. In the latest venture AND took an active role to help secure the artists right to be directly involved in its refurbishment and helped build the pressure to ensure a programme of events commemorating the Battle of Cable Street were local and community led.

Parallel to doing ‘battle’ against Mosely in 1936 the Mural continues to stir people – it brings them together and splits them apart – it exposes both the negatives and the positives of struggle. And so it continues – there are those who struggle only for their own interests and there are those who struggle for the ‘collective’ interest – there are those who claim individual ownership of everything to achieve personal elevation and there are those who give everything they have to remove the hierarchies. The social politics and stories around the actual ‘Battle of Cable Street’ and the story of the design process and realisation of the mural are extraordinary events in history that should never be forgotten.

Publications refs:

• ‘Ray Walker’ published by the Ray Walker Memorial Committee 1985 – Sponsored by the GLC and LBTH
• ‘History of Cable Street Mural’ Paul Butler