LETTER from John Wake, member, Harlow CLP
John Lennon once said something along the lines that life is what happens to you, while you’re busy making other plans. Historical turning points often happen while most people are busy getting on with everyday life. It is only in retrospect that the great mass of people realise that they have lived through them. We are presently passing through what could be a turning point in the history of the labour movement in Britain.
The removal of the old Clause IV from the rulebook of the Labour Party was an historical turning point. It signalled the adoption of neo-liberalism. Blair’s “New Labour” was committed to deregulation and privatisation. Blair’s government was “intensely relaxed” about people becoming filthy rich. Social trends begun under Thatcher continued, as the gap between rich and poor widened, the proportion of workers in precarious employment increased, and the working class became more atomised. It was this line of march that led to a foreign policy that enabled the growth of some of the most reactionary forces in the world.
The suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Parliamentary Labour Party could be an historical turning point. If the Whip is restored to Corbyn, there would not be a great swing to the left in the Labour Party; the left would still be on the back foot. However, if Starmer succeeds in permanently excluding Corbyn, then the Labour Party would be finished as a vehicle for substantial social change for a generation. It would be a massive blow to the morale of the left, and more and more people would drop out of active politics. Tens of thousands of members have already resigned from the Labour Party since Starmer became Leader.
Pressure exerted by members
It may well be that Jeremy Corbyn wins his court case. I don’t think that this would be a good outcome. I would be pleased that he had won, but I would be far, far happier if he was re-instated as a result of pressure exerted by members of CLPs and affiliated trades unions. Can we really be happy about the internal affairs of our party being decided by the state? Would we really want a police officer attending every meeting to ensure that the rulebook is observed? (The last question is rhetorical metaphor). If we are so weak in numbers or in spirit that Corbyn can only be re-instated on the instructions of a judge, then we will have lost.
We are not weak in numbers. The problem that besets us, the left in the Labour Party across Britain, is weakness of spirit. We are too frightened of what may happen to us if we speak out. That we have roads in Harlow named after Nelson Mandela and Salvador Allende is a reminder that in some parts of the world in certain periods our comrades have faced imprisonment, torture, and execution. What is the worst thing that could happen to a CLP officer or a Labour councillor if he or she spoke out in support of Jeremy Corbyn? Suspension from the Labour Party is a lot less dangerous to your health than suspension from a gallows.
In future decades, when people ask us what we did to support our brother Jeremy Corbyn in his hour of need, will we be able to say honestly and unashamedly that we spoke out in his support? Or will we have to shamefacedly admit that we kept quiet while history turned to the right, and condemned yet another generation to suffer the slings and arrows of unconstrained capitalism?
