THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
22—Friday, November 6, 1970

Unsavory Role of British Labor Party

By S. J. GOLDSMITH

Copyright 1970, JTA, Inc.

LONDON—Fifty years ago, the
British Poale Zion affiliated to the
Labor Party (founded in 1900) and
became one of its constituent
bodies. This was of course a group
affiliation. There are many Jewish
individuals who are members of
the Labor Party, as there are many
who are members of the Liberal
Party and the Conservative — or
Tory — Party.
Until Labor came to power for
the first time, the "marriage" was
ideal. What could be more natural
for Jewish workers in the East
End of London, in Leeds and Man-
chester, Glasgow and Newcastle,
than to affiliate to the only So-
cialist 'party in the United King-
dom, which fought not only for
better wages at home but also for
a better world in general? Jewish
intellectuals of the time applauded
the affiliation. And so did the early
Histadrut leaders of Israel (the
Histadrut was established at about
the same time).
But then we had the Passfield •
White Paper on Palestine, In
1930, which in effect repudiated
the Balfour Declaration and gave
control over immigration to the
Arab majority. This from a Labor
government and a Labor Party
to which the Poale Zion were
affiliated since 1920! What a way
to celebrate the 10th annnversary
of the affillatlon!—a Jewish So-
cialist of the day exclaimed in
his anguish.
Still, the affiliation survived.
But the Labor government did not.
Within a year the government fell_
Today, Lord Passfield is but a

nasty memory. If he were an iso-
lated case, this article would not
have been written. What is more
important, the 50th anniversary
would have been celebrated in a
more relaxed mood, and Ian Mi-
kardo, the acting chairman of the
Labor Party, would not have had
to stay at the anniversary dinner
that, in regard to Israel, showed
Labor in office never lived up to
its promises while in opposition.
Naturally, there is aiways a ten-
dency to gloss over unpleasant
facts when both sides are anxious
to save the "marriage" . . . The
leader of the opposition, Harold
Wilson, attended the dinner and
made a friendly speech. He even
chided Mikardo for his "re-writing
of history." But the facts are on
Mikardo's side, and Wilson knew
it, of course. Other people pointed
out since that to sweep the dirt
under the carpet and pretend the
place is hygienic is rather un-
healthy .. .
What are the sad facts?
A Labor government—under
Atlee—returned survivors of Nazi
camps to Hamburg when they
tried to go to Palestine. Labor
Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin
tried to destroy the Jewish Na-
tional Home and strangulate the
Jewish state before it was born.
lie did not succeed but be had
a good try. And success is not a
qualifying condition for some-
body to go down in history as
an arch anti-Semite. Haman did
not succeed either. Richard
Crossman, a Socialist leader of
great distinction, a former min-
ister and nowadays the editor of
the New Statesman, has said in

Histadrut Hits El Al Strikers

TEL AVIV—(JTA)—Some 450
El Al ground maintenance crew
members continued their week-long
work slowdown Tuesday despite
an appeal from the airline manage-
ment and pressure from Histadrut
to end it.
El Al Managing Director Meyer
Ben Ari, who returned from a
meeting in Teheran Monday, was

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scheduled to meet with a commit-
tee of the workers. The El Al
board of directors warned Monday
night that-if the slowdown is not
ended immediately, Israel air com-
munications would be severely
damaged and considerable harm
would be caused to the workers
themselves.
The slowdown has forced El Al
to curtail its flights out of Lydda
Airport. Only four out of nine
scheduled flights took off Tuesday.
Histadrut, Israel's trade union fed-
eration, has opposed the work slow-
down. It warned the workers that
it would withdraw its protection if
they did not desist. Histadrut of-
ficials have called their wage de-
mands "outrageous."
The slowdown tactics spread
Sunday to electric power workers
in Tel Aviv, Ashdod and Eilat, who
are also demanding wage hikes.
Only 60 per cent of normal power
was provided, causing some indus-
trial plants to shut down and
others to use their emergency
diesel generators.
Despite the work slowdown, El
Al announced today that it would
inaugurate a second weekly flight
to Johannesburg, South Africa,
as a result of prolonged negoti-
ations with the South African
government. El Al flights to South
Africa have been limited to one a
week since the service was estab-
lished in 1951.
The continuation of the strike
may cause a delay in bringing the
jumbo jet 747 into service next
summer.
The striking workers included a
special "jumbo 747" clause in
which they demanded a special in-
crease in pay to those who would
be qualified to maintain this plane.
Otherwise, the workers refused to
even start the special mechanical
course which will prepare workers
to handle the large jet.
As things now stand, there seems
to be no chance that the main-
tenance workers will resume nor-
mal work. If they do not start the
mechanical course on time, El Al
management will have to delay
operating its giant plane for
another year.

Every step forward is made at
the cost of mental and physical
pain to someone.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

public that Bevin, the Socialist
Bevin if you please, made a
reconciliation between Jew and
Arab impossible for all time. All
time was a rhetorical exaggera-
tion perhaps, but it is so for the
time being, as we all know.
Again, what a way to celebrate
the 25th anniversary of the af-
filiation!
Now, you may say this was a
quarter of a century ago and even
a week in politics is a long time.
But let us see what the Wilson
government did for—or against—
Israel.
It was the Labor government
under Harold Wilson who closed
down the Hebrew service of the
BBC. Lord Hill, chairman of the
BBC, said 'afterwards, for publi-
cation too, that he was against it,
and that the excuse of saving
expenses was silly, since the BBC
was spending more on paper clips
than on the Hebrew service. The
government was also told, in good
time, that Israel would manage
without Hebrew from London, but
Jews in the Soviet Union, Romania,
Yugoslavia and other Eastern
European countries were listening
to it regularly. Imagine, at a time
when they were all killing them-
selves for every single listener,
the BBC gave up scores of thou-
sands, at the insistence of some
Arabists at the Foreign office .. .
It was a shameful act, the more
shameful because a non-political
one, in a way.
Then there -was the case of the
Chieftain tanks. It was not a mere
refusal to sell. The Chieftains were
tested by the Israelis. Improve-
ments suggested by them were
incorporated. Then they were told
that they could not buy the very
same tanks they had helped to
make operational. A couple of
weeks later, Libya was offered
the Chieftains .. .
Let it be said that in opposi-
tion the Labor Party fought the
Macdonald White Paper of 1939
and adopted pro-Zionist resolu-
tions at every annual conference
until the party came to power.
Now it is quite pro-Israel once
more. The Blackpool resolution
on the Middle East is satisfac-
tory from a Zionist point of view.
This is what Mikardo meant
when he spoke of the discrepancy
between Labor's attitude to Israel

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