The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), known as Poale Zion (Great Britain) from 1903 to 2004, is a Labour Zionist socialist society affiliated with the UK Labour Party.Jeremy Corbyn "Foreword" in Labour's Socialist Societies 2017, Unison. "The Jewish Labour Movement – one of our oldest socialist societies – represent the deep and historical ties between the labour movement and the Jewish community" (p.5) It was a member of the Avodah–Meretz–Arzenu–Ameinu grouping within the World Zionist Organization.
JLM is affiliated with the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The organisation's stated aims include maintaining and promoting Labour Zionism and supporting the development of political activists aligned with the Jewish Labour Movement's principles.
Aims and membership The organisation states that its aim is "to organise and maintain a political movement of Jewish people within the UK Labour Party and the international labour movement".
Full membership is open to Jews, while non-Jewish supporters may apply for ally membership. Only full members are eligible to vote in JLM decision-making processes and internal elections. Individuals who are members of political parties that oppose the Labour Party in elections are ineligible for membership.
The Jewish Labour Movement's stated values are based on a relationship between the Labour Party and Labour Zionism. These values are set out in the organisation's constitution and include support for international peace and cooperation; democratic socialism in the United Kingdom and Israel; the application of Jewish ethical principles to the pursuit of social justice and environmental sustainability; the promotion of the centrality of Israel in Jewish life; and opposition to fascist, racist, and antisemitic groups.
Poale Zion Establishment Poale Zion in Britain originated in the Ma'aravi ("Western") Society, which was formed in London in 1902 by the Jewish journalist Kalman Marmor, influenced by the Eastern European Labour Zionist movement led by Ber Borochov.Alderman, Geoffrey Modern British Jewry, Clarendon Press, 1998, p. 175. Branches of Poale Zion were established in London and Leeds in 1903–1904 and 1905 respectively,Cohen, Stuart A. English Zionists and British Jews: The Communal Politics of Anglo-Jewry, 1895–1920 Princeton University Press, p. 59-60.Fishman, William. East End Jewish Radicals London: Duckworth 1975 p. 306. and in Manchester and Liverpool by 1906. Two branches operated in London, one affiliated with the garment workers' union and the other with the Independent Cabinet Makers Union.Alderman, p. 76. A permanent headquarters was opened in Whitechapel in February 1904, and a national organisation was formally established at a conference held in Manchester in 1906.Mendes, p. 217.Alderman, p. 74.
Early 20th century Poale Zion was active in Britain during World War I under the leadership of J Pomeranz and Morris Meyer and was influential on the British labour movement. During this period, it contributed to discussions surrounding the Labour Party's War Aims Memorandum, drafted by Sidney Webb and Arthur Henderson, which expressed support for Jewish settlement in Palestine. This document preceded the Balfour Declaration by three months.Gorny, chapter 1. At this time, Poale Zion published the periodical Jewish Labour Correspondence.
After the war, Poale Zion produced several pamphlets in Yiddish and published a Yiddish-language journal, Undzer Veg. Shlomo Kaplansky collaborated with the Independent Labour Party in the establishment of the International Working Union of Socialist Parties.
In mid-1920, the World Union of Poale Zion, based in Vienna, established a London office led by Kaplansky and David Ben-Gurion. The office was located in Petticoat Lane, where Moshe Sharett worked part-time translating material from Yiddish into English. The organisation developed contacts with both the Labour Party and the Independent Labour Party and achieved affiliation with the British Labour Party in 1920 under the name the Jewish Socialist Labour Party.Gorny, p. 27. It reported a membership of approximately 3,000, though actual membership was several hundred. Among the policy issues it sought to influence was the determination of the northern border of Mandatory Palestine at the San Remo conference, advocating for an extension to the Litani River. Its influence on the Labour Party's Middle East policy was limited, and the London office closed in March 1921.Teveth, Shabtai (1987) Ben-Gurion. The Burning Ground. 1886–1948. Houghton Mifflin. . pp. 169, 172, 174–5, 177.Gorny, p. 25.
Ramsay MacDonald was among Labour figures associated with Poale Zion, and the organisation published his pamphlet A Socialist in Palestine (1922), which documented his visit to the region.Nelson Ian Martin (2008) "The British New Labour Party and Political Zionism: Continuity of an essential dilemma", thesis, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: https://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1940/ p/73 In 1923, Leah L'Estrange Malone became the organisation's first female chair. By 1928, the World Union of Poale Zion reported approximately 1,000 members in the United Kingdom.Labour and Socialist International. Kongress-Protokolle der Sozialistischen Arbeiter-Internationale – B. 3.1 Brüssel 1928. Glashütten im Taunus: D. Auvermann, 1974. p. IV. 100. That year, World Poale Zion leader Dov Hoz was based in the UK and undertook efforts to revive and reorganise Poale Zion (Great Britain), including encouraging members to engage more actively within the Labour Party.Gorny, p. 54.
Young Poale Zion was established in Bethnal Green, London, in 1928 by Sam Dreen.Rubinstein and Jolles, p. 228.
Poale Zion and Dov Hoz were involved in the 1930 Whitechapel and St George's by-election, during which Jewish voters supported the non-Jewish Labour candidate James Henry Hall over the Jewish Liberal candidate Barnett Janner.Gorny, chapter 4.
During the 1940s, Poale Zion (Great Britain) reported a membership of nearly 2,000.
Late 20th century In 1957, Poale Zion was involved in the establishment of Labour Friends of Israel,Edmunds with which it has continued to cooperate.
Prior to the Six-Day War in 1967, Poale Zion represented a prevailing Zionist perspective within the British Labour Party. As anti-Zionist positions became more prominent on the party's left, relations with that section of the party became increasingly strained. In April 1983, women members of Poale Zion were prevented from attending an International Women's Day seminar at the Greater London Council's County Hall, and in 1984 a proposal was made to end the organisation's association with the Labour Party.
In June 1982, Poale Zion established a Scottish branch, with Maurice Miller, Member of Parliament for East Kilbride, serving as its chair.Edmunds, p. 136. During the mid-1980s, the organisation reported a paper membership of 2,000.Silver, Robert. "Labour loses the Jews", The Spectator 15 December 1984, p. 13. Retrieved 9 April 2019. In 1985, Eric Heffer cited Poale Zion as a possible model for a Black socialist society within the Labour Party, in the context of discussions surrounding the Labour Party Black Sections.Jeffers, Sydney. "Black Sections in the Labour Party" in Werbner, Pnina and Anwar, Muhammed (eds), Black and Ethnic Leaderships, Routledge, 2009 In the 1990s, Poale Zion affiliated with the Anti-Racist Alliance, and later with its successor organisation, the National Assembly Against Racism.Georg Lentze Racial Thinking in the British Labour Party, University of Southampton PhD, p.222
Notable postwar members of Poale Zion included Maurice Orbach;MendesAlderman, p. 101. Samuel Fisher, Baron Fisher of Camden; Leo Abse, who established the Cardiff branch in 1948;Rubinstein and Jolles, p. 13. Mary MikardoEdmunds, p. 137. and Ian Mikardo;Dalyell, Tam, "The Old Left", in Beech, Matt; Hickson, Kevin; Plant, Raymond (eds), The Struggle for Labour's Soul: Understanding Labour's Political Thought Since 1945, Routledge, 2 August 2004, pp. 248–9. Simon Pinner and his son Hayim Pinner, who served as president of the youth wing and as editor of its newspaper Jewish Vanguard during the 1960s;Rubinstein and Jolles, p. 756. Leslie and Harold Lever, with Leslie Lever serving as chair;Rubinstein and Jolles, p. 298. Percy Sassoon Gourgey, who served as secretary in 1959 and as chair from 1964 to 1967;Rubinstein and Jolles, p. 364. Sidney Goldberg, general secretary at the time of the Six-Day War; and Eric Moonman, who served as chair during the 1970s. Reg Freeson served as political secretary, co-chair, and editor of the journal Vanguard from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. During the 1990s, Lawrie Nerva served as chair. In 2002, Louise Ellman held the position of vice-chair.
Jewish Labour Movement 2004–2015 Poale Zion (Great Britain) was relaunched as the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM) in 2004. According to an account by Louise Ellman, the relaunch event took place in July 2004 at the House of Commons, and included participation by the Israeli ambassador and the Foreign Office minister responsible for Middle East affairs, as well as messages of support from the Prime Minister, the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and the World Labour Zionist Movement.
Ellman became chair of the Jewish Labour Movement in 2006, having previously served as vice-chair, and held the position until 2016. Representatives of JLM participated as speakers in the official commemorations of the Battle of Cable Street on its 75th and 80th anniversaries in 2011 and 2016.Elgot, Jessica. "Cable Street march remembered 75 years on" The Jewish Chronicle. 4 October 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2019."Corbyn speaks of mother's role in Battle of Cable Street" Jewish News, 9 October 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2019. During the 2015 Labour Party leadership election, the Jewish Labour Movement nominated Yvette Cooper.Which CLPs nominated who in the 2015 Labour leadership contest?, New Statesman. 1 August 2015. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
The 2016 restructure After serving ten years as chair, Louise Ellman stepped down and became Honorary President. She was succeeded by Jeremy Newmark, a former chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council and a former spokesperson for the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks. Newmark had also stood as the Labour Party parliamentary candidate for Finchley and Golders Green in the 2017 general election. Sarah Sackman and Mike Katz were elected as vice-chairs.
Peter Mason was appointed national secretary. He was subsequently elected to the Labour Party's National Constitutional Committee, which is responsible for handling disciplinary cases, becoming the first candidate associated with the Jewish Labour Movement to be elected to a national Labour committee in 20 years. This followed recommendations made in the Chakrabarti Inquiry, which proposed transferring additional powers to the committee.
Commenting on the organisation's position within the Labour Party, The Jewish Chronicle noted that JLM's affiliation as a socialist society provided it with access to internal party structures. The newspaper reported that Newmark stated that Jewish members should remain engaged within the Labour Party rather than leave it, in order to maintain representation and influence. Newmark stated that the purpose of the Jewish Labour Movement was to serve as an organising focus within the party for members who regarded Labour as their political home.
In March 2016, David Hirsh wrote that the Jewish Labour Movement was emerging as an organising focus within the Labour Party. The Jewish Chronicle described JLM as a meeting point for moderate Labour members opposed to the party's direction under Jeremy Corbyn. During this period, affiliate membership was introduced for non-Jewish supporters, and overall membership increased to approximately 1,000.