Jewish Socialists' Group

The Jewish Socialists' Group (JSG) is a Jewish socialist collective in Britain, formed in the 1970s.

The JSG was founded in Manchester/Liverpool in the mid-1970s as lobby group campaigning against the fascist National Front and for the left to relate more positively to Jewish issues. A London branch formed in 1977 .

The JSG supported the original Anti-Nazi League and was active in street-level militant anti-fascism. It participated in the Beyond the Fragments conference which sought to renew democratic socialism.

In the early 1980s, it was active in campaigning for peace in Israel/Palestine, becoming a founding member of the International Jewish Peace Union and the Campaign for Israel-Palestine Peace (CIPP).

It developed a perspective drawing on the tradition of the Bund, stressing Yiddishism, cultural pluralism and a commitment to the vitality of the diaspora. In this it worked with French neo-Bundist Richard Marienstrasse and the Medem Jewish Socialist Group in New York.

In the mid-1980s, it became associated with the Greater London Council's municipal socialism and multiculturalism, receiving funding to launch Jewish Cultural and Anti-Racist Project (JCARP). It was frequently in conflict with the Jewish communal leadership, and in particular the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen (AJEX).

A magazine, "Jewish Socialist", was launched in 1985, which continues publication today. Some of the figures associated with the JSG in this period included Battle of Cable Street veteran Charlie Goodman, Joe Garman, veteran Jewish trade unionist Mick Mindel, poet Michael Rosen, and Bundist veteran Majer Bogdanski.

Activities in the 1990s include the launch of the Szmul Zygielbojm Memorial Committee, comedy nights featuring Jo Brand, Jeremy Hardy, Linda Smith, Arnold Brown and Ivor Dembina, and events commemorating the Bund’s 100th anniversary celebration.

External links

* [http://www.jewishsocialist.org.uk/ JSG website]