Len McCluskey, head of the Unite union, gave the new Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) a huge boost when – on the night of its official launch – he announced that Unite would be affiliating with the group. He was closely followed by ASLEF‘s Tosh McDonald making a similar announcement about his own intentions.
The decision of two major unions to not only endorse but to affiliate to JVL on its first official evening put the group firmly on the political map as a force to be reckoned with.
McCluskey spoke earlier today to the SKWAWKBOX about JVL and the reasons for his shock announcement:
“Left-wing Jewish members of the party have needed a voice for long time so I was excited when I heard about JVL’s formation. But when I met them I was extremely impressed not just with their commitment but with their organisation and competence.
The existence of JVL means Jewish members on the left of the party now have an organisation that represents their views – and that transforms the discussion into one of left vs right as it should be.
Unite will not only be endorsing JVL – we’ll be getting involved and supporting their efforts.”
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Reblogged this on Sid's Blog.
We should support this organisation to the hilt. Hopefully, jews across the party will flood into it and make the top-down JLM an empty propaganda vessel. Obviously, Israel will infiltrate it, generate false claims about it and try to steer it so everyone will need to be on their guard and totally above board. If you are Jewish (or other) and you believe in free speech then believe in JVL
Have either Len or Tosh consulted their members on this? No, I didn’t think so. Interesting, as well, to note that Len considers claims of anti-Semitism within the Party to be “mood music” got up by the right wing, and states that he’s never encountered anti-Semitism within the labour movement.