It’s time for the SWP, Socialist Party & Counterfire to break with Graham’s Social Imperialism & Stop Apologising for Her
ON
RESISTANCE STREET (2023) Trailer
On
Monday I learnt that Sharon Graham had banned On
Resistance Street an anti-fascist and anti-racist film that looks at the role music has played
in the fight against fascism and racism.
The reasons for the ban were explained
by Graham’s sycophantic bag carrier, Sarah Carpenter, who, as Regional
Secretary for the South-East, banned
another film, Jeremy Corbyn –
The Big Lie. Carpenter quoted
an Executive Committee resolution of September 2023 that:
‘Unite should
not use its premises or resources to show or promote any external films or
other content that does not relate to our industrial agenda to support the pay,
terms and conditions of our members and/or support existing Unite policies.
Leave aside the ‘explanation’ of Carpenter, a
bureaucrat without an original idea in her head, or the tunnel vision of Sharon
Graham whose ‘industrial agenda’ poses no threat to British capitalism. Graham
is either so politically illiterate that she does not understand that historically
racism and fascism have been used to divide and weaken, if not destroy the
trade union and socialist movement. Or else she does not care.
Carpenter’s suggestion that anti-racism and
anti-fascism is not part of ‘existing Unite policies’ testifies to her
stupidity. Even more worrying, Carpenter also wrote
that:
In this
context the Union should be especially careful to avoid appearing to endorse
any material which causes unnecessary offence to members.’
Is she really saying that Unite should not offend
racists and fascists? This is very similar to the ‘reason’ that Gail Cartmail
gave for the banning of Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie when she said
that:
The General Secretary...
is also
clear that the Unite position must be that we do not stoke division through
anti-semitism and anti-Muslim racism
On
Resistance Street was shot on location in England, Belfast and New
York. It carries an original soundtrack
of 20 songs.
The film
revisits the ‘Rock Against Racism’ movement of the late 70s, noting its
influence on future waves of radical artists and political activists. It also shines a light – for the very first
time in a film – on a 1950s organisation, ‘The
Stars Campaign For Inter-Racial Friendship’ which was founded by a group of
famous British jazz musicians and entertainers in the wake of the 1958 Notting
Hill riots. It provided venues in West London for black and white youth to
socialise together. The film also
highlights the crucial role played by punk rock in uniting young people in
1970s’ sectarian Belfast.
On
Resistance Street tracks contemporary drifts to the right in the West,
the weaponization of Black grammatical history, right wing musical cultural
appropriation and the role of anti-racist social media groups today. It looks at grime music and the historic role
played by Black musicians in British music.
This
decision is nothing less than shocking. For a trade union to ban an
anti-fascist and anti-racist film is a sign of how the Sharon Graham leadership
has degenerated politically.
I therefore
moved a resolution at my own branch last night ‘noting with dismay’ all the lies of Graham and her flunkeys. For
the first time that I can remember I was criticised for my moderation! Another
member promptly moved an amendment that said the branch had no confidence in
Graham. Just 2 out of 11 members abstained, the rest voted in favour.
Graham
is the most right-wing boss of Unite and its predecessor unions since Arthur
Deakin in the 50s. Graham stood on a platform that rejected Len McCluskey’s
support for the Corbyn Project. She passed herself off as apolitical but in
reality she is firmly on the right. Her objection to anti-racist education is
matched by her support for Zionism and the Israeli state.
It
is no accident that Graham has done nothing to support Palestinians in Gaza
besides writing a solitary letter to the PGFTU, nearly 3 weeks after its
headquarters in Gaza were bombed. The very next day she made it clear that she
favoured continuing to send arms to Israel to continue the bombing, the more
the merrier since to her all that matters is British jobs.
Yet
despite her appalling record when it comes to international solidarity,
anti-racism and anti-imperialism, the ‘revolutionary’ sects of the British
left, have supported her through thick and thin. Both the SWP and
the Socialist
Party supported Graham in the election for General Secretary and
Counterfire welcomed
her victory.
Richard Allday's rant on WhatsApp in defence of Graham
Richard
Allday, a Counterfire supporter and member of Unite’s Executive only last
Friday chose to attack me on the Unite 4
Palestine WhatsApp group for my ‘obsession
with Sharon Graham’ and my ‘unsubstantiated
abuse.’ i.e. criticism of Graham.
To
support strikes whilst rejecting their political implications, as Graham does,
is to reject class politics. It is to treat the state as neutral and capitalism
as a fair and equitable system rather than one based on exploitation. This is called
economism.
Unfortunately
the ruling class is not so stupid as Graham. It knows that even if Unite wins a
few individual strikes, they still have all the cards. The rich and powerful
can easily adjust the rules of the game through their tame puppets in
parliament. They have the Police to reign in workers who get unruly and of
course, if the worst comes to the worst, they can make going on strike itself
harder and harder.
The
Establishment is more than capable of winning back through legislation that
which they lose industrially. Being ‘apolitical’ means accepting privatisation
of public services and austerity in order to fund increased expenditure on the military.
Graham supports increasing ‘defence’ expenditure even though it means cutting the
NHS, education and social services where Unite also has members.
Concentrating
solely on strikes means abandoning the fight against racism, global warming, war
and imperialism. It is to define class oppression as solely economic without
seeing that capitalism doesn’t just oppress people in the workplace but during
their lives outside the workplace. There is little advantage in gaining higher
wages if the Welfare State is under attack, the NHS is in decline, schools are
privatised as academies and housing becomes harder to get.
Graham
is fighting for a larger share of the imperialist pie not its abolition. Graham
is an avid supporter
of NATO’s proxy war in Ukraine and supported
dockers refusing to handle Russian oil. There is some solidarity action that
Graham does support, the problem is that it doesn’t involve genocide against
the Palestinians.
When
it came to Ukraine Graham didn’t
mince her words:
“There is
overwhelming support being expressed throughout Unite to support the people of
Ukraine. It is not only the struggle for democracy that concerns us but also
the struggle for people’s rights to work and build their future in peace.”
Yet
when it comes to Gaza, getting Graham to condemn anything Israel does is like
drawing teeth. In her letter condemning
the bombing of the PGFTU headquarters in Gaza City Graham fails even to mention
the word ‘Israel’. It is as if the bombing of the Trade union HQ happened by
itself. Likewise Graham did not once let the word ‘genocide’ slip from her
lips.
These things have not gone unnoticed by the
Zionists. Writing
in the anti-Palestinian Jewish News
‘Liar’ Lee Harpin described how,
In a further
put down on far-left foreign policy dogma Graham also wrote “Similarly, we cannot be expected to
affiliate to organisations that actively work against our members and their
jobs.
“Examples include groups that look to build
networks inside trade unions to undermine the defence industry or demand the
disbandment of NATO and AUKUS.”
Under Graham’s
leadership Unite has also taken great strides in attempting to combat
antisemitism within the movement. Despite early claims that the left-wing
leader would seek to move the union away from Labour and disaffiliate, Unite
now appears to be opting to become a “critical friend” of the Starmer led
Labour Party.
Unfortunately
Britain’s far-left sects are unable to see beyond their own noses. They are so pleased
that a union leader supports strikes that they are unable to understand that
you can support strikes and still be a racist, warmongering reactionary like
Sharon Graham.
In
an effusive pro-Graham article
in Dissent Olly Haynes observed that
Unite refused to support the Enough is
Enough coalition with the RMT and CWU because
two of the
coalition’s five demands—building affordable housing and imposing heavier taxes
on the rich—could only be enacted directly through state power. ...
The
first indication that Sharon Graham was a Zionist cuckoo in the trade union
nest was when Jeremy Corbyn – The Big Lie
was banned.
On
23 July 2023 the far-right Campaign
Against Antisemitism claimed
credit for the ban on Corbyn The Big
Lie. They wrote:
Following correspondence
with Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Unite union has cancelled the screening of a propaganda
film about the antisemitic former Labour Party
leader Jeremy Corbyn....
However,
following contact from Campaign Against Antisemitism in which we pointed out
that the scheduling of the event appeared to be contradictory to the reports
that the film has been banned in all of Unite’s buildings, it was cancelled....
Campaign Against
Antisemitism commends Unite for its swift and decisive action to cancel the
screening as soon as we brought it to its attention.
Graham’s
apolitical election stance was a cover for very right-wing politics. To her
capitalism and imperialism are perfectly normal and therefore not political. Is
it any surprise that she refused to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza as
genocide? But if Britain’s far-left organisations displayed their typically
blinkered approach, engaging in a bout of wishful thinking, then the Zionist
organisations were not fooled. Indeed it is highly likely that Graham signalled
to them that Len McCluskey’s support for the Palestinians would be jettisoned.
Euan
Philips (David
Gordstein) of Labour Against
Antisemitism, welcomed
the election of Graham as General Secretary.
The SWP, SP and Countefire simply refused to accept that the Skwawkbox’s allegations of Graham’s nepotism, turning a blind eye to racism and despotism amounted to anything. Despite Skawkbox being vilified at no time has Graham disputed their allegations.
At her first Executive Committee meeting as General Secretary (September 2021) Graham ‘Pledged to make our Union the most democratic and transparent it has ever been.’ Actions however speak louder than words as her banning of films demonstrates.
Graham
promised to ‘Take the lead or provide
practical support to other groups tackling wider societal issues such as;
climate change, the housing crisis and racism.’ Under Len
McCluskey Unite’s Community branches were established. It is no secret that
Graham is hostile
to them as she sees them as naturally political.
Graham
pledged ‘there will be no blank cheques’
for the Labour Party. The cutting of affiliation fees by McLuskey, has been
reversed without protest. Graham also promised
to
·
Introduce a Member Hotline in my
Office.
·
Make sure that my expenses are
accessible to members online.
·
Introduce ‘General Secretary
Live’ online Q&A
Below
is a time line of Graham’s record as General Secretary:
i.
On the 8 June Sarah Carpenter banned
Corbyn – The Big Lie from being shown at Unite’s premises in Portsmouth
on Graham’s ‘advice’.
ii.
From 7 October to 3 November, Graham
delayed
calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
iii.
In her statement
of 26 June to staff and officers Graham claimed that Unite ‘was the first major union to publicly and
unambiguously call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.’ This was a lie.
UNISON called
for an immediate ceasefire on October 26 and it also condemned Israel for its
attacks on civilians unlike the even handed Unite statement a week later.
iv.
Graham has not only refused to attend
the national Palestinian demonstrations but she has refused
to allow Unite’s national banner to be present.
v.
Graham tried to pressurise Unite
official Simon Dubbins to calling off a Unite Palestinian event at Labour Party
conference. She has now suspended
him.
vi.
Graham also tried
to persuade Pete Kavanagh, Regional Secretary for London & Eastern
Region, from speaking at the Palestinian demonstration in London on January 13.
vii. Graham’s
Chief of Staff, Sarah Carpenter, appointed without any reference to the
Executive, threatened
Kavanagh with loss of a pension bonus if he continued to support the
Palestinians.
viii. Graham
said nothing about genocide in Gaza until March 25,over two weeks after, when she
wrote a letter of ‘solidarity’ to the Palestinian trade union PGFTU after the
bombing of their HQ in Gaza City.
ix.
One day later, March 26, Graham
issued a letter
condemning attempts to stop the manufacture of arms for Israel. Graham attacked
‘groups that look to build networks
inside trade unions to undermine the defence industry or demand the disbandment
of NATO and AUKUS’.
In her letter Graham said
‘there is no contradiction for a trade
union to hold a position of solidarity with Palestinian workers’ whilst making
arms intended to murder those same workers. She held that ‘it is a core principle of Unite that as a trade union the 'first claim'
on our priorities’ is to support the right of Unite members to produce arms
to kill other workers.
Clearly the words ‘international
solidarity’ are alien to Graham. It is shameful that the left sects have failed
to call her so far. There are indications, judging by a letter
critical of Graham in Socialist Worker that the SWP is revising its
attitude. Let us hope that Counterfire and the Socialist Party do likewise.
Graham could have told Unite
workers that she would support them refusing to handle arms destined for
Israel’s murder machine in Gaza in the same way as happened with Rolls
Royce workers in East Kilbride in 1973 when they refused to service engines
destined for Pinochet’s airforce.
According to Graham’s logic
the right of workers at IG Farben to produce Zyklon B for the gas chambers
trumped the rights of Jews not to be murdered.
x.
On 11 April the Officers National
Committee submitted
a collective grievance concerning the flouting of grievance procedures and the
victimisation of workers who challenged Graham’s repressive regime. They wrote:
The length of time that grievances and
investigations are taking to reach a conclusion is not acceptable
in a modern workplace... employees are waiting months after submitting a grievance due to a
refusal of some to participate in the process, being banned from your workplace when not even
suspended, and an application of “special measures
Using legal privilege to justify
enforcing a refusal to allow an employee to present their grievance is
disgraceful and anti-trade union... part of our role is to challenge power in the
workplace where that power is used to suppress workers seeking transparency,
expressing their genuinely held views or seeking protection from abuse.
Threats of legal action for
raising a grievance... is... a denial of natural justice.... In seeking to declare a
grievance invalid the employer has cited the issues of trust and confidence.... Loss of
trust and confidence is a legitimate reason for dismissal by an employer so to
reference it is to further intimidate the worker.’
The
time has come for the left to stop making excuses for Graham. Richard Allday
told me that ‘she has not spoken out on
the current atrocity in Palestine’ but he failed to ask why this is. The
time has come for the left groups to put clear red water between them and
Graham.
Tony
Greenstein
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