British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been hit with reminders of his anti-Semitism on a daily basis as of late, including his 2012 praise for a mural deemed by many to be anti-Semitic, embrace of Arab terrorists and comments alleging British Jews do not understand British irony.
Momentum, the left-wing organization founded by a British Jew that helped propel Corbyn to Labour Party leadership and thwarted his dismissal is also tainted by anti-Semitism. To anyone familiar with the history of the European Left, this is of course no surprise.
Corbyn's hatred of Israel is not the source of Labour's anti-Semitism problem. True, the crisis in Labour has come to focus on the question of whether the party's code of ethics will prohibit or permit referring to Israel's founding as a "racist event." It is also true that Corbyn fought unsuccessfully for this position to not to be deemed anti-Semitic, and as a result may be forced to muffle his hatred for Israel. But Corbyn was fighting not just for the right to express his anti-Semitism but rather for the preservation of the populist spirit that made him party leader, a comfortable position from which to become Britain's prime minister. It is worth noting that the anti-Semitism crisis has not hurt Labour in opinion polls. Labour has in fact grown stronger.
The explanation for this phenomenon is quite simply that anti-Semitism is an inseparable part of the populist characteristic of the Momentum movement that brought Corbyn to power, itself part of a broader trend on the European Left. Corbyn's left-wing populism is in fact similar to the populism of the American Democratic party, Italy's Five Star Movement, Spain's Podemos ("We Can") party and France's La France Insoumise ("Unbowed France").
As with the Right, left-wing populism is the result of a passionate awakening of popular public opinion against the ruling class. This awakening disrupts agreements, political regulations and balances achieved in the aftermath of the crises of the 20th century. It also foments anti-Semitism, which has lately been seen mainly on the Left.
Corbyn did not want to bow his head in submission to his colleagues in Labour, who sought to prevent the party's destruction as a result of its members divided views on the anti-Semitism controversy. They did not want the wind blowing through Momentum's sails to weaken. After all, the organization, comprised of a network of passionate activists, flourished on social media. Anti-Semitism is not the essence of left-wing ideology; it contradicts its humanist assumptions. But from a sociological perspective, anti-Semitism is closely related to the awakening of social prowwww.
The divide between ideology and sociology is particularly noticeable in the leftist populism currently on the rise in Europe and the United States. Ideology or organized programs like Labour's 1945 nationalization efforts are not the strong point of left-wing populism but sociology. Radical statements and words can enlist the masses. Their plans can be summed up not as fundamental change to the relationship between production and the structure of the global economy but the redistribution of resources – with the clear potential to slip into the destructive pattern now seen in Venezuela that that entails.
When emotions are at the core of the debate in Europe, it is not surprising to see anti-Semitism rear its ugly head on the Left. The danger is clear: Anti-Semitism is built into the miserable situation of the Left. The Left has no practical plan to rescue society from the inequality created by the Right. It has only rhetoric. And when rhetoric is the main thing, the anti-Semitic beast will always be at the center.
