Battle of Carfax

The Battle of Carfax (1936) was a violent skirmish in the city of Oxford between the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and local anti-fascists, trade unionists, and supporters of the Labour Party and the Communist Party of Great Britain. The battle took place inside Oxford's Carfax Assembly Rooms, a once popular meeting hall owned by Oxford City Council which was used for public events and located on Cornmarket Street.

Historians disagree on the exact details of the events that took place. Some historians argue that the fighting was sparked primarily by fascist violence against attendees, others credit attempts by local communists to disrupt fascist activities, or some combination of these two factors.

Background

Fascists in Oxford

Oswald Mosley, then leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), visited Oxford numerous times for political meetings throughout the early 1930s. These meetings were often disorderly, but had never broken out into a large violent fight. The BUF targeted their recruitment towards students of the University of Oxford, doing so through the Oxford University Fascist Association (OUFA), which was established in 1933 and was considered one of the most active university-based fascist organisations in Britain.

Oswald Mosley's fascist activities were financed by Oxford factory owner and wealthy capitalist William Morris (Lord Nuffield) who gave Mosley £35,000 to fund a pro-fascist and anti-Semitic newspaper called Action, and £50,000 in 1930 to support the activities of the fascist New Party, which would soon afterwards join with other organisations to form the British Union of Fascists.

Anti-Fascism in Oxford

In 1933 students from Ruskin College founded the Red Shirts, Oxford's first organisation dedicated solely to anti-fascism. Many of the Red Shirts were communists and volunteered to act as stewards at events held by the October Club, Oxford University's communist society.