I Like Politics
I am a British socialist and here is my personal/political story.
This has been a year when I have got back into political activism after a long time our, largely because I found something that actually mattered to me. This the newly resurgent left within a Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Party.
Until recently, the experience of a generation X leftist was akin to being a fish born on dry land. We were told that it was the end of history and that this was a new era or world peace and international free-market capitalism. Nothing would even changed and those who wanted it to were walking anachronisms. Political struggle was something that happened in your parents generation. Now those battles had been won or lost and there was nothing left to do but to try and improve your own life and vote for two major parties who barely even pretended to be any different. Labour had spent the 90s moving to the right and when I arrived at University at the end of the decade I found a student Labour club concerned with careers, not campaigns and people who were openly condescending of the word 'socialism' in any sense of the word. These people supported privatisations, welfare cuts and went on to actively support Tony Blair's Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. No I did not fit in and this was not my party, Labour background or not. Later at uni I fell in with various far-left groups who were equally ridiculous for completely different reasons. A big issue between them was the intense (and apparently important) theoretical argument as to whether the USSR was 'state-capitalist' or a 'deformed workers state'. The sects argued and fell out. The world kept spinning around.
After University I drifted away from politics for over a decade. I still followed what was going on, still voted for lesser-evils and still read because I have always seen education as important. I have been known to post opinions on-line too ;-) In that time, I became a teacher, moved to London, got married then divorced but never at any stage did I seriously consider becoming a political activist again. The Labour Party didn't change much. In the post-Blair years it kept triangulating, kept agreeing with the Conservatives on most policy issues as the Overton Window driften ever rightwards.
When Ed Miliband resigned as Labour leader after the 2015 election defeat, it seemed that nothing would change. There were four candidates standing; three from the establishment 'centre-left' and a little known 65 year-old MP called Jeremy Corbyn. He was allowed to stand only as a token gesture to the long marginalised left of the party. He had never held a Government position, lacked any kind of spin or media savvy and looked the very antithesis of a modern politician (in hindsight this proved to be a major strength). His odds to become leader were 100-1 with most book-makers, the commateriat saw him as a nobody and the man himself never expected to win. Though win is what Corbyn duly did with a whopping 60% of the Labour electorate and became the leader of one of Britain's two main parties.
The British Establishment did not expect this to happen and they did not like it. Since then the media (including the liberal media) of this country has tried to undermine Corbyn at every turn. The post-Blair Parliamentary Labour Party have tried everything to have Corbyn removed and even launched a coup by mass-resignation after Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn refused to resign, stood again and again won with 60%. To state the obvious; Labour is massively divided between Corbyn and the membership on one hand and the establishment Labour-right on the other.
I am one of that membership and proud to be so. After years of having nothing to vote for, I now how have the strange feeling of supporting a major politician who says things that I actually agree with. It seems wrong somehow because it is not what I am used to. After years of being told that nothing would ever change, we have entered a period of tremendous change where everything is contested. The change is not always good, in my country at least, but it is exciting to be involved in a battle for ideas. This stuff matters now.
I usually do two political things a week. One campaign event and one meeting. I have met like-minded friends through this process and even been elected to a minor position. The Labour Party is divided and will most probably not win the next General Election, however we do now have a fantastic platform to get ideas out there. As the liberal centre is crumbling and the nationalist right is on the rise we need an organisation that can put forward real solutions to people's lives, instead of blaming minorities. I have found a calling I guess.
This has been a year when I have got back into political activism after a long time our, largely because I found something that actually mattered to me. This the newly resurgent left within a Jeremy Corbyn led Labour Party.
Until recently, the experience of a generation X leftist was akin to being a fish born on dry land. We were told that it was the end of history and that this was a new era or world peace and international free-market capitalism. Nothing would even changed and those who wanted it to were walking anachronisms. Political struggle was something that happened in your parents generation. Now those battles had been won or lost and there was nothing left to do but to try and improve your own life and vote for two major parties who barely even pretended to be any different. Labour had spent the 90s moving to the right and when I arrived at University at the end of the decade I found a student Labour club concerned with careers, not campaigns and people who were openly condescending of the word 'socialism' in any sense of the word. These people supported privatisations, welfare cuts and went on to actively support Tony Blair's Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. No I did not fit in and this was not my party, Labour background or not. Later at uni I fell in with various far-left groups who were equally ridiculous for completely different reasons. A big issue between them was the intense (and apparently important) theoretical argument as to whether the USSR was 'state-capitalist' or a 'deformed workers state'. The sects argued and fell out. The world kept spinning around.
After University I drifted away from politics for over a decade. I still followed what was going on, still voted for lesser-evils and still read because I have always seen education as important. I have been known to post opinions on-line too ;-) In that time, I became a teacher, moved to London, got married then divorced but never at any stage did I seriously consider becoming a political activist again. The Labour Party didn't change much. In the post-Blair years it kept triangulating, kept agreeing with the Conservatives on most policy issues as the Overton Window driften ever rightwards.
When Ed Miliband resigned as Labour leader after the 2015 election defeat, it seemed that nothing would change. There were four candidates standing; three from the establishment 'centre-left' and a little known 65 year-old MP called Jeremy Corbyn. He was allowed to stand only as a token gesture to the long marginalised left of the party. He had never held a Government position, lacked any kind of spin or media savvy and looked the very antithesis of a modern politician (in hindsight this proved to be a major strength). His odds to become leader were 100-1 with most book-makers, the commateriat saw him as a nobody and the man himself never expected to win. Though win is what Corbyn duly did with a whopping 60% of the Labour electorate and became the leader of one of Britain's two main parties.
The British Establishment did not expect this to happen and they did not like it. Since then the media (including the liberal media) of this country has tried to undermine Corbyn at every turn. The post-Blair Parliamentary Labour Party have tried everything to have Corbyn removed and even launched a coup by mass-resignation after Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn refused to resign, stood again and again won with 60%. To state the obvious; Labour is massively divided between Corbyn and the membership on one hand and the establishment Labour-right on the other.
I am one of that membership and proud to be so. After years of having nothing to vote for, I now how have the strange feeling of supporting a major politician who says things that I actually agree with. It seems wrong somehow because it is not what I am used to. After years of being told that nothing would ever change, we have entered a period of tremendous change where everything is contested. The change is not always good, in my country at least, but it is exciting to be involved in a battle for ideas. This stuff matters now.
I usually do two political things a week. One campaign event and one meeting. I have met like-minded friends through this process and even been elected to a minor position. The Labour Party is divided and will most probably not win the next General Election, however we do now have a fantastic platform to get ideas out there. As the liberal centre is crumbling and the nationalist right is on the rise we need an organisation that can put forward real solutions to people's lives, instead of blaming minorities. I have found a calling I guess.
41-45, M
