Reluctant Corbynism Revisited

So much for the hope of reconciliation. Late Friday night, Zarah Sultana announced she was seeking legal advice against unspecified instances of defamation. And on Saturday, a new effort by other prominent Your Party supporters to try and make the "leadership" see sense reported that only one side was open to mediation. Yet at the conference of Jeremy Corbyn's Peace and Justice campaign group, the man himself defended Karie Murphy from "abuse" she had received and vowed again to press on with the foundation of the new party. Its conference will still take place in November, he said. For a bit more context and how the Gaza Independents and Collective, the group around Corbyn, sees things, Andrew Murray appears to have a good grasp on their thinking.

It's all a bit depressing. Undoubtedly, who's to blame for what will rumble on for some time yet, and there doesn't seem much point giving more recrimination a turn on the spit. But on the question of what now, for those of us who won't be trekking over to the Greens, we are stuck with the process Corbyn agreed with his Gaza Independent colleagues. Which, according to the 15th September email from Your Party HQ, means the membership is to open within the next fortnight, instruments of online deliberation and document submission are going to be made available, mass regional meetings to debate these will be organised, and then a delegated - determined by sortition - founding conference with some direct membership voting. Also to be launched is The People Speak campaign, which is a huge canvassing effort to get the party known on the doorstep, recruit supporters, and find out what the issues are. As most parties rarely door knock between elections - and some, such as Reform, don't even do that, this is a good idea. But it's sure to be a patchy affair with the ad hoc character of the YP groups that currently exist.

Setting critiques of this process aside, there is now no path to a new party except Corbyn's route with the time available to us. He has effectively been the leader of the left for the last decade, and he became this not through some magical process or hero worship - though the latter undoubtedly exists - but because he served as a lightning rod for the discontent and grievances that were studiously and intentionally ignored by mainstream politics. A situation that still remains the case today. Using the platform the Labour leadership contest supplied, he enthused hundreds of thousands of people and when put to the electoral test, even in the dire circumstances of the 2019 general election, there was more of a popular appetite for what he was saying than Starmerism has fostered, even at its peak. Corbyn was the condenser and subsequent embodiment of a mass movement and as such all the personal attacks on him, the internal right wing shenanigans now freely admitted to, and orchestrated media hit jobs were and continue to be efforts at forcing that movement back into a box.

This has not changed. No other left wing figure is close in name recognition, popularity and, where our opponents are concerned, notoriety. Corbyn has become the focal point, a personality through whom the stuff of history has elected to flow. And so, despite frustrations, well-worn criticisms of his record and politics, and regardless of whether one leans towards Team Jeremy or Team Zarah in the current fracas, the ballast lies with Corbyn. Only he can be the midwife of the new party. No one else right now has the ability or authority to draw together hundreds of thousands of people that can win over millions and set British politics off in a new, brighter, more hopeful direction. Obviously, an urgent task of the new party is to raise up a generation of new leaders so that, as we root ourselves in our workplaces and communities, we shake off dependence on the charismatic figurehead. And besides, Corbyn will be 80 come the next election and has to be considering retirement. He deserves to spend more time with Laura and his allotment.

In 2016, I wrote about 'reluctant Corbynism' in reference to the small layer of Labour members who moved left during the first year of his leadership of the party and supported Corbyn against the effort to oust him. This was 'reluctant' because they were motivated more by the disgust and scorched earth chicanery of the parliamentary party and their helpers in the Labour machine than enthusiasm for Corbyn's brand. It was based on an appreciation that democracy matters, and that sovereignty in the labour movement belongs to the people that make it up. The specifics today have changed, but the way things have played out is that reluctant Corbynism, which is much larger now than it was then, has to come to terms with the fact this is the only game in town where starting a new party is concerned. Just ask the far left and other recent initiatives about how they've been getting along with their party building projects.

Comrades, you might not like it. But this is where we are. Carrying on meeting as local groups and starting new ones is the best course of action for now, and is much more productive than shouting on social media. We have to take Corbyn at his word that he sees himself and his immediate supporters as facilitators of the new party. Thankfully, as politicians go, Corbyn does have a track record of honesty and keeping to his promises. We might be reluctant Corbynists, but a great prize is within reach. As such we have no choice but to exercise patience.

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