Leftists rejoice, the new party hate each other
Image Credit: Your Party
It has been nearly a month since I, along with reportedly 800,000 fellow naval-gazing left wing idealists, woke up to quite the storm in my email inbox. I had received the now-infamous email sent by Zarah Sultana of the as-yet officially innominate Your Party which announced the opening of the party for paid membership sign-ups. Right above, in an even more infamous email, Jeremy Corbyn and other high-ranking members of the coalition disavowed and discredited the validity of the previous “unauthorised email,” claiming that it was sent entirely without their permission, and that legal action would shortly ensue.
When the party was announced on the 24th of July this year, many of us were elated. The damp squib of Starmer’s new dawn for Britain was beginning to weigh heavy on the shoulders of those of us who had allowed ourselves to give him a chance, and the looming shadow of Reform’s inevitable rise to nasal-voiced authoritarianism had shrouded all of our political outlooks in gloom. The colossal missed opportunity that was Corbyn’s 2019 election campaign was unshakeable as a hangover, and it seemed that with the phasing out of the true left’s brief moment in the political spotlight, all hope was lost.
Many would indeed have pointed to the Greens as a suitable home for the cast-out corbynistas, but that party’s long-held image as the domain of the Southern, urban liberal elite has been difficult to shake. Their electability anywhere beyond the stereotypically vintage quinoa bubble latte-lined cooperatives of Brighton and Bristol was doubtful, and despite their applaudable success in last year’s election, their reputation seems to continue to ring true. That being said, Zack Polanski’s election as leader last month holds promise, but it is simply too early to tell. As for the Lib Dems, the memory of the tuition scheme betrayal follows them like a bad smell.
Your Party seemed to represent the long-awaited arrival of a party of the people. On the 3rd of July, after 5 years as a Labour MP, Zarah Sultana had the whip suspended for failing to support the government’s continuation of the two-child benefit cap. What followed was a flurry of political activity which resulted in her banding together with one-time party leader and long-time contrarian Jeremy Corbyn to form a new left-wing party. The long-disunited smattering of MPs who continued to believe in the Red Wall and the idea that working people’s political home was on the left seemed to finally be overcoming their ideological differences. A steadfast bloc against the weak-willed apathy of the Labour Party and the increasingly vile united front on the far right appeared on the horizon. As has been pointed out on many occasions, the right is not picky. Anyone, suburban homeowners anxious about inheritance tax and card-carrying curb-stomping skinheads alike, find shelter under the wide umbrella of “asking legitimate questions.” The left, despite the branding, is not as tolerant.
I recall an occasion a couple of years ago in which I got in on the ground floor of a student climate action group. I am certain that it no longer exists, but I won’t name it here just to be safe. They meant well. The beginning was a frenzy of activity, organisation and optimism. The announcement on a gloriously sunny Hyde Park day that we were finally going to stand up for the planet was a true formative moment in my belief in the strength of numbers and the importance of grassroots action. Weeks of fairs, meetings, speeches, and mass-prepared vegan dahls quickly whipped up an impressive following, and the integration of our ragtag band of stinky hippies into the wider network of groups organising in the North was quick and efficient.
However, the dog days of Summer soon ran short, and the longer evenings gave the group’s organisers more cause to sit around and think about ideology than it did going out onto the streets and engaging with potential members. It started with a series of meetings about how exactly we were going to address systematic racism and unconscious bias. Never mind that we were about 20 students sat in a room in a pub, this was the problem which we resolved to take on. It is undoubtedly a very important problem indeed, but it is not one that can be solved by two dozen mostly white adolescents in a sharing circle over pints of the cheapest lager on the lineup. As time went on, the small cracks of discontent which were sown in those early debates widened into outright resentment and vilification. One by one, prominent voices from all corners of the group were denounced as being unaligned with our values, bigoted, or just not suited to the group. Meanwhile, needless to say, the climate crisis went thoroughly neglected.
Therefore, I suggest that those of us who still believe in the need for a true leftist party in our political climate have a reason to hope. Only a party that is firmly and sincerely planted in the political culture of the left would fall apart over scheduling differences two months after its founding- at least we know we’re looking at the real deal. The longshot is hoping that more level heads will prevail and our representatives can finally sit down and start work on the problems that really need solving. The other guys aren’t taking a day off.
Words by Will Garrood