Revolutionary Communist Group attack Anti-Semitism Debate

Further evidence of the far-left becoming anti-Semitic emerged last night as the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) led an attack on a debate over adopting the IHRA statement yesterday evening.

The Chronicle reports

"Frightened" councillors were forced out of the room and left in tears due to the angry protest from far-left campaigners, one of whom had to be dragged from the chamber by security.

The protest - led by the revolutionary communist Fight Racism Fight Imperialism group - was opposing Newcastle City Council's adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which they claimed would "criminalise solidarity with Palestine in Newcastle".

After Lib Dem opposition deputy leader Nick Cott raised the motion to adopt the definition, protesters in the public gallery above began chanting, unfurled Palestinian flags, and shouted abuse at councillors.

Council leader Nick Forbes said this action was "an assault on democracy and s stated:

"We will not put up with that and I really hope the police throw the book at these clowns. They don't do anything to represent people, they don't do anything to further the cause of the Palestinians.

"They are simply out to cause trouble and that is not acceptable in a modern, liberal democracy."

When the chamber was cleared and the councillors returned to the Councillor Cott opened the renewed debate saying:

Representatives of the Jewish community in Newcastle are fearful of the future, and our approving this motion -unambiguously, with the intended wording - will be an assurance to them that this Council will not tolerate discrimination."

The motion was passed unanimously. 

The actions of the RCG backfired and did the Palestinian cause they profess to support no good at all. So just who are the RCG?

The RCG is a mall group that broke away from the International Socialist, better known today as the Socialist Workers Party in 1974. Their ideological guru is one David Yaffe. They proceeded to publish their occasional journal Revolutionary Communist, a rather turgid "theoretical" journal which only really illustrated the authors were subscribers to the capitalist magazine The Economist.

It wasn't' long before the RCG itself split with a group led by Frank Furedi left being expelled to form the Revolutionary Communist Tendency, later the Revolutionary Communist Party, publishers of the best ever designed paper on the left, The Next Step.  

The RCG publish the long winded Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! According to their website:

The name of our newspaper is itself a political statement. It declares that fighting racism and imperialism must be at the heart of any socialist movement in imperialist Britain. It is a position that has directed the political theory and practice of the Revolutionary Communist Group for over 25 years.

From our first issue in November-December 1979, a consistent revolutionary anti-imperialist standpoint has determined the political content of FRFI. The core positions have not significantly changed...

Like most of these tiny groups they live in an ideological bubble and are obsessed by their own self-importance. The RCG is basically a cult.

The RCG has heavily criticised Corbyn and in their latest rant argue:

Scenting blood, the Zionists are upping the ante. On 25 June, the principal Zionist newspapers published in Britain, the Jewish Chronicle, Jewish Telegraph and Jewish News published a shared editorial claiming: ‘The stain and shame of anti-Semitism has coursed through Her Majesty’s Opposition since Jeremy Corbyn became leader in 2015’ adding that ‘Labour makes a distinction between racial anti-Semitism targeting Jews (unacceptable) and political anti-Semitism targeting Israel (acceptable). The reason for this move? Had the full IHRA definition with examples relating to Israel been approved, hundreds, if not thousands, of Labour and Momentum members would need to be expelled.’ These reactionary rags have let the cat out of the bag: now everyone can see that at stake for Zionists inside and outside the Labour Party is the issue of the Israeli state.

The RCG fight racism, but not that aimed at Jews.