Join the Fightback this Friday at the Founding Meeting of the Socialist Labour Network (LAW/LIEN)

Help Us Build a Socialist Movement by Organising Grassroots CLPs 

To attend the meeting please first join either:

https://membermojo.co.uk/labouragainstthewitchhunt

https://membermojo.co.uk/lien

(£10 waged/£5 unwaged)

At the end of November All Members Meetings of Labour-in-Exile-Network and Labour Against the Witchhuntt voted to merge into a single organisation. LIEN members voted by 4-1 and Labour Against the Witchhunt members voted, despite vociferous opposition from Labour Party Marxism/Communist Party of Great Britain members 47-27 to do likewise.

Ian Hodson, Guest Speaker and President of the Bakers Union

The founding meeting of the new organisation was to have been on December 17. Unfortunately too many people tried to get in! Our Zoom facility only catered for 100. We have ensured that this time around up to 500 people will be accommodated so, just to make sure you get in, please sign in early!

Name

The Steering Committee has proposed that the name of the new organisation should be Socialist Labour Network (LAW/LIEN). There are however 7 other proposals and you can find them all here

The Witchhunt

It is or should be obvious that it is impossible to fight against the witchhunt inside the Labour Party. The reason is very simple. As Ken Loach put it ‘democracy is dead inside the Labour Party.’ If you put your head above the parapet it is chopped off by some anonymous bureaucrat. An insidious culture of informing has been cultivated that is modelled on the Stasi and Gestapo.

Anonymous nerds, incapable of constructing a single coherent sentence or having an original thought don't have to face the task of explaining their reactionary politics. All they have to do is send an email  to Labour’s Disputes Team fingering someone and the suspension letter will go out the next day.

You might not thing that Starmer and his clones have a sense of humour but you would be wrong. Virtually every candidate for suspension/expulsion accused of ‘anti-Semitism’ was also accused of ‘undermining Labour’s campaign against racism.’ You may indeed wonder what this fight consists of given the number of Jewish and Black/Muslim members expelled. However in the Orwellian world of Starmer and Evans fulsome support for Israeli Apartheid is compatible with fighting racism!

Sonali at the  Labour Grassroots meeting on January 2^nd

Momentum, CLPD and the Socialist Campaign Group have been cowed into silence

If anyone has any doubts about the fear and cowardice of what’s left of the Left in the Labour Party about fighting Starmer and the Witchhunt then all you need to do is to watch Sonali Bhattacharyya, co-Chair of Momentum. Sonali who appeared on Labour Grassroots on 2^nd January. Sonali reacted with a mixture of arrogance and affront to peoples' criticism. 

Crispin got off to a bad start when he asked Sonali about Momentum’s strategy to fight what is happening in the Labour Party and to make it more attractive. So badly did she take the criticism that she has told Crispin Flint, the genial compare of the show, that she will have nothing to do with him or Labour Grassroots ever again.

Sonali Bhattacharyya

When asked why Momentum has failed to campaign against the witchhunt or support expelled members, which Jackie Walker challenged her on, she simply refused to answer parroting the statement that Momentum has supported hundreds of members legally. Even if this is true, and it is open to doubt since no one will admit to having been helped, this is insufficient.

Legal help on an individual basis is not the same as campaigning to end the expulsions, the witchhunt and Starmer himself. Momentum have failed to make it clear that Starmer, Evans and his neo-Blairite strategy is the enemy. They have been cowed into silence. Nearly 2 years ago Sonali and Forward Momentum ousted Lansman’s cronies in the elections. Since then they have maintained a Trappist Silence. They have neither been seen, heard or said anything of note.  

Labour Against the Witchhunt

I was the only 1 of 6 members of the LAW Steering Committee to support the merger. Subsequently 4 of them penned a statement Why we resigned. To his credit Steve Price, although part of the majority that opposed the merger refused to sign that statement. Steve is now standing for the new Committee. I hope that he is elected. Those who decided not merely to throw their toys out of the pram but to junk the pram altogether justified their decision by writing:

We cannot support the view that the struggle against the Labour witch-hunt is over, or that “LAW has outlived its usefulness”, as Tony Greenstein, the proposer of the motion to merge, put it.

The problem is I never said anything of the sort! What I did say was that LAW had outlived its usefulness, but they are not one and the same thing. The fight against Labour’s witchhunt will be carried out largely outside the Labour Party and in the unions. Organising within the Labour Party is not possible and that is why nearly 2/3 of LAW members supported my motion.

There has been a considerable debate in the pages of Weekly Worker despite their annoying habit of using headlines and subheadlines, not to describe my articles but to attack them! Innovative journalism. See at the bottom for details of the various articles and statements.

The Agenda

The meeting will be opened by Ian Hodson, the expelled President of the Bakers' Union. In addition to adopting a new name we will be electing a new Steering Committee. The joint Steering Committee of LAW/LIEN is proposing that the Committee should be 10 strong. There will be 17 candidates for the positions.

To participate in the meeting, you have to be a paid-up member of either group. To join, you can sign up via this link: https://membermojo.co.uk/lien. 

We intend to build and network shadow socialist CLPs as part of our local campaigning work.

Agenda

RECONVENED FIRST ALL MEMBERS’ MEETING OF LAW WITH LIEN 

14th January 2022

By ZOOM 

1	18:00	Meeting begins/final entry checks
2	18:05	Welcome from Chair of Meeting (Esther)
3	18:10	Speaker to be confirmed
4	18:20	Debate to inform formulation of Aims and Priorities Aims and priorities of the consolidated organisation here  (Norman to introduce) Member discussion (contributions no more than 3 minutes)   Draft Priorities to inform debate and based on interim discussion with members and joint steering committee Priorty 1: Opposition to witch-hunt here Priority 2: Establishment of Shadow CLPs and networks here Priority 3: Education Programme (for future agreement)
5	19:20	Name of Consolidated Organisation: SC proposal: “Socialist Labour Network (LAW with LIEN)” Proposed by Roger Silverman Further proposed names to be included in poll- to be returned to SC by cop 12th Jan. Updated list here Proposers to have one minute to speak. Members to vote for their preferred name (1 vote)
6	19:30	Election of Steering Committee. Nomination statements here. Data protection role to be assigned by the new steering committee. Each nominee is allocated 1 minute to speak. Zoom poll.
7	19:50	Next Steps
8	20:00	Meeting Close

 

Proposed standing Orders

Voting     

1.. Please click ‘Raise Hand’ if you want to speak (either in ‘Participants’ on the right hand side or ‘Reactions’ on the bottom of your screen). Alternatively write ‘I want to speak’ in the Chat.

3. For items 4, 5 and 6, we intend to use ZOOM polls. If you want to vote, we recommend that you have access to a device of your own. If this is not possible (and you are sharing a device), we will count manually raised hands.

Points of Order  

1. Attendees are urged to raise points of order only when necessary and reasonable. Attendees can raise points of order regarding conduct or procedures by pressing the blue thumbs down button (under ‘More’ at the bottom of the ‘Participants’ panel). Alternatively, describe your point of order in the Chat window.

2. The Chair’s ruling on any point arising from the rules or standing orders is final unless challenged by not less than two members; such a challenge shall be put to the meeting and be carried with a simple majority of those voting at the meeting.

Emergency motions

1. Emergency motions may be accepted at the discretion of the chair (decisions on admitting emergency motions can be overturned by a simple majority of conference).

2. We will accept new amendments to emergency motions only. Please write them down and present them in the ‘Chat’ window, with a clear indication of where it should go.

Discussion on the Merger in Weekly Worker

Why we resigned

Merging into a cul-de-sac

Not a liquidation?

Something serious is needed

Self-declared heretic replies

John Mann’s Attempt to Cancel The Canary and Skwawkbox Fails as Press Regulator Impress Clears Them of ‘Anti-Semitism’ Allegations

Joe Solo Gives Hate not Hope a Lesson in what Solidarity and Socialism Means

Interview with Joe Solo

Last Sunday at the Labour Grassroots meeting, Joe Solo was a guest. A few week’s ago HnH removed an award from Joe at the behest of the Zionists and their vile Director Ruth Smeeth. Trolls had dug up posts of Joe’s on Twitter supporting Chris Williamson.

Joe gave HnH and Nick Lowles an excellent lesson in what socialism means – solidarity with comrades when they come under attack by the ruling class and its McCarthite messenger boys and girls. It’s worth emphasising what Joe said:

‘I stood by a comrade in struggle

Which is what a socialist should do...

How can you condemn somebody for that?

You’re backdating allegations further down the line

Onto a photograph two years before

And then throwing me under the bus and allowing reputational damage

It’s a really really dangerous path to walk down

What this does is it makes you scared of demonstrating solidarity

So it essentially takes the one thing Socialists have

Which is standing by each other and it turns it against you

You can’t – otherwise you might be accused of this

You can’t stand with that person because they might go on to say something else

It is an attack on solidarity...

But I stand by the decision then

I stood by a comrade in struggle

I’d stand by a comrade in struggle tomorrow

And damn awards socialism is about us

And all I’m doing is reminding people of that...

That’s the message of We Shall Overcome

That should be the message to socialists everywhere

You can change it, you can fight back, you can build it

 

Sturmer's Dagger Was Well Hidden

It is now obvious to all but the politically blind that the ‘anti-Semitism’ campaign against Labour Party members was contrived, confected and orchestrated by Zionist groups, with the purpose of removing Corbyn as leader of the party.

It is unfortunate that Corbyn himself did not stand up to this malevolent campaign. Unfortunately he chose to appease his enemies and betray his friends. Not a good strategy although it should have been clear that if the right-wing was so concerned about ‘anti-Semitism’ then something must be wrong.

Not only were false allegations made against Chris Williamson, the only MP to stand up against the Zionists but Corbyn’s allies such as Jennie Formby and Jon Lansman joined in this despicable witchhunt

Stürmer was elected promising to ‘tear out anti-Semitism by the roots’. What this has meant is that Jewish anti-racists like the late Rive Joffe, who fought racism at the sharp end in South Africa, Mike Howard and Graham Bash, a member of the Labour Party for 53 years, have been expelled. This gives the lie to the idea that any of this was about anti-Semitism. If you are Jewish in the Labour Party you are 5 times more likely to be subject to expulsion & suspension than if you are non-Jewish. The only thing Stürmer excels at is lying.

John Mann lied and said Dr Glatt hadn't written the letter below

Today he goes cap in hand to the racist Labour Friends of Israel and pledges his undying loyalty to the Apartheid State that he calls a ‘rumbustious democracy.’

The false anti-Semitism campaign was always about defending Israel, Zionism and Britain’s strategic alliance with the United States’s racist Rottweiler in the Middle East.

One of the organisations which led this campaign was Hate not Hope. Ruth Smeeth, who makes being obnoxious into an art form, directed her bile at Marc Wadsworth. Today Smeeth is the CEO of Index for Censorship (well it has to be admitted that she does know quite a lot about censoring people!!)

When Joe Solo won a Heroes Award from HnH, after a vote by the public, it was inevitable once it was known that he had defended Chris that HnH would strip him of his award and the £5,000 prize.

Tony Booth

However HnH didn’t reckon with the backlash. Tony Booth, himself Jewish, started a Crowdfunder which within 4 days raised over twice the HnH prize.

HnH were so taken aback that in the end they crawled on their knees to Joe and begged him to take the cash! Joe to his credit told them where to go. They could keep their 30 pieces of silver.

John Mann Sets His Sight on the Alternative Media

John Mann, the Tories ‘anti-Semitism Czar’ was ennobled by the Tories with the job of weaponising ‘anti-Semitism’. He immediately set his sights on trying to close down the alternative media, The Canary and Skwawkbox. He therefore commissioned a Report ‘Anti-Semitism and the alternative media’ by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism’s academic prostitute Daniel Allington.

John Mann in all his glory

See my article ‘Daniel Allington is the Academic Fraud Behind the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism’s ‘Research’ into Anti-Semitism’. Allington, who is a hardline Zionist, set himself the task of ‘proving’ that the Left was more anti-Semitic than the Right. Quite a difficult task you may think since it’s not the Left which murdered millions of Jews or agitated against them. But Allington rose to the challenge.

Ruth Smeeth is the CEO for Index on Censorship - a subject that as a Zionist she knows a lot about

The problem was that even the CAA’s own surveys showed that the Right was more anti-Semitic than the left. They based this on a series of statements, some of them quite dubious, about Jews. For example ‘Jewish people consider themselves to be better than other British people’

This was highly inconvenient to the CAA, a far-right Zionist group who are close to Tommy Robinson’s fascist supporters. So they got Allington to come up with a series of statements about Israel that would prove that it was the left that was anti-Semitic!

So in their Anti-Semitism Barometer 2019 they could make the claim that ‘Antisemitism on the far-left now exceeds antisemitism on the far-right.’ How did they manage this?

Simple. By drawing up series of 6 questions which were about people’s attitude to Israel! Of course you might say that Israel is not a Jew but to Zionists there is no difference.  Jews exist to support Israel (apart from us ‘self-haters’ of course).

Normally when scientists want to prove something they sample the evidence and then draw the appropriate conclusions. Allington, as a social scientist, has a slightly different method.  First he reaches his conclusions and then he sets about fixing the evidence! Clearly he has a bright career ahead of him. He could get a job with Exxon and ‘prove’ that there is no such thing as climate change. The possibilities are endless.

John Mann with advice on how to get rid of Travellers

That is why Allington is an academic fraud, a charlatan who if King’s College cares about its reputation should fire him.

Below are the 6 new questions that ‘prove’ the Left is now more anti-Semitic than the Right.

1.     Israel and its supporters are a bad influence on our democracy.”

2.     “Israel can get away with anything because its supporters control the media.”

3.     “Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews.”

4.     “I am comfortable spending time with people who openly support Israel.”

5.     “Israel makes a positive contribution to the world.”

6.     “Israel is right to defend itself against those who want to destroy it.”

What you might ask has any of the above to do with anti-Semitism? How is Question 1, asserting that Israel is bad for democracy anti-Semitic? Or Question 4? If you are not comfortable spending time with supporters of Israel you are anti-Semitic? Does this include not wishing to keep company with Christian Zionists?

What if people had problems keeping company with supporters of Nazi Germany does that make them anti-German?

Allington is an example of how many academics have willingly hired themselves to the highest bidder and prostituted their profession.

It was not surprising that John Mann would turn to a dishonest and fraudulent academic like Allington. Mann wanted proof that The Canary and Skwawkbox were anti-Semitic and Allington supplied it in the form of ‘Anti-Semitism and the ‘alternative media’.

Steve Walker from Skwawkbox

A complaint was then made to press regulator Impress and that’s where it went wrong. Because they cleared both news outlets of Allington and John Mann’s false allegations. But as Steve Topple said, this has caused immense stress amongst Canary’s journalists.

Interview with Steve Walker of Skwawkbox and Steve Topple of The Canary

I intend to make a formal complaint to King’s College against this fake and fraudulent academic. Can I ask that readers of this blog bombard King’s College with complaints about why they are employing someone who would be better employed collecting garbage, not least his own?

John Mann's racist handbook described Gypsies in terms of a social nuisance

As Steve Walker says, John Mann is himself a racist bigot. He produced a virulently anti-Gypsy Handbook which led to an interview under caution with the Police for suspected hate crimes. 

Dr Glatt's letter to John Mann

Five years ago John Mann alleged that a letter from a 90 year old Jewish Dr Glatt, who has since died, was a forgery. Dr Glatt had criticised how Mann had exploited ‘anti-Semitism’ for his own purposes. Mann alleged the letter had been penned by a supporter of Momentum who had then coerced Dr Glatt to sign it.

Dr Glatt was furious and penned an Open Letter to Mann in his own handwriting. See my blog post ‘Open Letter to John Mann MP from a 90 Year Old Jewish Dr Glatt’. The letter was brilliant and as a result Mann took his false allegations of forgery off Facebook. See A Desperate John Mann MP Tries to Undermine 90 year old Jewish Doctor's Letter by Falsely Alleging It was a Forgery.

John Mann was one of the Labour MPs to attack Harriet Harman for having suspended Phil Woolas

Mann has a long history of racism. He supported the racist Labour MP Phil Woolas who fought campaign which was designed to ‘make the white folk angry.’. See John Mann MP – Zionist Scumbag and Apologist for Phil Woolas, New Labour Racist Kicked Out by an Electoral Court Just like the Russian Czars, John Mann is an incorrigible racist and anti-Semite!

Tony Greenstein