As Miners' Leader Mick McGahey Once Said, ‘They’ll Stop Chasing You When You Stop Running’
John McDonell in Surrender Mode with Andrew Marr – He Totally Accepted the fake ‘Anti-Semitism’ Narrative Whose Purpose was to Destroy Corbyn
Dear John,
On 24th
February, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Stop the War Coalition issued a statement calling
for an end to the war, whilst addressing the underlying causes of the war,
namely NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe. NATO expansion had been contrary
to repeated
assurances that Bush, Baker, Genscher and others had given to Gorbachev at
the time of German unification in 1991.
It was pretty mild stuff and yet 11
members of the Campaign Group who signed the statement, including yourself, were
threatened by Starmer with loss of the Whip. Instead of standing up to him you
all meekly complied. Not one of you had the courage to defy him.
On March 2 Starmer threatened
you and Diane Abbot with the loss of the Whip if you spoke at a Stop the War
rally. Again Starmer threatened you with loss of the Whip. Again you complied. Under
Starmer’s Stalinist regime free speech has been abolished.
StWC described
NATO as an offensive not a defensive alliance referring to ‘its record in Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Libya over the last
generation, not to mention the US-British attack on Iraq.’
These are incontestable facts but you didn’t even mount a
protest at what had happened. What is the point of your gestures of opposition
if at the end of the day you always back down?
The reaction of Starmer was
predictable. He was elected as leader on the basis of 10 pledges, number 4 of
which promised to ‘promote peace and
human rights’.
No more illegal wars. Introduce a Prevention of
Military Intervention Act and put human rights at the heart of foreign policy.
Review all UK arms sales and make us a force for international peace and
justice.
This was of course a lie. In a
contest between Johnson and Starmer one would be hard pressed to decide who is
the bigger liar. Yet you didn’t see fit to point these, simple facts, out.
NATO’s willingness to fight Russia down
to the last Ukrainian was an ideal issue on which to make a stand but once
again you bottled it. You could for example have pointed
out that the United States and Britain have openly armed neo-Nazi militias
in Ukraine. You could have asked how this squared with his commitment to rooting
out anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. You did none of these things.
The obvious response to someone who
makes a Dalek seem an empathetic human being was to tell Starmer to go take a swim
in the River Thames. Preferably without a life jacket. But you did none of these
things.
You and the Cowardly 10 chose to
place a premium on your seats in parliament even though Starmer has made
it clear that you are unlikely to be allowed to stand for Labour again.
To put your behaviour in context it
is worth looking at what happened during previous witchhunts by the Right and
how the Left responded.
In 1939 Sir Stafford Cripps and
Aneurin Bevan refused to back down when they supported an anti-fascist united
front with the Communist Party. As a
result they were expelled.
Bevan first and then Cripps were
readmitted to the Labour Party. Bevan
went on to found the NHS and Cripps, who at one time rivalled
Churchill in war-time popularity, became a member of the War Cabinet and in
1947, Chancellor of the Exchequer. As George Orwell wrote:
The outstanding thing about Sir Stafford Cripps,
however, has always been his utter unwillingness to compromise his political
principles.
I doubt if even your best friend
could say that about you John. If there is one thing that marks you out it is
your willingness to surrender. No principle is so precious that you won’t give
it up.
Do you remember that toe curlingly
embarrassing interview
with Andrew Marr on Labour ‘anti-Semitism’? Not once did you challenge the
assumption that Labour was overrun by anti-Semitism. You simply took as gospel
what the supporters of Israeli Apartheid said.
Today we face not only NATO
inspired carnage in the Ukraine but the possibility of nuclear conflagration if
the US continues find pretexts for war in order to retain military and economic
hegemony. That is why it has created the Aukus Pact as part of its pivot to Asia and
undeclared war against China. Always of course in the name of ‘human rights’!
Graham Bash, who was recently
expelled after 53 years membership, described you as the best Labour MP he had
known, which makes me shudder as to the rest of them. You are 71. After 25
years in parliament you will have a good parliamentary pension. You and Dianne Abbot will not suffer if you
are deselected. Who knows you could even
win against Starmer Labour.
However bad Blair was Starmer is
even worse. What is it that prevents you and what’s left of the Socialist
Campaign Group mounting a political attack on Starmer, who is the Tory enemy
from within, and his shadowy backers like Mandelson and Labour Friends of
Israel?
Starmer himself is insignificant. A
political nonentity. He has less charisma than the average mannequin. There is
no lie that he is not willing to tell, nor any promise that he is not prepared
to break.
He was a fervent
Remainer but now he supports
Brexit. He promised to ‘root
out’ Labour ‘anti-Semitism’ and then he expelled record numbers of Jews! So
much so that if you are a Jew in Labour then you are 5 times more
likely to be expelled than non-Jews.
Luke Stanger, a vile anti-Roma racist was welcomed back to the Labour Party by David Evans, Starmer and local MP Peter Kyle
The only true thing Starmer has
said since becoming leader is that he is a Zionist
‘without qualification’, i.e. a racist for whom Black Lives Matter was a ‘moment’. Starmer
has readmitted
to Labour racists like Trevor Philips, for whom Muslims are a nation within a
nation and Luke
Stanger for whom Roma and Gypsies are ‘a
nasty blight on society.’ Through all of this you have kept silent.
If there is any one individual, bar
Jon Lansman, who bears responsibility for the defeat of the Corbyn project, it
is you. It wasn’t long ago when you were ‘tearing
your hair out’ about anti-Semitism. You apologised
for non-existent anti-Semitism. You told us that we should take the advice of
the Zionist Board of Deputies on anti-Semitism even though the BOD has a proven
record of attacking Palestinian supporters and anti-Zionists as ‘anti-Semitic’.
Even worse you and Lansman
supported the IHRA
definition of anti-Semitism which was designed precisely in order to conflate
anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism.
It was as if you had loaned out
your brain. I was the first Jewish person to be expelled from Labour as a consequence
of the ‘anti-Semitism’ allegations. The first person to welcome
my expulsion was Starmer. It was clear then that the concern of the Tory press and
the Labour Right about ‘anti-Semitism’ was contrived. Yet you and the Campaign
Group remained silent.
When Ken Livingstone was suspended
instead of defending him you told him that the Jews were a forgiving
people! Perhaps, but Zionists aren’t
that forgiving.
Did you ever ask why should those
who demonised asylum seekers and Muslims should be so concerned about
anti-Semitism? It was New Labour, with Alan Johnson as Home Secretary, who first
created the ‘hostile environment’ policy that Theresa May ran with. If Jews
were genuinely suffering from anti-Semitism, then the Tories and Labour Right would
be the last people to complain.
Did you never ask yourself why The
Times, whose editor Geoffrey Dawson forbade all criticism of Hitler’s
anti-Semitism in the 1930s, was so concerned about ‘anti-Semitism’? Or the Daily Mail which led with ‘Hurrah for
the Blackshirts’ and employed
a neo-Nazi, Katie Hopkins as a columnist, was a cheerleader
for Hitler in the 30s?
Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail with friend
When Hitler ‘won’ the unfree elections in March 1933, the
Mail wrote
that if Hitler used his majority “prudently
and peacefully, no one here will shed any tears for the disappearance of German
democracy”. Yet we are supposed to believe that the Mail has now repented
and it too is now concerned about Labour ‘anti-Semitism’.
What possessed you to praise the
Board of Deputies, a body that has never organised a demonstration against
genuine anti-Semitism? In October 1936, it advised
Jews to stay away from the anti-fascist mobilisation against Moseley’s British Union
of Fascists in the East End of London. The Jewish working class, which today
does not exist, ignored the BOD. Did it not strike you as strange that their
first demonstration against ‘anti-Semitism’ in March 2018 was against Corbyn? A demonstration which those well known
anti-racists Ian Paisley and Norman Tebbit attended?
It was obvious in 2016 that the
British Establishment and the US and Israeli states had resolved that someone
opposed to NATO and its wars could not be allowed to be the leader of the
second major party in their closest European ally. Anti-Semitism was their
chosen weapon.
Instead of standing up to the Right
and its false anti-Semitism narrative you betrayed the Left and appeased the Right.
When Margaret Hodge, whose call for a Whites only housing policy had been praised
by the BNP, called
Jeremy ‘a fucking anti-Semite’ it was
you who opposed any disciplinary action.
This was the same Hodge that demanded
that Starmer remove the Whip from Corbyn or she would resign. Is it any wonder,
according to Owen Jones and Pogrund/ MacGuire that Corbyn refused to talk to
you for many months as a result?
This is the same Hodge who covered
up a child abuse scandal in Islington Council when she was leader and who libelled one
of the victims. As Matthew Norman wrote
With a past like hers,
Margaret Hodge might show a bit more humility. Hodge’s reward
was being made Children’s Minister by Blair, an act that defied irony
yet nonetheless you sought to appease this despicable creature who is now the Jewish Labour Movement’s parliamentary
representative.
A different path was always available
to you. You could have supported Open Selection of MPs and got rid of Hodge and
her detritus. The PLP could have been transformed. Instead you thought you
could win over the Ian Austins and John Manns of this world!
It is no surprise therefore that as
soon as Starmer barked you and the SCG jumped. The SCG has 35 MPs yet only 11
were even prepared to sign StWC’s statement. As Dylan wrote, you threw it all
away.
Today it would be difficult to put
a piece of paper between Starmer and Johnson. They are both liars and they are
both ‘patriots’ who wrap themselves in the flag. As Samuel Johnson observed, patriotism is
the last refuge of the scoundrel.
If you had an ounce of courage or principle
you would challenge Starmer for the Tory he is. You would appeal over his head
to Labour’s membership and start a campaign against this reactionary representative
of the Deep State with his persecution of Assange, his protection of Jimmy
Saville and his support
for extraordinary rendition.
Instead you retreat in sullen
silence. Indeed you even attempted to flatter him. ‘Keir’s got this exactly right’ was your response
to Starmer’s Covid strategy. But what was Starmer’s strategy? He promised
to support Johnson ‘in the national
interest’.
By delaying the first lockdown Johnson
killed 20,000 people. By decanting the infected into care homes he killed at least 30,000. Yet
you praised him.
If you are not going to fight
Starmer inside the Labour Party, the principled thing to do would be for you
and the SCG to accept that Labour has abandoned even the pretence of socialism.
Your one service to socialism would be to help in the formation of a new,
socialist party.
The Labour Right is determined that there will
never be a return to the Corbyn era and you seem determined to help them in
that.
The only
thing that puzzles me is why the Labour
Representation Committee still keeps you on as their President. Perhaps its
a case of misplaced nostalgia or just wishful thinking.
Fraternally,
Tony Greenstein
