What is chilling, though, is the reaction of the "man of the people", Winston Churchill. At the War Cabinet meeting, he took it upon himself personally to discuss the demonstration: "Episodes of this kind", he declared, "could easily lead to serious trouble". Home Secretary John Anderson joined in. He added that there were "some signs of organised demonstrations" (above). 

 Together, he and Churchill convinced the Cabinet that "strong action" should, if necessary, be taken to prevent further demonstrations. If allowed to grow, they "might easily lead to serious difficulties", said Churchill.  And there was no mistaking what "strong action" might mean.  Armed troops had already been used against desperate East Enders seeking shelter. 

That night, the Luftwaffe bombing started to move to the West End. The Daily Express was quick to report this in the morning of 17 September, but it also had something else to report, under the headline: "Tubes may be used as raid shelters".  

This, though, was not what it seemed. This simply reflected the government policy that only people trapped in the tubes during raids could stay there. "It is essential in the Government's view", the paper said, "that Tube traffic should not be interfered with and Londoners who buy tickets and use tunnels as sleeping quarters are a difficult problem".

"There is a tendency for people to go to large underground shelters - in some cases far from their homes - white smaller neighbouring refuges are almost deserted. This wasteful use of shelters cannot be afforded, it is stated", the paper diligently reported.  It was not alone. Almost identical wording found its way into the Daily Mirror.

Alongside reporting that a national delegation was to meet Sir John Anderson, in the hope of persuading him to relent on deep shelters, the Daily Worker published a trenchant editorial under the banner: "Shelters, Shelters, Shelters".

Thereby did it give the game away.  Every week, the editors of the leading newspapers met Duff Cooper, the Minister of Information, for lunch, during which they agreed among themselves "the line to take".  And criticism of shelters provision, it appeared, had been voluntarily excluded from the "popular" press.

 Now, though, this cosy consensus was breaking down. The Liberal-supporting  News-Chronicle had written about the issue, telling its readers, it "understands that the whole question of deep shelters is being discussed". The Labour supporting Daily Herald had opined that "proposals for the deeper type of shelter should not be turned down".

"But these fluttermgs in Fleet Street do not indicate that anything is being done", the Daily Worker complained. "On the contrary, they may mean that the Government is itself putting out some vague promises in the hopes of allaying public anger and side-tracking the agitation".

What the press were also failing to report was considerable political action by the Communist Party, organising shelter committees, and rent strikes, handing out leaflets and selling the Daily Worker. One member put up over 100 "They Need Not Have Died" posters, calling for deep shelters, and a mass picket turned out to protest against the routine evening closure of the Carrerras factory.

As the movement grew, spreading out into Northern, Scottish and Welsh towns, it remained unrecognised and unreported by the press.  Organising shelter committed was dubbed a "subversive activity" by the police, with Special Branch opening files on the ringleaders. 

By Wednesday 18 September, the Police struck in an open attempt to suppress dissent, having been ordered to raid and search a number of offices and bookshops "suspected" of having copies of a Communist leaflet on the subject of the Tube shelters. According to the Daily Worker, "plain clothes police swarmed about these places. Into one office they burst their way with violence, refusing to show search warrants until the search was completed".

Railway workers, by then, were actively colluding with the Communist Party, allowing people to take cover in the Tubes during raids.  But at Warren Street, that Wednesday, police intervened after some had been allowed into the station, leaving 150 stranded when the gates were locked.  Only when a man with a crowbar threatened to smash the gates did the Police relent, and the people were allowed admission.

At Goodge Street tube station, Police tried to form a barricade to prevent anyone entering during a raid.  But, during a burst of "particularly fierce" anti-aircraft gunfire, the crowd swept forward and brushed the police aside. 

By Friday 20 September, the Daily Worker was telling its people to stand firm in what it was calling the "Battle for the Tubes". As a new leaflet, to replace those seized by the Police, was being distributed at Tube stations, its front page paraded the leaflet theme: "Don't let yourself be intimidated. Carry on the fight for deep bomb-proof shelters".

The paper's greatest scorn, however, was reserved for the "millionaire Press".  A long op-ed by William Rust, who had been the Spanish Civil War correspondent for the paper, denounced the reporting of the Blitz, under the heading: "Never has the press been so degraded".

Citing the then famous Daily Herald gossip columnist, Hannen Swaffer,  Rust tore into his coverage of the 9 September: Touring the devastated areas, he had written, inter alia: "Elsewhere I saw only a quiet calm that amazed me. Even the homeless chatted smilingly in the schoolroom in which they had been housed".  Wrote Rust: 

The same night as this Swaffer slush appeared an East End schoolroom (called a rest-centre) was bombed and over 200 refugees were killed. It may have been the one Swaffer visited. I don't know. It makes no difference to the fact that the Herald "endurance" propaganda, as turned out by Swaffer, resulted in the deception of the public and concealed the Government neglect which lead to the death of these workers and their children.

These people waited anxiously all day on Monday for the evacuation coaches that never came. Finally, they settled down to an uneasy night. They never saw the dawn. If Swaffer had told the truth it might never have happened. If the Daily Herald had reported the real feeling of the people, their anger and their fears, it might never have happened.  "These stars hawk their aching hearts round on a plate. Strangely enough they meet only big, strong, calm, quiet, grim and patriotic members of the working class. What the ordinary man is saying never reaches them".

"Some of the newspapers are now demanding shelters", Rust added. "Before the heavy raids it was all sunshine, never shelters. The millionaire Press has a heavy and shameful responsibility for all that is happening in these days. Never was journalism so degraded".

News that really matters to the people in their fight for protection never gets reported, he continued, be it ever so "hot". Only the Daily Worker reported the deputation of the London District Committee of the Communist Party to the Home Office and the important points that arose regarding the rights of the Borough Councils concerning the requisitioning of houses and the opening of the private shelters. If these things are carried out it means lives saved. A democratic Press could he a life-saver these days in very truth.

But, he snarled: "the millionaire owners are not interested in life-saving. They want their profits and the safeguarding of class rule. Neither are the slush, mush and gush artists whom they employ interested in life-saving. They want sensational stories and a full pay packet at the end of the week, plus the opportunity to turn their mean little souls inside out".

Part 1 of "The Shelter War" here. 

Part 2 of "The Shelter War" here.
Part 3 of "The Shelter War" here.