I wanted to write an open letter to Gordon Brown about the ‘Donorgate’ affair. Something was nagging at me by the end of last week about this affair that I had seen/heard/read before.

You might think it was the ‘cash for honours’ scandal which the present crisis has come so hard on its heels is the answer I was looking for, but no, I had already discounted that as being a part of this whole sorry event.

It was whilst I was sorting some old paperbacks today when a rather dusty Emile Zola text caught my eye. It was then that I knew I had read something similar before. Not exactly the same you understand, but with the same mixture of political intrigue, habitual lies and media frenzy that makes this previous affair so relevant to today.

I know it is just a matter of time before the race card will be played by someone in the mainstream media (believe me it already has in the ‘gutter blogs’). The anti-Semites are anyway sharpening their knives whilst the minority participants are arguing amongst themselves to save face and presumably, their livelihoods.

So I set about recreating Zola’s letter with a contemporary if somewhat perverted feeling to it. Heavily summarised for convenience with my own substituted words in the brackets [ ], Zola makes the case for justice.

So here then, is my letter to our Prime Minister:

Sir,

Would you allow me…to show my concern about maintaining your well-deserved prestige and to point out that your star which, until now, has shone so brightly, risks being dimmed by the most shameful and indelible of stains?

…But what filth this wretched [Donorgate] affair has cast on your name — I was about to write 'reign'…And now the image of [Britain] is sullied by this filth, and history shall record that it was under your [premiership] that this crime against society was committed.

As they have dared, so shall I dare. Dare to tell the truth, for I have pledged to tell the full and complete truth if the normal channels of justice failed to do so. My duty is to speak out…Knowing your integrity, I am convinced that you are unaware of the truth. But to whom if not to you, [the Prime Minister], shall I reveal the vile baseness of the real culprits?

* * *

First of all, the truth about Dreyfus' trial and conviction:

The ringleader behind it all is one evil man, [David Abrahams], who was at that point just a [Property Developer]. He is the entire [Donorgate] case, and will not all come to light until an honest enquiry firmly establishes his actions and responsibilities. He appears to be the shadiest and most complex of figures, spinning outlandish intrigues, indulging in the sort of thing one sees in cheap thriller novels: stolen documents, anonymous letters, meetings in deserted locations, mysterious women scuttling around at night, peddling damning evidence. He was the one who came up with the scheme of dictating the text of [his latest media outburst];… I need not say all: seek more and ye shall find. I am simply stating that [David Abrahams], as the [property developer] charged with the [planning application] of the [Donorgate] case, is — chronologically and in terms of responsibility — the prime culprit in the horrid [laundering of funds] that has been committed.

…Information was 'leaked', papers were disappearing, as they are still doing to this day; and, as the search for the author of the [laundering] progressed, little by little, an a priori assumption developed that it could only have come from an officer of the [Labour leadership], and furthermore, [a paid] officer…

…The public was astounded; rumours flew of the most horrible, monstrous, [illegal] acts, lies that were an affront to our history. The public, naturally, was taken in. No punishment could be too harsh. Could these things be true, these unspeakable acts, these deeds so dangerous that they must be carefully hidden behind closed doors to keep [the Labour Government] from going up in flames? …

…I am not even talking about the way the [leadership campaign managers] were hand-picked. Doesn't the overriding idea of discipline, which is the lifeblood of these [agents], itself undermine their capacity for even-handedness? Discipline means obedience…

As I have shown, the [Donorgate] case was a matter internal to the (Labour National Executive]: an officer of the General Staff, denounced by his co-officers of the General Staff, [sacked] under pressure from the Chiefs of Staff. Once again, he cannot be found innocent without the whole General Staff being guilty. Thus, by all means imaginable, by press campaigns, by official communications, by influence, the [National Executive] covered up for [others]…

The government of this [country] should give that den of [iniquity] a good sweeping out! Where is that truly strong, judiciously patriotic administration that will dare to clean house and start afresh? How many people I know who, faced with the possibility of [discovery], tremble in anguish knowing to what hands we are entrusting our nation's [democracy]! And what a nest of vile intrigues, gossip, and destruction that sacred sanctuary that decides the nation's fate has become! We are horrified by the terrible light the [Donorgate] affair has cast upon it all… Ah, what a cesspool of folly and foolishness, what preposterous fantasies, what corrupt [official] tactics, what inquisitorial, tyrannical practices! What petty whims of a few higher-ups trampling the nation under their boots, ramming back down their throats the people's cries for truth and justice, with the travesty of [party politics] as a pretext!

This is the plain truth, Sir, and it is frightful. It will leave a stain on your [premiership]. I realise that you have no power over this case, and that you are limited by the [Labour party] Constitution and your entourage. You have, nevertheless, your duty as a man, which you will recognise and fulfil. Do not think that I despair of triumphing in the slightest. I repeat with the most vehement conviction: truth is on the march, and nothing shall stop it. Today is only the beginning for this case, since it is only today that the positions have been made clear: on one side, the guilty parties, who do not want the light to shine forth, on the other, those who seek justice and who will give their lives to see that light shine. I have said it elsewhere and I repeat it now: when truth is buried underground, it builds up and acquires an explosive force that is destined to blast everything away with it. We shall see whether we have set ourselves up for the most resounding of disasters, yet to come.

But this letter is long, Sir, and it is time to conclude it.

I accuse [David Abrahams] of being the diabolical creator of this act of money laundering and of defending this sorry deed, over the last [six months], by all manner of ludicrous and evil machinations.

I accuse [Jon Mendelssohn] of complicity, at least by mental weakness, in one of the greatest inequities of the century.

I accuse [Harriet Harman] of…covering it up, and making [herself] guilty of this crime against mankind and justice, as a political expedient and a way for the compromised General Staff to save face.

I accuse the [National Executive] of using the press…to conduct an abominable campaign to mislead the general public and cover up their own wrongdoing.

As for the people I am accusing, I do not know them, I have never seen them, and I bear them neither ill will nor hatred. To me they are mere entities, agents of harm to society. The action I am taking is no more than a radical measure to hasten the explosion of truth and justice.

I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of democracy] which has suffered so much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul. Let them dare, then, to bring me before a court of law and let the enquiry take place in broad daylight! I am waiting.

With my deepest respect, Sir.

Émile Zola, 13th January 1898

..which all goes to show how relevant history is or more importantly, how murky politics has remained over more than 100 years since the Dreyfus affair in Paris in which many conspired to lie under oath to save their own skins and to send the innocent Dreyfus to jail for a crime he did not commit. Whereas Anti-Semitism is at the heart of the Dreyfus affair, the Donorgate affair is still to reveal the guilty and the innocent.

My thanks to David Short for the original translation of Zola's letter to English (c. MMIV)