Reinstate Marc Wadsworth!

THE ON-GOING CAMPAIGN to remove Jeremy Corbyn from the position of leader of the Labour Party has claimed another scalp. The 27th April decision to expel anti-racist campaigner Marc Wadsworth for daring to criticise Ruth Smeeth MP in public is proof, unfortunately, that the departure of Iain McNicol as general secretary has not stopped the witch-hunt against left wingers in the party. If anything, it has intensified.

Marc is of course collateral damage; just like the public smearing of Ken Livingstone, Jackie Walker, Cyril Chilson, Tony Greenstein and hundreds of others, his expulsion is merely a means to an end. Marc’s drawn out trial-by-media was designed to smear first and foremost Jeremy Corbyn by publicly accusing his supporters of being antisemitic – a charge that in the vast majority of cases has not been proven. Marc and Tony have been expelled for the catch-all charge of “bringing the party into disrepute”.

Most of the right in the Labour Party support this campaign of equating anti- Zionism with antisemitism for entirely cynical reasons; they could not care less about antisemitism or any other form of racism. They just want to get rid of a socialist at the helm of ‘their’ party.

The pro-Israel lobby is intent on pursuing quite another aim: to try to stop the transformation of Europe’s biggest political party into a clear anti-war party that will stand up for the rights of the Palestinian people and oppose the drive for yet another war in the Middle East.

Labour Against the Witchhunt has launched a national speaking tour to demand the reinstatement of comrade Wadsworth and all others who have been suspended and expelled without natural justice and due process. The tour is co-sponsored by the Labour Representation Committee, Jewish Voice for Labour and Grassroots Black Left.