Art Krasky points out that Tom Hickey, a candidate for President of UCU, gave a speech this week in front of a reading list including the work of Roger Garaudy. Krasky notes that Garaudy is a Holocaust denier. We may add that Garaudy was fined approximately $40,000 in the French Courts in 1998 for racial defamation linked to his claims. This is nothing new for the SWP as they have a long tradition of activities linking them with antisemites and antisemitic propaganda.

In 1980 Socialist Worker printed a letter from Anthony Jones referring to “Zionist” control of the media. The editors of Socialist Worker had no qualms about printing that letter despite its overt antisemitism. They may well have even agreed with it. It is unclear whether the editors of Socialist Worker knew that Anthony Jones was at the time an organiser for the National Front: that he was “anti-Zionist” was enough to have his letter published.

In 1982 Socialist Worker printed a cartoon of a Jew in a Nazi uniform urinating into a boot. The caption was: “If only I wasn’t circumcised I could do this in public.” Perhaps Tom Hickey could tell us whether it was meant to be a “Zionist” circumcision?

In 1986 John Rose of the Socialist Workers Party published a pamphlet entitled Israel: The Hijack State. In that pamphlet, Rose acknowledges Nathan Weinstock who wrote Zionism the False Messiah. Weinstock has more recently announced:

I have prohibited my publisher from reissuing Zionism - False Messiah. Let me add that, while I naively believed - an error of youth - that this book could fuel a constructive discussion leading to Israeli-Palestinian coexistence, I came to realise that this had been unforgivable naivety on my part: the book served only to salve the conscience of avowed and unconscious anti-Semites.

Maybe Tom Hickey should be asked what he thinks of the works of John Rose?

Despite widespread criticism, of which they are fully aware, the Socialist Workers Party continues to champion Gilad Atzmon who is happy to distribute the work of known Holocaust deniers, who talks about Jewish responsibility for the killing of Jesus and who is currently engaged in a campaign to purge Jewish anti-Zionists from the anti-Zionist movement.

Last year Oliver Kamm quoted David Cameron as saying, “I hope nobody votes for the British National Party, I would rather people voted for any other party.” I hope we can all agree with that statement. Given Oliver Kamm’s comments about Respect in that article I am sure Mr Kamm would agree with the following amendment to that quotation:

“I hope nobody votes for the British National Party or the Socialist Workers Party, I would rather people voted for anyone else.”

Mikey