On the New Statesman Protest

I once attended a demonstration called by the local PCS branch that attracted a mammoth 14 people. Not great, but it was enough to get a hack from the local rag to run a story about their grievances. But have you seen this nonsense about the protest outside the New Statesman offices this evening? Sparsely attended and completely messed up, this just makes Corbyn supporters look mad and brittle. But, as with all things, there is a logic.

Having previously piddled in the puddle of far left politics, I know doing something about setting realistic and achievable goals. For a small group of activists, this can help develop camaraderie and deepen solidarity among those taking part in an action. Selling 100 newspapers in a week, filling a coach, getting a fair few to a rally, delivering 5,000 leaflets in super quick time, no doubt some would sneer at such things but it's these myriad actions that have kept the far left going long past their use by date. If you break out the microscope and focus in on the foundations of the Labour Party, the trade unions, and the cooperative movement, you'll espy pretty much the same thing going on there too.

And so, the protesters' demand that the New Statesman hands 30 of its pages over to pro-Corbyn voices probably won't succeed. But in a sense, it has. Political Editor/Generalissimo George Eaton came down to see what the fuss was about and was followed around by a man with a placard (protest pro tip: use oven gloves). Buzzfeed were there and threw something together about it and, most importantly, it attracted the attention of the early evening Twitterati. In the age of trend or it didn't happen, I think the organisers will be pleased with the outcome, even though it makes them and Jeremy supporters look like a box of tools.

What this underlines, again, is the political weakness of the left. Over 18 months on from the Corbyn surge, there is little sign of a deeper politicisation of the newly activated. There has been a slow burn involvement of new comrades getting drifting into party structures and big campaigns, but there has been no concerted effort to develop them further. The recent Momentum conference sounded more like a management away day than a group interested in equipping its support politically for the struggles in the Labour Party and wider society. Likewise the web-based media that have grown influential off the back of the Corbyn movement - The Canary, Evolve Politics, SKWAWKBOX - merely reflect back to the reader what they know or already suspect. There's little attempt at analysing things, understanding things. I haven't the foggiest why the excellent Left Futures blog isn't heavily promoted via Momentum's extensive social media networks, which does deal in the weightier stuff and might help shift things along.

The longer the political gap goes unaddressed, the more pointless and counterproductive stunts there will be.