On being a Labour “entryist”
From when I had a precocious interest in politics from my early teens, I was always told that if I wanted to realistically contribute towards forcing socially just and progressive change in the UK, that I should join the Labour Party.
I understood the pragmatism of the argument, but I had my misgivings. Labour did provide record investment in the NHS and education and reduced child poverty, but I remembered growing up under Tony Blair’s Iraq war and the efforts to expand mass surveillance and erode civil liberties, as well as the introduction of tuition fees and increased privatisation in public services.
When Ed Miliband became leader, I was disgusted by Labour’s implicit acceptance of austerity, as the impact of Lib Dem-backed Tory policy unfolded in all of its brutality and cruelty. This is what led me to join the Green Party before the last general election.
But I was finally inspired to join Labour when Jeremy Corbyn became leader. And for the record, I am not a Corbyn cultist — and it seems he thought of himself as an unlikely leader in the first place. As I wrote in Disclaimer Magazine, I think a more dynamic figure like Clive Lewis would be a more effective representative of Corbyn’s ideals.
Like tens of thousands of millennials — and people from all backgrounds and generations — the values that Corbyn promotes makes me proud to be Labour. This is fundamentally the vision of a democratic socialist society that prevents inequality, discrimination and prejudice rather than increases them.
And how are these hundreds of thousands of new Labour members thanked for engaging the grassroots and democratic processes of the party, despite the reservations they may have about Labour’s record under Blair and Brown?
They are smeared as enemy-within Trotskyists — an ideological distinction that is probably irrelevant to 99% of Labour members — and barred from voting in the next leadership election by an National Executive Committee using legal instruments funded by cash gleaned from the same members.
And to think the Corbyn supporters are the ones accused of bullying and nastiness.
Ultimately, regardless of how Corbyn remains in the position of leader, his legacy will have been solidifying Labour as an anti-austerity party that engages with hundreds of thousands of individuals and communities as a diverse and grassroots democracy.
This is why his only challenger Owen Smith, is framing himself as a “more credible” alternative, but still one who is “radical” and opposed to austerity.
The opponents of Corbyn and what he stands for may continue to employ insults and lawyers in an effort to obstruct and invalidate the members who agree with Corbyn’s message.
But the more desperately they do so the more they seem to be — to quote the Hull poet Stevie Smith — not waving but drowning. But they can avoid drowning if they take advice from an oft-used internet meme and deal with it. The Labour of the anti-austerity, pro-social justice grassroots is here to stay.
