End of Labour Pains?

The collapse of the Soviet Union might have marked the end of doctrinaire Marxism and made Marxian analysis obsolete and brought all Marxists down to earth—and out of work; but it had done nothing to end injustice in the world, or obviated the need for revolutionary or parliamentary struggle against it—and nor yet has it […]

The collapse of the Soviet Union might have marked the end of doctrinaire Marxism and made Marxian analysis obsolete and brought all Marxists down to earth—and out of work; but it had done nothing to end injustice in the world, or obviated the need for revolutionary or parliamentary struggle against it—and nor yet has it put an end to the enduring appeal of a populism like that of the Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn’s that is anchored on it.
And after trying various doomed experiments, including, most recently, that of New Labour, it is to the Old Guard—doctrinaire and ultra-republican to the core—that the British Labour Party turned for its leadership. And on Tuesday, September 18, in an election unprecedented both for the landslide it gave the winner, and for his being a hitherto perpetual backbench outsider, the party chose Corbyn its leader—and a possible future prime minister of Britain.
There are many lessons for us in the election, because Corbyn’s election as party leader has many parallels to the election of Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria. As in the case of President Buhari, it was the issue of integrity and staying power demonstrated by the candidate, more than anything else, that accounted for Corbyn’s popularity, which led large number of British Labourites to root for him; and, in an unprecedented election, brought a perennial backbencher, an absolute outsider, a dyed-in-the-wool, unreformed and uncompromising socialist of the Old School to the leadership of the British Labour Party that was supposed to have been reengineered for the 21st century. And this election, which is the last nail in the coffin of the legacy of Prime Minister Tony Blair, marks the definitive end of New Labour in Britain.
No doubt, Corbyn had the courage and patience of his Socialist convictions: he was never swayed from them by the temporary temptations of the transient power of expectant front-benching; never deflected from his chosen path by disappointments of long delays in the realisation of the promises of Socialism; and he was not taken in by the lure of pursuing what is fashionable. He exercised parliamentary patience: according to one commentator, Corbyn’s “trademark has been principles over strategy, idealism over pragmatism.”
Yet despite all his tough-minded optimism idealism, ideology for Corbyn is all about how to practically fight poverty on the ground in the here and now; and this, in the main, consists in ensuring that there is food on the table, shelter over the head and state care by the side and decency at home; and, internationally, it is not about fighting other people’s war but about being a moral force in the world.
But with a split British Labour Party that became fractured, and disunited by Corbyn’s victory, with election five years away, after Corbyn’s populism might have died down; and, especially, after the unnecessary media hysteria created in the aftermath of the spectacular victory, a Labour victory in the parliamentary election will be a difficult proposition. With the election of Corbyn as party leader, as political pregnancies go, the Labour Party is now expecting, but it is still unclear what Britain is supposed to expect; and the question in the circumstance is: will delivery, expected of election time, end all Labour pains?
With a British media that is decidedly hostile—he lacks its support but he has made it clear that he is not looking for it—he may lurch back to the social media that seems to be serving his purposes well. Nonetheless, without media support, Corbyn has already began to affect the tenor of politics in Britain—and even while yet tieless and with hair let down, he has sought to remodel the Prime Minister’s Question Time, a weekly parliamentary ritual when the leader of the opposition tasks the sitting prime minister with questions on policy and the details of governance, so that it is no longer theatrical and infantile.
And in a bid to unify the lay Labour behind him, he has insisted that the voice of the people, which he promised to relay, be heard in parliament, a chamber he said is out of touch with reality—and since then, the emails have continued to pour in. He pledged to support and vigorously aid the course of internal democracy in the formulation of party policy. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to do this – and go on to become the prime minister without losing his simplicity; or able to keep his mass appeal without moderating his brand republican unorthodoxy.
Corbyn, no doubt, has views that are radical for a leading British politician who can become the next prime minister. If elected, at home, he will renationalize energy companies and seek to end austerity. He has vowed to scrap the British Trident nuclear programme. He had opposed apartheid when it was not fashionable to do so and when other British politicians were dining with John Vorster. He had campaigned for a united Ireland before Good Friday and when British police were firing in Belfast and Londonderry.
Corbyn had in 1991 supported a bill in Parliament that called for the transformation of the United Kingdom into a “democratic, federal and secular Commonwealth of Britain”, with an elected President; and had refused to sing the National Anthem at a remembrance for soldiers, because, he said, he had stood ‘in respectful silence’ to the dead. At any event, if he wins the election, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who has just celebrated her record-breaking 63 and two thirds years of reign, knows she will not have a very great friend at No 10 Downing Street; but, clearly, fighting the monarchy is not one of his priorities right now.
Right now, Corbyn has the unenviable task of uniting and rebuilding the Labour Party that has been torn apart by the unexpectedness of his victory, arranging to win the 2020 general elections and using that victory to change Britain and, hopefully, a part of the world. …While a victory by Labour in the next parliamentary elections may not exactly lead to the unravelling of the Western Consensus, it will almost surely lead to a fundamental realignment of geopolitical forces and a reordering of priorities in trans-Atlantic relations. And though he has begun to shift position on British stay in European Union, it is known that he is also opposed to the idea of the European Union.
And for the sake of justice, he supports the creation of a Palestinian State—something none of the leading British politicians today can whisper even to themselves, let alone voice in public and defend. He has also been accused by political opponents as having reflex anti-Americanism, and was recently described by a Tory leader as a future prime minister “who believes his real friends are the terrorists of Hezbollah and Hamas, not the governments of Denmark and Holland….”
Obviously, going by his antecedents, Corbyn promises to be a genuine friend to Britain’s former colonies, a sympathetic prime minister to Third World interests and a moral voice in the jungle of Western Consensus. It should be obvious enough that Corbyn will not repeat or condone the duplicity that went into creating Tony Blair’s Iraq or David Cameron’s Libya debacle.
And while it had been said that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher never asked how high whenever former US President Ronald Reagan said, “Maggie, jump!” and former Prime Minister Tony Blair was in the air even before former US President George W. Bush opened his mouth, Corbyn would be nowhere near enough to a US President for the order to be given. He will insist and retain his independence. And while the US may not lack other fellow travellers in its future  military adventures, it will prove that much more difficult if the UK is led by a prime minister who cannot be bamboozled into joining a forced Coalition of the Willing – and the world will be a safer place for all. Just listen to what he is saying:
“Let us be a force for change in the world, a force for humanity in the world, a force for peace in the world and a force that recognises we cannot go on like this with grotesque levels of global insecurity, grotesque threats to our environment all around the world without the rich and powerful governments stepping up to the plate to make sure our world becomes safer and better. And those people don’t end up in poverty, in refugee camps, wasting their lives away when they could be contributing so much to the good of all of us on this planet. We are one world…”
In its history, Britain has had politicians, statesmen and genuine human beings: and, to all intents and purposes, Corbyn is an exceptional specimen of the last class. In common with all the so-called New-Left anti-imperialists, Corbyn is known to have suggested, quite correctly, no doubt, that the origin of all the current violence around the world—defensive or offensive—is the result of colonial enterprise by Britain and neo-colonial interference by the United States of America; and a large part of the blame must lie with them and not solely with its perpetrators in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Certainly, Western Europe needs this type of fresh air—a release from the vice-like grip of bankrupt Zionist-inspired herd-mentality, and a nauseating subservience to an American-led Western Consensus that is at great odds with the overwhelming majority of mankind. Right Honourable Jeremy Corbyn, you are welcome.