29.03.2018

Labour Against the Witchhunt: on the offensive

London meeting shares notes and debates tactics

Around two dozen members of Labour Against the Witchhunt came together on March 24 in London. While this was a much smaller number than at previous gatherings, the fact that it had been advertised as an organising meeting - rather than one where more controversial matters were discussed (such as the participation of groups like Socialist Fight, which was shown the door at the previous national meeting on January 6) - was not entirely irrelevant.

Amongst those present were several victims of the witch-hunt:

• vice chair Tony Greenstein, originally charged with anti-Semitism, but eventually expelled effectively for ‘being rude’;
• chair Jackie Walker, suspended for saying she was unhappy with some definitions of anti-Semitism and for stating as an aside that some Jews were involved in the slave trade;
• Stan Keable for being a leading member of Labour Party Marxists, which had published an article by Moshé Machover at the time of the 2017 Labour conference; this article was alleged by the right to be “anti-Semitic” for mentioning the collaboration between the Nazis and German Zionists over Jewish migration to Palestine in the 30s (comrade Machover himself was expelled, but rapidly reinstated after a huge wave of protests);
• Cyril Chilson, who like comrades Greenstein, Walker and Machover is himself of Jewish background, but has just been expelled in effect for making criticisms of Israel that are too strongly worded.

Comrade Greenstein began the meeting by outlining the “very fluid situation” following the election of Jennie Formby as Labour general secretary and the departure of Iain McNicol and other officials. But that does not mean everything has changed, as confirmed by the latest outburst of ‘anti-Semitism’ accusations against Jeremy Corbyn. The right will continue to fight, he said, and so we must keep up the pressure by, for example, lobbying the national executive and forthcoming hearings of those who have been witch-hunted. LAW must go onto the offensive through, for instance, a national conference and a meeting in parliament. The problem is not anti-Semitism: it is support for Israel, he said.

John Bridge of Labour Party Marxists pointed out that the departure of McNicol was always going to happen, but Corbyn - and now Formby - will remain under pressure from the right. Corbyn’s plan seems to be to win the next general election on the basis of opposing austerity and ignoring the false charges of anti-Semitism - they are being dealt with internally, after all.

But where is the opposition to the ‘anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism’ campaign from the Parliamentary Labour Party or leading trade unionists? There is enormous pressure on the Labour left to avoid the question, stated comrade Bridge. But we need to step up our own campaign and start naming and shaming those on the left who keep quiet on the issue.

Comrade Chilson agreed that “quiet diplomacy” is not going to work - in fact people like us represent a target for the ‘unity-mongers’, he said. The pressure should be “vociferous”: Corbyn must stop giving ground to the right.

Comrade Walker reported that one MP - Chris Williamson - was definitely prepared to help our campaign. Hopefully he would address the forthcoming meeting at Westminster. But she said that we must not “target” Corbyn, and instead direct our opposition to those responsible for conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. She also said we must put pressure on people like Christine Shawcroft - one of those on the left of the NEC whom she accused of“shameful behaviour” for allowing false charges to be passed on to the national constitutional committee.

In response to this I pointed out that it was not a question of ‘targeting’ Corbyn: we should defend him against the right’s attacks, but we must also demand he comes out in opposition to the witch-hunt and criticise him for retreating on this and other questions. Most of those who spoke broadly agreed with this and, replying to the debate, comrade Greenstein stressed that the aim of the witch-hunt was, after all, the removal of Corbyn.

The meeting then moved on to discuss updates on individual disciplinary cases and confirmed plans for lobbying not only NEC meetings, but the forthcoming hearings of cases against comrade Walker and - on April 25 - Marc Wadsworth (suspended for making a public criticism of Ruth Smeeth MP, who just happens to be Jewish, although comrade Wadsworth did not know this). Comrade Wadsworth himself arrived only at the end of the meeting - he had been attending another event organised by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy - in time to report back on the successful LAW public meeting in Liverpool, where he had been a speaker (see below).

Comrade Walker expressed the hope that, following the departure of McNicol et al, the Chakrabarti report, calling for an open, speedy and just process for all disciplinary cases, would now be implemented.

The meeting also heard reports on the current LAW membership, support base and finance, and briefly discussed our draft constitution, which will be put before the national conference planned for May. We also looked at the contents of a petition against the witch-hunt - to be circulated in the first instance to left MPs and union leaders, before being used as part of a major campaign l