Labour’s far left must tame itself to root out antisemitism

I would like to think that tomorrow’s meeting between Jeremy Corbyn and Jennie Formby, the Labour general secretary, and a delegation from the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD) and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC), will mark a turning point in the party’s troubles over antisemitism. Last week’s speeches in parliament by Luciana Berger and Ruth Smeeth, among others, detailing the antisemitic and misogynistic abuse they had received, demonstrated the need for such a turning point.

Since the demonstration against antisemitism in Parliament Square at the end of March, there have been some signs of progress. The letters exchanged between Corbyn and the Board of Deputies and the Leadership Council that paved the way for the meeting were measured and serious. Influential voices on the left of the party, including Jon Lansman and John McDonnell, have also acknowledged that Labour antisemitism is a serious issue.

No one is under any illusions as to the difficulty of the challenge ahead. The anger in much of the Jewish community is such that the delegation will not be appeased by tea and sympathy. Other organisations, such as the Campaign Against Antisemitism, are nipping at the heels of the BoD and JLC’s and favour a much more aggressive approach.

Many of Corbyn’s supporters will be encouraging him to give no ground, and Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), will remind him that the BoD and JLC do not represent them. In fact, the planned presence of the Jewish Voice for Labour at a “roundtable” organised by Formby led the BoD, JLC and other Jewish groups to decline the invitation. Wednesday’s roundtable now appears to have been called off.

Some progress might be made on a few items on the BoD and JLC’s agenda. One key demand, that outstanding disciplinary cases on antisemitism should be resolved quickly, is surely in everyone’s interests. It is hard, however, to see Corbyn agreeing to the demand that “the party will seek to understand and engage with the Jewish community via its main representative groups, and not through fringe organisations who wish to obstruct the party’s efforts to tackle antisemitism”.

Even if the meeting proceeds in a cordial atmosphere, even if both parties reach a clear understanding acceptable to all, monumental difficulties remain that may be beyond the capacity of any of them to address. The central problem is that much (although by no means all) of the antisemitism in the Labour party has emerged from the online-fuelled grassroots movement that has been a major factor in sustaining Corbyn’s leadership.

By its very nature, this movement resists control. The passion that drives it is not conducive to careful speech. Antisemitism is more than just carelessness (for some it is very deliberate) and it is more than just speech, but any attempt to address it must begin with serious attention to language in an age in which communication – on any issue – constantly threatens to spiral out of control.

While many in the Labour party are aware of the problems that unrestrained speech can cause, there are few practical suggestions as to what to do about it. Owen Jones has called for a mass “political education” campaign, but it will be difficult to corral Labour supporters into the institutional frameworks necessary for this. In any case, antisemitism is one symptom of a wider culture of tit-for-tat purging and abuse that has permeated the party for decades. Those who currently hold the whip hand (Corbynites now, New Labour in the past) are never eager to address it.

Corbyn has repeatedly condemned abuse, antisemitic or otherwise, although he rarely goes into specifics. Yet his supporters tend to ignore his less convenient pronouncements. He does not wield his authority with an iron fist and is unlikely to have the ability or the will to lead a mass disciplining of unruly Labour voices.

While no one who sees themselves as part of the grassroots Labour movement really knows how to draw on its productive energies without its dark side, there is another section of the Labour left that does understand discipline and control. Parts of the trade union movement – and those, such as McDonnell, who are close to it – have considerable experience in these political arts. Formby’s appointment, backed by Unite, as Labour general secretary, backed by Unite, and the failure of the bid for the post by the Momentum founder Lansman, were a demonstration of the vulnerability of grassroots politics when it comes up against machine politics.

Cynics might therefore suggest that Jewish organisations who want Labour antisemitism addressed should concentrate on building ties with Formby, McDonnell and with the unions. Although some of the more authoritarian leftists within the party have themselves been accused of antisemitism, they are also pragmatic, and they have the ruthlessness to rid the party of antisemites and the message-discipline to refrain from hateful language – should they feel it’s in their interests to do so.

Of course, not only am I not advocating such an alliance, no appetite exists for it on either side. For one thing, ties between the Jewish community and beleaguered Labour centrists, including the centrist-leaning Jewish Labour Movement, are strong and deep. But the prospect of the decentralised grassroots Labour left eventually being subjugated by its centralising cousins is a very real one, whether or not it is antisemitism that provokes it.

Those who value the idealistic passion that permeates the Labour grassroots (including, with much ambivalence, myself) need to grapple with how its abusive, uncontrollable tendencies can be curbed, since these invite its suppression. Facing up to antisemitism and to the wider issue of abuse on the left isn’t just the right thing to do for its own sake, it is the key to ensuring the resilience of the movement.

• Keith Kahn-Harris is a sociologist and the author of Judaism: All That Matters