Corbyn led tributes to late Labour/anti-war activist Walter Wolfgang and it really riled some people
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has led tributes to lifelong party campaigner, CND co-founder and anti-war activist Walter Wolfgang, who died on May 28.
Mr Wolfgang belonged to a Jewish family who suffered persecution in Nazi Germany. He escaped in 1937 and his parents followed him to the UK two years later.
He joined the Labour Party in 1948 and co-founded the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) 10 years later. In the late 1970s he was a leading member of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, which seeks reforms to the party structure that give constituency parties more power.
He may be best-known as the man who heckled then-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw during the 2005 Labour Party conference, shouting “Nonsense!” when Mr Straw claimed the UK’s armed forces were in Iraq only to help that country’s democratically-elected government “build a secure, democratic and stable nation”.
The following year, Mr Wolfgang was elected into a place on Labour’s National Executive Committee.
And in August 2015, Mr Wolfgang endorsed Jeremy Corbyn’s candidacy in the Labour Party leadership election. Mr Corbyn won.
It seems clear that Mr Wolfgang and Mr Corbyn had been friends for many years; their political views were closely-aligned.
Here is Mr Corbyn’s tribute:
Sadly, it seems at least one person has seen fit to manipulate the death of this great campaigner, using it as an excuse to attack Mr Corbyn:
How charming to intrude on a man’s grief by calling him a “vulture”.
This is one of the individuals who are trying to sue me for defamation against them.
Draw your own conclusions.
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It appears to me that Tracy Ann Oberman is particularly riled that this great campaigner’s final thoughts were with the Labour Party and the peace movement. That always seems to me be the basis behind her bile, it’s not Corbyn as such, it’s what Corbyn represents, which is an anathema to them. Just off to add a little bit more to your fighting fund!
As I recall, when Mr Wolfgang heckled Straw or one of the other New Labour elite, he was physically thrown out of the conference hall by the thugs stewarding the event. Naturally it caused massive outrage at the time and got on Have I Got News For You. What a disgraceful way to handle anyone, let along an elderly political veteran! But that was Blair’s New Labour for you: completely intolerant of real Labour members, supporters and activists.
That is correct. And it is not just about Walter Wolfgang because he was an accredited delegate. When he tried to re-enter the hall he was threatened under anti-terrorist laws.
Vultures do a good job in helping to prevent disease.
unsurprisingly as a disabled benefits scrounger, as the idiots in the gestapo and nazi government are concerned, i am unable to afford to give anything for the prosecution of the lier’s you are hoping to prosecute. however if i had the money i would have paid the full amount needed for this. i hate bullies, lier’s and all bigots with no respect for cultural differences. this woman attacking corbyn now can and should be prosecuted for antisemitism. her remark is not just an affront to corbyn but the man he was paying tribute to and the mans family and friends in the jewish community.
What an appalling woman and comment. Disgusting.
And her relationship with Walter Wolfgang is..? I take it [loud sarcastic voice] that they were very close since she feels entitled to comment on social media.
Where is Riley’s opportunistic and dishonest exploitation of this sad passing? Surely they are in this dishonest campaign of painting Corbyn as an antisemite and racist together?
You might think so. I could not possibly comment.
Sadly his voice will be missed amongst us showing us the way forward rip
When I see the reply tweet, I am reminded of a question that Alan Partridge once put to one of his guests, Forbes McAllister:
“Can I ask you something. Are you entirely motivated by hatred?”
Looks like TA Oberman has deleted her comment. Should we be surprised?