Mick Hartley

From the latest Fathom:

‘The British Mandate in Palestine is now ended and the Jewish State of Israel has been proclaimed … this news will be acclaimed by friends of peace and progress the world over’. With these words, the British communist party – formed 100 years ago on 31 July 1920 – hailed the Jews as anti-colonialists and lambasted the efforts of the ‘imperialist’ British Labour government and their ‘reactionary’ Arab allies to sabotage the creation of the Jewish state. The Arab war against Israel was denounced by The Daily Worker as ‘a reactionary war conducted by the chieftains of the Arab League under British control [and] entirely against the interests of the Arab masses’.  It is enough to make a Corbynista’s head swim. John Strawson tells the little-known history of communist support for the Jewish state.

The position of the British Communist Party at the time may come as a surprise, but of course they were only following – as always – the Russian line:

The Daily Worker’s stance was in concert with the Soviet Union’s position which had been outlined by Andrei Gromyko, its ambassador to the United Nations, in May 1947 when he argued that ‘it is essential to bear in mind the indisputable fact that the population of Palestine consists of two peoples, the Arabs and the Jews. Both have historical roots in Palestine. Palestine has become the homeland of both peoples.’ For the Soviet Union ‘an equitable solution can be reached only if sufficient consideration is given to the legitimate interests of both peoples.’

How times change.