Labour wants to expel a Jewish member of over 50 years
The Labour Party is trying to expel a veteran Jewish member. But he isn’t taking it lying down.
Another witch hunt victim?
Graham Bash is chair of South Thanet Labour Party. He’s a member of the party for 52 years. Bash is the political officer for Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), and he’s also the political secretary of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC). But Labour’s governance and legal unit (GLU) has threatened to boot him out. In a letter, it said that it has:
reason to believe that [Bash] is ineligible to be or remain a Labour Party member because you are a supporter of Labour Against the Witchhunt (LAW).
The GLU goes on to state that its evidence is:
In January 2020 [Bash] signed an Open Letter from LAW. The signature included the organisations you are associated with “LRC, JVL, LAW”.
LAW is one of four groups Labour recently proscribed. So, the GLU told Bash he must submit evidence as to why he should not be expelled. And Bash has already come out fighting.
Flimsy evidence?
In a letter to the GLU, published by JVL, he says;
Read on...
- The Open Letter from LAW was dated January 2020. The date of the proscription of LAW was July 2021. LAW was not a proscribed organisation at the time I signed the letter.
- I am not a current member of LAW. There is, to the best of my knowledge, no such category as LAW ’supporter’. I therefore deny that I am a ‘supporter’ of LAW. There is no justification for this investigation.
- I am in full agreement with LAW – and with several Labour Party socialist organisations, and with hundreds of thousands of Labour Party members – in their opposition to the witch-hunt of Labour Party members and to the bans and proscriptions of socialist organisations.
You can read his full response here. But Bash goes further than just questioning the GLU’s evidence.
Opposing the oppression
He says he:
oppose[s] the factional attacks on Labour Party members carried out by the pro-establishment wing of the party.
Bash also calls out:
- “shutting down of constituency parties”;
- “imposition of candidates for national and local elections”;
- “interference in the way constituency parties are allowed to run their meetings”;
- “suppression of free speech”;
- “suspension of party members for opposing the removal of the parliamentary whip from Jeremy Corbyn, and for holding views contrary to the faction which now controls the party”.
“Endangering” Labour’s “very existence”
He also attacks Labour for targeting left-wing Jewish members. Bash says:
I fear I may become yet another Jewish victim of the witch-hunt – see JVL’s recent submission to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
Overall, Bash says:
The current leadership is endangering the very existence of our party and destroying the trust of hundreds of thousands of new members who joined us in and after 2015 in the belief that Labour could become a vehicle for socialist transformation in this country and a beacon of hope to all those fighting for justice throughout the world.
It appears this is exactly what Labour’s current leadership is doing. And so far, it’s getting away with it.
The Canary will soon be premiering an interview from 2020 with Bash and Jackie Walker. More details to follow.
Featured image via Mike Cushman – YouTube
We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
Since Keir Starmer and his Zionist establishment backers are determined to destroy the Labour Party, the only political party that represents the British workers, leaving the grossly incompetent Tories unopposed to ruin the country. It’s time the real politicians that represent the socialist point of view abandoned Starmer to his Zionists and started a “Real Labour Party”. They need to return to the ideals of Keir Hardy and take back the representation of the lower incomes as well as the middle income workers.
Tony B’Liar’s tactic to achieve parliamentary power was fine until that power went to his head. His delusions of grandeur culminated in his acceding to the position of Bush’s Poodle and dragging Britain into the pointless invasion of Afghanistan and the death of hundreds of British soldiers. Historically socialism has been opposed to wars. Let’s return to those socialist principles and bypass stupid Starmer.
Starmer and some of the shadow cabinet are forming a new Labour Party band – the Joe McCarthy Tribute Band! The enemy is the Left, if there is time available he will deal with the Tories!
Graham Bash is one of the outstanding thinkers and campaigners on the left of the Labour Party.
His contribution to the debate has been unequalled over many years.
He richly deserves the support of all socialists and fighters for justice.
I believe this is about stuffing the ballot at Labour’s conference.
1. Remove Graham Bash,
2. Replace with someone “sympathetic” to the right wing,
3. The replacement selects right wing members* to represent the CLP in conference,
4. They vote for what they’re told to by Starmer/Evans
* These may not normally qualify as members for conference under the rules but exceptions will be made.
Good. The world is healing. The Labour Party is healing.