The Labour Party is in a deep crisis – and nowhere is this more evident that in the desperate attempts of its left wing to keep members from leaving in disgust at its complete capitulation to the Zionist lobby and its failure to mount a serious challenge to the Johnson government. Under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour has reverted to type as an openly reactionary social democratic party. ROBERT CLOUGH reports.
The hope of the Labour left was that the party’s fundamentally reactionary character would be dispelled with Corbyn’s magic touch. Labour’s defeat in the December 2019 general election was a shattering blow for such illusions. As we wrote at the time, ‘Despite facing a Tory Party responsible for ten years of austerity which had savaged working class living conditions, a party led moreover by a proven racist, sexist, incompetent, coward and serial liar, Labour never landed a single body blow. Jeremy Corbyn’s disdainful declaration that he was “not a boxer” was sheer arrogance: working class people had a right to expect some anger from him, some expression of raw class hatred for those who for a decade had imposed such suffering on millions of people – but it never happened.’ Starmer’s victory in the subsequent leadership election merely confirmed the real impotence of the left. The critical question is whether those who have decided that they cannot remain members of a manifestly racist and imperialist party look for a real opposition to the ruling class or whether they will abandon serious politics altogether. Those who stay in the Party, or who seek from the outside to accommodate to its politics, will inevitably have to minimise the significance of its reactionary character, and will be doomed themselves to play a reactionary opportunist role.
Normal service resumes
While it was expected from the outset that Starmer would win the leadership election, the margin of his victory on 4 April (56.2% of the first-preference votes, as against Rebecca Long-Bailey’s 27.6%, with Lisa Nandy on 16.2%) was a surprise; Starmer received nearly twice as many member votes as Long-Bailey – 225,135 as against 117,585. The left were split in the deputy leadership election between Dawn Butler and Richard Burgon which made Angela Rayner’s win all the more certain. And in elections for three places on Labour’s National Executive Committee, candidates backed by the right-wing Labour First and Prospect groups defeated those supported by the left.
The disarray of the left continued: Momentum officers wanted to re-found Momentum without its founder Jon Lansman who anyway resigned as leader, while another group established what they called Forward Momentum. Others put their efforts into a different group, Labour Left Alliance, and then there is Labour against the Witchhunt. Meanwhile, Red Labour, Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) and the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) released a joint statement to set up a new campaign ‘Don’t Leave – Organise’. It was back to normal: a divided, ineffectual left whose sole purpose is to pretend that it can buck 120 years of reactionary history and so keep the working class tied to the Labour Party.
Zionism on the offensive
A further factor in Labour’s general election defeat and the subsequent rout of the left was Corbyn’s constant accommodation to the Zionist lobby. Corbyn failed to confront the continued allegations of being soft on anti-Semitism even when they emanated from right-wing Zionist MPs such as Margaret Hodge let alone the most reactionary sources. Starmer’s first step as leader was to meet with leaders of the principal Zionist organisations (the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Jewish Leadership Council, the Community Security Trust and the Jewish Labour Movement) on 7 April and state that he would prioritise dealing with outstanding accusations of Labour anti-Semitism and set up an independent complaints process to deal with them. ‘I will tear out this poison by its roots’, he said in an obvious attack on Corbyn, confirming ‘I support Zionism without qualification’. This earned him warm praise: the Zionists declared that he had ‘achieved more in four days’ than Jeremy Corbyn did ‘in four years’ on tackling anti-Semitism.
Such a concession, as ever, was not enough for the Zionists. When black Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy were reported to have attended a Zoom meeting of Don’t Leave – Organise (DLO) on 30 April where former Labour Party members Tony Greenstein and Jackie Walker – both Jewish – had also been present, the Zionists demanded immediate disciplinary action. That neither Greenstein nor Walker had been expelled for anti-Semitism was irrelevant: it was their defence of the Palestinian people which underpinned their expulsion from the Labour Party, and as a Labour spokesperson said, ‘These are not people who support the values of the Labour Party. This is being made clear to the Labour MPs who attended the call in the strongest possible terms.’ Both Abbott and Ribeiro-Addy capitulated, claiming ignorance of the presence of Walker or Greenstein. Their subsequent statement said they were ‘long-standing anti-racist campaigners and are known for standing up to all forms of bigotry’ – except, clearly, Zionist bigotry.
The DLO meeting had been called to discuss the internal report into Labour’s handling of anti-Semitism, and in particular of the Party’s disciplinary cases (The work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to anti-Semitism, 2014 – 2019, March 2020). Its 860 pages are a catalogue not just of incompetence, but of a party machine where rabid reactionaries ran riot – racists and misogynists among them. The functionaries were united in a visceral hatred of Corbyn, and their determination to use their position to undermine him at every opportunity:
‘Staff repeatedly used abusive and inappropriate language about the leader, MPs, Labour members and about other staff. For example, staff discussed “hanging and burning” Jeremy Corbyn, calling Corbyn a “lying little toe rag”; said that any Labour MP “who nominates Corbyn ‘to widen the debate’ deserves to be taken out and shot”; and stated that a staff member who “whooped” during Corbyn’s speech “should be shot”. Senior staff also said they hoped that one Labour member on the left of the party “dies in a fire”.’ (p30)
The report castigates the one-time Head of Disputes Sam Matthews in the Governance and Legal Unit, saying that between November 2016 and March 2018, the Unit ‘failed to act on the vast majority of complaints received, including the vast majority of complaints regarding anti-Semitic conduct’ (p14). Of 300 complaints, only 34 were investigated in this period, and that
‘many of them were identified as Labour members and sent to the Head of Disputes, Sam Matthews, for action. The Head of Disputes rarely replied or took any action, and the vast majority of times where action did occur, it was prompted by other Labour staff directly chasing this themselves.’ (p15)
Matthews later became a ‘whistleblower’ on alleged interference by the Labour leader’s office in the handling of these cases for the infamous pro-Zionist BBC Panorama programme in July 2019.
Sacking Long-Bailey
The report demonstrates clearly that, contrary to Zionist allegations (including those made by the Panorama programme), Corbyn and the Labour leadership played no part in obstructing investigations into complaints of anti-Semitism. Yet this did not stop Starmer from pursuing complaints at the behest of the Zionist lobby, with Rebecca Long-Bailey as the next target.
The token shadow cabinet Corbynista, Long-Bailey retweeted an article by actor Maxine Peake which included an allegation that ‘The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services.’ Of course, the racist US police needed no lessons in brutality from their Zionist colleagues, but Starmer pounced on this factual error to state that ‘the sharing of that article was wrong because the article contained anti-Semitic conspiracy theories … and I’ve made it my first priority to tackle anti-Semitism and rebuilding trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority for me.’
Long-Bailey, who had agreed the Board of Deputies’ ten conditions for fighting alleged anti-Semitism during the leadership campaign (see ‘Labour leadership election: crossing class lines’, FRFI 274) abjectly backed down, saying she ‘wished to acknowledge these concerns and duly issued a clarification of my retweet, with the wording agreed in advance by the Labour Party leader’s office, but after posting I was subsequently instructed to take both this agreed clarification and my original retweet down.’ Her concessions did not prevent her inevitable sacking; she added later that she realised the claim had caused ‘extreme concern’. Hodge gloated: ‘This is what a change in culture looks like. This is what zero tolerance looks like.’ Israeli police denial that it used the kneeling asphyxiation tactic was exposed as lies by a succession of photographs of its use on Palestinians by both police and army personnel.
In his drive to court the support of the Zionists, the Palestinians have become an irrelevance for Starmer. This was in sharp contrast to Black Lives Matter (BLM): the week after Long-Bailey’s sacking, BLM UK stated categorically: ‘As Israel moves forward with the annexation of the West Bank, and mainstream British politics is gagged of the right to critique Zionism, and Israel’s settler colonial pursuits, we loudly and clearly stand beside our Palestinian comrades. FREE PALESTINE!’ The response of the Zionists was to claim that the accurate use of the word ‘gagged’ was an anti-Semitic trope. It is well to remember that the white supremacist stance of Zionism was evident in the fact that in apartheid South Africa, Zionist organisations led by the South African Board of Deputies defended white supremacy even though many Jewish people like Ruth First, Harold Wolpe and Joe Slovo were in the leadership of the liberation struggle. Labour’s apology on 23 July to seven former staff members involved in the 2019 Panorama programme as well as its producer John Ware for alleged libel demonstrates the extent to which Starmer will go to appease Zionism. His job was however made easier in that Labour’s condemnation of the programme never challenged the programme’s politics or the ‘anonymous’ Zionists who participated, only the character of those who had acted as ‘whistle blowers’.
Black lives matter … up to a point
The explosion of protests across Britain that followed the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis caught the left flat-footed. Particularly in the first two weeks, the RCG was the only left organisation visible on these demonstrations, with its banners, newspapers and sound systems. The Labour left was never a discernible presence, and others, especially the SWP, through its alliance with the Labour Party, Stand up to Racism, either boycotted demonstrations, or tried to persuade organisers to call them off, or tried to sabotage the marches by holding simultaneous on-line events with Labour and trade union dignitaries.
Starmer’s utter indifference to the plight of the Palestinian people was mirrored by the crassness of his responses to the Black Lives Matter protests. When Bristol demonstrators toppled the statue of slaver Edward Colston on 7 June, Starmer complained that it was ‘completely wrong’ for protesters to tear down the statue. When the opportunity came to attack Prime Minister Johnson’s litany of racist statements and his claim that Britain is not a racist country, Starmer ducked it in Prime Minister Questions on 15 June: it was not seemly parliamentary etiquette to personally attack a political opponent. However, he did back government proposals for harsh prison sentences for those who desecrate war memorials.
Two weeks later, Starmer weighed in more strongly against Black Lives Matter, describing its call to ‘defund the police’ to be ‘nonsense’, adding that ‘There’s a broader issue here. The Black Lives Matter movement – or moment, if you like – internationally is about reflecting something completely different. It’s reflecting on what happened dreadfully in America just a few weeks ago.’ In effect dismissing any criticism of police racism in Britain, and calling the protests against it a mere ‘moment’, he rubbed salt into the wound by concluding that as Director of Public Prosecutions, ‘I worked with police forces across England and Wales bringing thousands of people to court. So my support for the police is very, very strong and evidenced in the joint actions I’ve done with the police.’
Starmer’s positions on Zionism and Black Lives Matter are orthodox Labour. Those on the left who say that this is a return to Blairism are doing what the Labour left has always done: covering up for the imperialist and racist standpoint of the Labour Party by arguing that it is an alien ideology. Yet Labour has been a pro-Zionist party since its endorsement of the 1917 Balfour Declaration; its 1944 Conference proposed the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people and in government it has always supported the Israeli state.
Defending British imperialist interests
Labour’s defence of Zionism is however just one element in its determination to defend British imperialism’s interests. As the British ruling class responds to what it regards as the malign influence of Russia and China, Labour is keen to lead the charge. Responding to the parliamentary report on alleged Russian interference, Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy claimed ‘The government has underestimated the response required to Russia and it is imperative we learn the lessons from the mistakes that have been made.’ Meanwhile Starmer wants to up the ante on China and its alleged treatment of the Uighur people, saying that Labour will look at what the government says about suspending the Hong Kong extradition treaty, ‘but it looks like it will be a step in the right direction and therefore we would support that. But we would say go further … You can impose sanctions, and you should impose sanctions here in the UK’.
On austerity and the economy Labour has also reverted to social democratic type. In early July, Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds, was repeatedly challenged as to whether Labour would support a wealth tax. Every time she evaded a clear response, saying that the party was ‘not calling for tax rises’ and warned that if combined with public service cuts they would ‘damage demand and inhibit our recovery’; any tax increases for the richest ‘would only be needed if we’re not growing our way out of this crisis’. 61% of the population may support a wealth tax on those with assets of more than £750,000 (YouGov poll), but Labour knows that such a commitment would only make electoral sense if it were absolutely necessary in order to save the system from itself. It is the same with NHS car parking charges: Labour will not make a clear commitment to end them for NHS staff despite the clear popular support there is for such a measure in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
That young people both black and white have instinctively turned away from Labour in the light of Starmer’s crass and reactionary comments on racism and anti-Semitism has alarmed the left in the party. At one Black Lives Matter protest, one speaker led demonstrators in a chant of ‘Fuck Keir Starmer’. Yet for the organised left forces within the Labour Party issues such as the fight against racism and imperialism are subordinate to their drive to achieve positions within party structures, or to become local councillors – who will then vote for service and job cuts if they happen to be part of a Labour-run council. They will mouth platitudes – ‘We aim to build an inclusive and diverse grassroots umbrella network, run democratically by its supporting bodies’ (Don’t Leave Organise) – but they will exclude anyone who opposes Labour, and they will certainly be unable to ‘prevent any rightward drift that may occur within Labour under Keir Starmer’ (stated aim of Don’t Leave – Organise) because everything they propose or do will be circumscribed by their one overriding ambition – to remain within the Labour Party. They will do so even though for instance Labour-run Tower Hamlets council has ripped up its employees’ contracts and is imposing new conditions which represent a vicious attack on low-paid, mainly women and black workers: but then Corbyn always insisted that Labour councils set legal, pro-cuts budgets. In the end, the Labour left refuses to take responsibility for what their membership of a racist and imperialist party means, rewriting its history to suit their sectarian political purposes. We need to build an ‘inclusive and diverse’ movement, but one that is united in opposition to racism and imperialism. That means a movement that is not just outside the Labour Party, but stands in opposition to it because Labour can never be anything more than what it has always been – a racist, imperialist party.
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 277 August/September 2020
