ZARAH Sultana has said the Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn “capitulated” over anti-semitism.
In a newly released interview, Sultana said the new left-wing political party she is launching with Corbyn must understand the “limitations” of Corbynism, as well as its strengths.
The MP for Coventry South, who lost the Labour whip in July 2024 and is currently sitting as an independent, told The New Left Review that under Corbyn, the party should not have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
Corbyn served as leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020.
Sultana said the new party, which does not yet have an official name, should learn the lessons of how Labour under Corbyn handled attacks from “the state and the media”.
We previously told how 200,000 people signed up to Corbyn and Sultana’s party in less than 24 hours.
In a lengthy interview, Sultana was asked how Corbynism could be adapted to the present.
“I think we’re in a very different political moment,” she said.
“We have to build on the strengths of Corbynism – its energy, mass appeal and bold policy platform – and we also have to recognise its limitations. It capitulated to the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which famously equates it with anti-Zionism, and which even its lead author Kenneth Stern has now publicly criticised.
“It triangulated on Brexit, which alienated huge numbers of voters. It abandoned mandatory reselection of MPs for the trigger ballot compromise, keeping many of the party’s undemocratic structures in place.”
The IHRA definition is not legally binding, and states: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
On the Holocaust remembrance website, the IHRA adds that an example of this could be: “Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.
“However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for; why things go wrong’.”
Sultana argued that more effort should have been made to “channel” its members into the labour movement and tenants unions to enrich “the party’s social base”.
“When it came under attack from the state and the media, it should have fought back, recognising that these are our class enemies,” she added.
“If we’re contesting state power, we’re going to face a major backlash, and we need to have the institutional resilience to withstand it. You cannot give these people an inch.”
Sultana said that power in Labour was “too centralised” and that the new party should take a different approach.
“We now have a younger generation that is highly politicised due to the establishment’s disastrous policies on housing, education, employment and war,” she added.
“They are going to demand a seat at the table and the ability to wield actual power, and rightfully so.
“My vision for the new party is about that kind of active participation, because that’s how I got into politics myself: not by the traditional route of running as a councillor, but through social movements.”
The MP added that members should feel involved and that the party should be “representative of wider society”.
“That also means we can’t soft-pedal our anti-racism,” she added.
“Some people want us to focus solely on the ‘economic issues’. But if the politics of class is detached from the politics of race then it is bound to fail – because when our neighbours are being simultaneously targeted for eviction and deportation, that struggle is one and the same.”
