Enemies at home: A foreign 'alien' on life in Britain during the war

Some weeks before the war began, the British authorities started the registration of enemy aliens. The yellow press had been conducting a campaign which had forced the government to take this step. Dailies like the Daily Mail and Evening News, and weeklies like John Bull, dished up scare stories about anti-British activities by Germans living in Britain - who were mostly innocent working-class people - as though they were all spies in the pay of the Kaiser, busy plotting against Britain.

There were stories about German bakers putting arsenic into their bread, Germans dropping poison into the reservoirs which supplied London's drinking water. One report said police had discovered a vast store of arms in a German club - supposed to be the club of the Second Section of the Communist Workers' Educational Alliance. The members were political refugees who had fled from Germany when the anti-socialist laws were introduced there. It made no sense that they should now be storing arms to fight for Germany against England, which had given them refuge. Such things could only be explained by the wave of hysteria which swept the country.

The agitation went on. Feeling against the Germans rose until there was a real pogrom atmosphere. The cry became "Watch Your German Neighbour!" The government was forced to listen to the voice of the people. It was clear that the registration of enemy aliens was a first step towards their arrest. I felt sure I would not be long left at liberty, and I made preparations for that event.

In October mobs collected in the streets - in the Old Kent Road, in Deptford, Brixton, Poplar - and smashed and looted shops which they thought were occupied by Germans. There were real pogroms. Some houses were set on fire, and the people who lived there had to flee for their lives over the roofs. The police were helpless. The troops had to be brought in before the outbreaks were put down. About 40 people were arrested and punished, but they were not the worst offenders. The yellow press which incited them kept up its campaign to force the government to intern all enemy aliens.

The outbreak of the war was followed by an industrial crisis, as we had expected, and the workers in the East End were badly hit. A lot of our comrades were unemployed, and in distress. We had to do something to help them.

It was worse in the West End; most of our German comrades were out of work. People were afraid to employ Germans. The yellow press would have been after them. The Germans and the French comrades got together and started a communist kitchen to help their unemployed. There were several cooks among them, and they took charge. The unemployed themselves peeled potatoes, prepared the vegetables, and washed dishes, pots and pans.

These comrades who were working supported the kitchen by coming there to have their meals and paying for them, even contributing small additional sums towards the upkeep. It was wonderful to see German and French workers engaged together in this common work of help, while over on the continent millions of German and French proletarians were killing each other on the orders of their governments.

• Extracted from The London Years by Rudolf Rocker, published by Five Leaves Publications/AK Press (2005) fiveleaves.co.uk. © Heiner Becker