Antisemitism and the Labour Party is an anthology of reissued articles and essays which sets out to provide a ‘sober examination of the strange events that have warped British politics since 2015.’ Most of the pieces were originally published online between 2017 and 2019, although one, an article by Richard Kuper on the University and College Union, dates back to 2011. Also included are 21 testimonies by members of the Labour Party. The collection offers an instructive sampler of a whole battery of arguments and rhetorical moves – some of them mutually contradictory – which have been used to counter or dismiss allegations of antisemitism on the left.
The editor, Jamie Stern-Weiner, sets the tone for the anthology in his lurid and tendentious introduction. Not content with asserting that the allegations against Corbyn’s Labour have ‘no basis in fact’ and are prompted by transparently partisan motives, he conjures up a picture of the crisis as something monstrous and sinister – ‘Like a creature from a horror film, the “Labour antisemitism” controversy just won’t die’ – before aligning it with both the Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism.
This is a cross-post from Fathom. You can read the full review here.
