Jeremy Corbyn

The failings of Corbynism were more than the failings of Jeremy Bernard Corbyn; they were the failings of a generation of the entire British socialist left, in all variants, as well.

Order our booklet, published July 2021, here.

Richard Price from Labour Briefing Co-op reviews Corbynism: what went wrong?

Marxist economist Michael Roberts (thenextrecession.wordpress.com) has long argued and campaigned to take the banking and financial system into public ownership. He spoke to us about why. Why is public ownership of banking and finance an important demand for the working class and labour movement? What are the key arguments? Banking is an important service for ordinary workers, households and businesses, particularly small businesses. When we get our wage packets, they’re normally paid into bank accounts, and when we conduct most of our transactions they’re conducted with bank cards or credit...

Jeremy Corbyn’s “Project for Peace and Justice” had 7,000 log in for its launch rally online on Sunday 17 January. Sadly, the proposals on the four areas chosen — Green New Deal, Economic Security, International Justice, Democratic Society — extended only to a promise to have experts devise new policies, plus calls to sign petitions, help local food banks, and favour “peace and diplomacy” rather than “conflict and inequality”. Jeremy Corbyn also plugged the Morning Star. There was little mention of working-class action (beyond a general appeal from chair Christine Blower to support trade...

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn is launching a new "Peace and Justice Project". Sadly, its basis is no defined policies, but rather that it is "founded by Jeremy Corbyn". Its website is not named after policies or even general ideals, but thecorbynproject.com. The Labour left surely needs to remobilise, after the disarray created by Labour's erratic floundering over Brexit and antisemitism, the December 2019 election defeat, and the (only weakly-resisted) shutting down of local Labour Party life in March-July 2020 on the pretext of virus precautions. Solidarity has argued for the...

Young Labour chair Jess Barnard was “instructed” by Labour Party HQ on 23 November to “take down” a tweet by Young Labour in favour of restoring the whip to Jeremy Corbyn. Barnard stood firm, so the tweet is still there, and there’s no news of moves by Labour HQ to suspend Barnard or shut down YL.

Phil Pope (web comment): Do you think the scale of antisemitism in Labour was understated, overstated, or defined precisely as it is? Do you think there is more or less antisemitism in Labour than in other political parties or in society at large. As you have quoted the CST (which you generously describe as a community charity) you might want to refer to their research. Rhodri Evans replies: Antisemitism in Labour — “understated, overstated, or defined precisely as it is?”, asks Phil Pope. The current blow-up in the Labour Party started with Jeremy Corbyn choosing (when he could just have kept...

Above: The "Mear One" mural: Jeremy Corbyn supported it when the local council led by Lutfur Rahman removed it, but then apologised A panel of the Labour Party National Executive has (17 November 2020) reinstated Jeremy Corbyn after: • he responded to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's legally-enforceable report (29 October 2020) finding the Labour Party culpable for antisemitism by saying that "the problem was dramatically overstated for political reasons" and conceding only that he could not claim "no antisemitism" in the Labour Party because of course there would be some "as there...

Back in 2018, a writer in Solidarity described Corbyn’s response to allegations of antisemitism in Labour under his leadership: “Corbyn agrees there is a problem. He responds under pressure, moves in the direction his critics are pointing to, but it is as if he cannot understand what the fuss is about ... everything is low-energy, insufficient, ineffectual, can be seen or portrayed as evasive, as lacking conviction ...” That description sprang to mind when reading Corbyn’s response to the EHRC report: instead of an apology for what happened (and didn’t happen) on his watch, there was the claim...