We never wanted to fight antisemitism within our own party. That was never the mission we set out to do. It was a fight started not by us but by events and leadership so abysmal there was no choice but to act.
The EHRC report is a vindication of that fightback and marks another historic moment in the history of the Labour Party and the Jewish community.
Struggle has defined the 100 year affiliation of the Jewish Labour Movement to the Labour Party. Antisemitism has always lurked in corners of the political left, be it the anti-migrant rhetoric of the early 1900s, the mid-century Soviet “rootless cosmopolitan” conspiracism or the contemporary antisemitism of the New Left.
Until 2015 the Labour Party, with JLM’s support, was largely able to keep that tendency at the gates. It was held off and kept out of the mainstream political discourse through both courage and moral leadership.
The vast majority of Labour Party members are good and decent people, motivated to act out of a sense of righting injustice, and wanting to make the world better.
But as the party’s membership rapidly expanded from 2015, the prevailing political mood suggested all were welcome, even those with deeply hurtful and problematic views. Far too many inside the Labour Party were exposed to ideas that were allowed to swell unchallenged.
The consequence for Jewish Labour Party members was to be on the receiving end of a growing toxic culture of casual antisemitism: bully, harassment, discrimination. Countless accounts of a growing environment of intolerance formed the bulk of JLM’s initial submission to the EHRC. Rather than respond with decisiveness, it became apparent that our calls for action were falling on deaf ears.
Even after taking full control of the machinery of the party in 2018, too little improved with too little urgency. Instead, the scale and impact of antisemitism was diminished or denied. Inaction was blamed on others. What little progress the party did make seemed only to happen under extreme duress. Instead of being listened to, Jewish Labour members were attacked for speaking out.
In our final submission, our arguments were joined by over 70 whistleblowers, each of whom felt compelled to try and put right that which the party failed to. Many were former and present staff who accounted for the consistent pattern of failure and malign inaction.
The final report is a sobre confirmation of our worst fears. Political interference, woefully decrepit structures and a lack of moral leadership were the themes of a series of undeniable unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.
It will take time and commitment to undo what was allowed to be done, whether on setting the tone and culture of the Party from the very top, through to the practical and structural changes that need to be made. Thursdays’s events suggest that the Labour Party may have rediscovered its moral courage and it has now set a precedent which it will need to maintain. But there is so much that still needs to be done.
As it was once famously said, “Few are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society”. Jewish Labour activists, alongside our friends and allies, the whistleblowers that spoke out, and those who reported the events have shown that moral courage in abundance in the most challenging of times.
Our lasting hope is that many more within our party will find and keep that most rare commodity too.
Peter Mason is JLM National Secretary
