Britain: Defend Corbyn — Tories are the real racists

A concerted Blairite campaign is being run to smear Corbyn and the left over anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, the Tories are being let off the hook for their ingrained racism. Blairite plotting is becoming more open and vicious as the establishment war against Jeremy Corbyn goes on. Every day we are seeing ever-more crude attempts to smear Corbyn as a racist and an anti-Semite.

The Chief Rabbi and 68 other senior Rabbis have written that Labour is an anti-Semitic party. And three Jewish newspapers have even carried a story claiming that a “Corbyn government would be an existentialist threat to Jews”!

At a time when the far right and the Tories are spewing out the poison of racism on a daily basis; when Tommy Robinson supporters are giving Nazi salutes on the streets of London: how on earth can this “existential threat to Jewish life” claim be made about the prospect of a Corbyn-led Labour government.

The whole thing is being blown up out of all proportion for political ends by pro-big business forces that are determined to stop Corbyn getting to Downing Street. Whatever Corbyn says or does, it will never be enough for his opponents.

Racism and hypocrisy

At the same time, no action is being taken against the racism that is rife inside the Tory Party.

Boris Johnson’s latest outburst just the tip of a very nasty iceberg. Repeated warnings have been made over the ongoing Tory failure to recognise and deal with Islamophobia in their own ranks.

Now we have the former London Mayor getting up and writing that Muslim women who wear burkas “look like letter boxes” or “bank robbers”.

It has been said that Johnson seems to be angling for the Tory members’ vote in any future leadership election. If nothing else, this is a damning indictment of the Tory ranks and their ingrained racism.

Many Tories, however, have been defending Johnson. One Tory ‘insider’ told the BBC: “ we must not fall into the trap of shutting down the debate on difficult issues.”

Hypocritically, this is precisely what the establishment are trying to do with Corbyn and the question Israel and Palestine.

But for the Tories, racism is apparently now open for “debate”. Indeed, Johnson, Gove and Rees-Mogg all recently held meetings with US reactionary Steve Bannon, who calls racism a “badge of honour”.

Ingrained establishment racism

Racism does not stop with the likes of barmy Boris, however. Unite the Union have produced a damning survey of reported major incidents of racism by Tories over the last decade or so. The dossier lists pages and pages of major incidents.

In summary, the report noted that these cases “include Tory elected representatives using racist abuse like ‘Pakis’, ‘pikies’, and ‘piccaninnies’ – as well as several anti-Semitic or Islamophobic remarks. But most appear to have been allowed to continue their membership and even to represent the Conservative Party.”

Only a few months ago, we had the ultra-right wing Tories of Romford producing a scandalous leaflet whipping up racist fears. Some embarrassed Tories demanded that the leaflet be withdrawn, but only after it had already been sent to all voters. It was later discovered that Tory campaign HQ had given the text the green light.

The Tories are packed with racists. A YouGov poll found that 31% of Tory supporters believed that “Jews chase money more than other Britons”, a far higher percentage than for any other party.

From Windrush to Grenfell to all the various anti-migrant laws and deportations: the Tories have shown their racism at every opportunity. They reflect the crude class-based racism that flows from the establishment as a whole. They say one thing to your face and quite another to each other behind closed doors.

What has come out is just a fraction of the real picture. This is the real scandal that must be exposed.

Kick out the careerists

Back in the Labour Party, the Blairites are now acting on all issues as a party within a party.

No wonder, then, that pressure is rising within Labour to deselect right-wing MPs, with votes of no confidence being passed against Kate Hoey and Frank Field by their own local parties. Elsewhere, John Woodcock has resigned from Labour to sit as an independent.

Dame Margaret Hodge MP, claims she is somehow being forced out and has engaged a top (and not cheap) legal firm to defend her interests.

The Blairites are a Fifth Column inside Labour and should be treated as such by grassroots activists. This mafia includes Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, who has repeatedly tried to undermine Corbyn from within.

As such, it is no accident that there is now increased talk of a split in the Labour Party. One Labour MP told the Financial Times there would “almost certainly be a split in the autumn or early next year”. Open discussions are taking place with the Lib Dems.

There have been press reports of secret Blairite meetings taking place in a posh Sussex farmhouse to plan how to undermine Corbyn and Labour. These meetings - involving key PLP cronies - have discussed how to sabotage a Labour government and have debated the prospects of a new centre (i.e. pro-capitalist) party.

Labour MP Chris Williamson has said that any Blairite breakaway would be “not so much a schism…as an irrelevant rump of malcontents attempting to perform CPR” on neoliberal ideology. This is 100% true.

It is time these right-wing careerists and saboteurs were cleared out once and for all. They should creep off to the Tory Party where they belong.

Labour must stand firm with clear socialist policies, mobilising workers and youth to defeat the Tory government and the system it defends. It is time to fight back.