Commemorating the resistance of the people of Stockton, anti-fascist demonstrators from the local Communist Party, and the National Unemployed Workers Movement against the British Union of Fascists (BUF), Steve Tomlinson’s Battle of Stockton plaque is a monument to the ongoing struggle against fascism. It can be found at the Market Cross.
In 1933, Oswald Moseley’s fascist ‘Blackshirts’ were mustering support, speaking in towns and cities across England in the wake of Hitler’s success in Germany. Many citizens decided to make a stand against this encroaching evil, and a planned rally in Stockton by the fascists mobilised local opposition, with 3000 Stocktonians filling the streets to repel them on September 10th, 1933.
As per the Battle’s Wikipedia page:
“The BUF’s North East Organiser, Michael Jordan, planned to speak at the Market Cross on Sunday 10 September 1933. As there were only a handful of local members London sent the London based BUF speaker; Captain Vincent Collier; who would shortly after become the North East Propaganda Officer, they also sent to Stockton a dozen Tyneside members and – ominously – a dozen from Manchester’s newly formed ‘Defence Force’. The latter had been involved in a number of violent altercations in Cheetham Hill, they wore the black shirt as a uniform, which was later used by the BUF as a whole.
When Collier and his 30 men arrived at Stockton’s High Street they found the Market Cross occupied by George Short [the Communist Party District Organiser for Teesside] and a peaceful crowd of up to 3000 supporters. Surrounded as soon as they stepped off the bus Collier was prevented from speaking by the hecklers – the police report states “The hecklers were exclusively CP and NUWM members.”[5] The Police immediately ordered the meeting to be abandoned and escorted the BUF back to their two buses parked on the High Street.“
Various accounts of the Battle (clockwise from top left: Shields Gazette, Northern Daily Mail, Newcastle Evening Chronicle – all from Monday September 11th, 1933)
Sporadic fighting broke out in the streets of Stockton afterwards, with conflicting accounts circulated afterwards. The fascists were soon forced to leave the area – one of them narrowly avoiding a dunking in the Tees.
After a campaign by the Battle of Stockton Campaign Group, a plaque was unveiled by Stockton Mayor Eileen Johnson on 9 September 2018, close to 85 years after the battle. Other attendees included actress and president of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, Marlene Sidaway.
More information can be found at The Battle of Stockton Campaign Group.
North East Statues 
