Racial conflict in London (1959-1982)

Racism and Anti-Sematisum in the East End
Anti-sematisum, sino-phobia and Polonophobia were common place since late Victorian times. Some of the then Jack the Ripper theories were wholly Anti-Semitic in nature and Sir Oswald Mosley's fascist Black Shirts held sway parts of in the East End from the mid 1930s to the early 1950s.

The 'Windrush Boys' arrive


The British Nationality Act 1948 gave British citizenship to all people living in Commonwealth countries, and full rights of entry and settlement in Britain. Many West Indians were attracted by better prospects in what was often referred to as the mother country, which was short of manpower due to the heavy losses incurred in World War 2. Northampton and Reading welcomed them, but London and Nottingham hated them. The traditional Labour voting parts of the East End basically hated any one, who weren't native Londoner/East End Whites. Sir Oswald Mosley had once held much support in parts of it due to his Anti-Semitic views.

In 1958, attacks in the London area of Notting Hill by white youths marred relations with West Indian residents, leading to the creation of the annual Notting Hill Carnival, which was initiated in 1959 as a positive response by the Caribbean community. The continue to celebrate their cultural heritage at the festival to the resent day.

The Kray twins
Twin brothers Ronald "Ronnie" Kray (24 October 1933 – 17 March 1995) and Reginald "Reggie" Kray (24 October 1933 – 1 October 2000) were English gangsters who were the foremost perpetrators of organised crimes including armed robberies, arson, protection rackets, assaults, intimidation and the murders in London's East End of during the 1950s and 1960s. They were non-political and, as far as I know non-raciest, gangsters, but they helped destabilise London all the same and vote chasing politicians even exploited the Kray's criminal acts for there electoral gain.

The 1954 Newspaper Dispute
The walk out disrupted the news papers, including fleet Street in London.

The 1955 Rail Strike
The walk out disrupted the railways, including those in London. Apparently one of the unions was more militant than the other and fell out with the TUC, who are the trades union's collective national organising comity. A communist plot may have been behind the strike.

East End declines
Limehouse Basin was amongst the first docks to close in the late 1960s. later the docks also closed at Whapping and The Isle of Dogs. Other places like Whitechapple and Brick Lane were also in decline for other socio-economic reasons. By 1981, Limehouse had shared the London Docklands-wide physical, social and economic decline which led to the setting up of the London Docklands Development Corporation in these regions. Other places like Whitechapple, Shadwell, the Isle of Dogs, Wapping and the Greenwich Peninsular have been revitalised since the late 1970s.

The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system opened in 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London and has grown vastly ever since.