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Labour leadership – Message from Jeremy Corbyn

CorbynOur country faces a huge challenge following Thursday’s vote to leave the European Union. And the British people have a right to know how their elected leaders are going to respond.

We need to come together to heal the divisions exposed by the vote. We have to respect the decision that has been made, hold the government to democratic account over its response and ensure that working people don’t pay the price of exit.

Neither wing of the Tory government has an exit plan. Labour will now ensure that our reform agenda is at the heart of the negotiations that lie ahead. That includes the freedom to shape our economy for the future and the necessity of protecting social and employment rights.

One clear message from last Thursday’s vote is that millions of people feel shut out of a political and economic system that has let them down and scarred our country with grotesque levels of inequality.

I regret there have been resignations today from my shadow cabinet. But I am not going to betray the trust of those who voted for my – or the millions of supporters across the country who meed Labour to represent them.

Those who want to change Labour’s leadership will have to stand in a democratic election in which I’ll be a candidate.

Oer the next 24 hours I will reshape my shadow cabinet and announce a new leadership team to take forward Labour’s campaign for a fairer Britain – and to get the best deal with Europe for our people.

Jeremy Corbyn, Tweeted 2:37 PM – 26 Jun 2016

John McDonnell Interview on the EU referendum and the attempted coup against Corbyn

57 Comments

  1. Kevin Mullins says:

    Excellent article and credit to Jon Lansman for his solidarity

  2. jeffrey davies says:

    bbc the tory mouth peice

  3. Kate Thomas says:

    Thank you Jon. Good article. Jeremy Corbyn is the only we leader I trust to fight austerity, to bring our wages up and protect our rights at work, to address housing insecurity and bring the costs of housing down. Shame on Shadow Cabinet members who stood down at this time of change.

  4. Bazza says:

    Excellent and I stand with Jeremy!
    And now we have it – according to Ashcroft Research in the Independent (3 days ago) 63% of Labour voters voted Remain whilst only 42% of Tory voters did!
    SO IT WAS TORY VOTERS WHAT WON IT!
    But like those who do not accept the referendum result are anti-democratic and those who do not accept Jeremy’s result of 10 months ago are also anti-democratic.
    This is partly an attack on grassroots members power.
    But mainly it is an attempt to try to stop a potential Corbyn Labour Socialist Government.
    Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of JC, and as the James’ song kind of goes:
    “Those of you who believe in justice sit down next to me!”

    1. Bazza says:

      “Those of you who believe in justice sit down next to Jeremy!”
      A songwriters work is neve done!
      Love & solidarity!

  5. rod says:

    It is significant that the PLP Blairites fail to mention policy.

    If, instead of hiding behind the LP’s reputation, the Blairities fronted-up the policies they support (privatisation of the NHS, austerity, lunatic military interventions etc) they’d be voted out of their seats quicker than you can say “Jim Murphy”.

  6. Karl Stewart says:

    Brilliant turnout at yesterday’s Westminster rally – the stronger and more determined we are, the more likely we can defeat the scumbag Red Tory traitors.

  7. Karl Stewart says:

    …the stronger, more determined and unified we are…

  8. Sue says:

    I support Corbyn 100%. The direction he is taking the party is the way I want to go. The process to democratise the party is underway. We are an anti austerity party. I do not want to go back to people telling me there is no difference between labour and Tories

  9. Robert Green says:

    New Labour and the Tories are collaborating together. The Tories have given New Labour time to get rid of Corbyn and New Labour have given the Tories time to get their house in order. Corbyn should be demanding an immediate general election so that Article 50 can be triggered by the new PM to end the uncertainty and the humiliation by the EU and he should be saying that he Corbyn is the man to do it. He can then negotiate his reformed pro-worker relationship with the EU. End the humiliation, end the uncertainty, General Election now!

  10. Syzygy says:

    Yvette Cooper seems to have stepped into Corbyn’s shoes as Leader de facto

    ‘Kate McCann reports on Yvette Cooper’s attempts at steering Labour’s influence on Brexit talks.
    In Yvette Cooper’s speech this morning the former shadow home secretary disclosed that she has written to Jeremy Heywood to ask for access talks for opposition parties on the Brexit process.
    This is something that the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would ordinarily do.
    Asked why she had not approached Mr Corbyn to do this himself Ms Cooper said it was because he is not the right person to join the talks.
    In other words, hopefully he will be gone by the time the attempt to thrash out how the UK removes itself from the EU begins.
    This is a startling admission, and followed Ms Cooper’s plea to the Labour leader to stand down because he will not win a General Election.
    Despite this, when asked if she would be standing as a leadership candidate against Mr Corbyn Ms Cooper replied that she would “rule nothing out” but that there are more important things to focus on than party politics.
    Pushed further she said today is about the vote of no confidence, everything else is on hold … so expect things to happen quickly after the vote concludes this evening at 4pm.

    Of access talks Ms Cooper said: “The Prime Minister should establish a cross party joint committee of both houses of Parliament to oversee the options and negotiating strategy that is drawn up. It should include those who supported Leave and those who supported Remain. “And there needs to be direct access for the Opposition to civil servants now too. The leading Tory party contender has said he is considering an General Election. The Prime Minister has accepted there may be a case for an early General Election, that may be only 4 months away. “I am therefore writing to Jeremy Heywood the Cabinet Secretary to ask him to trigger the process for access talks for opposition parties.”

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/28/labour-crisis-vote-jeremy-corbyn-leadership-david-cameron-brexit/

  11. Syzygy says:

    It’s all going to plan that Richard Burgon MP outlined:

    Just this afternoon a Labour member asked me “Why do these MPs who want to remove Jeremy want a Leadership election when the outcome of a Leadership election would be Jeremy being re-elected?”. The truth is, there are some MPs who either want to install a new leader without a leadership election or get a new leader through a Leadership Election in which Jeremy is prevented from taking part.
    Outrageous? Anti-democratic? Offensive to ordinary Party members? That’s exactly the point. I’ve seen quite a few Labour activists on social media declaring that if a ‘coup’ takes place, they will leave the Labour Party in disgust. That’s exactly what those plotting to scrub out the Party’s democratic decision last summer want to happen. For some, a much smaller and less active Labour Party is a price worth paying for a return to the status quo that they’re comfortable with – a status quo which lost Labour 5 million votes between 1997 and 2010, saw Labour decimated in Scotland and saw Labour end up as being viewed as part of a political establishment that’s not to be trusted. For some, the plan is to reconfigure the Labour Party’s membership to one at ease with their Blair-inspired politics through the tactic of disrespecting members and the democratic process to such an extent that members resign in droves. Don’t discount a strategy of trying to impose some sort of “caretaker leader” for a year or two until enough members have resigned in disgust to mean that a leadership election can then take place in which a candidate with Blair-inspired politics has a decent chance of winning.

    http://labourlist.org/2016/06/the-plot-to-oust-corbyn-is-anti-democratic-and-offensive-to-labour-members/

  12. Robert Green says:

    Yvette Cooper is clearly being worked by the civil service.

    Who cares about the result of this stupid ballot. It will only tell us what we know already that New Labour MPs have utter contempt for democracy and if that is how they treat democracy in their own party then there is absolutely zero chance that they will respect the will of the people as expressed in the referendum. Corbyn needs to demand an immediate general election. The EU and the markets are trying to humiliate Britain as they did Greece. He should say we need a PM who will immediately trigger Article 50 and that he is the man to do it. He will then negotiate his reformed worker-friendly relationship with the EU. The uncertainty that Cameron and New Labour are putting the country through with their bogus leadership campaign or simply by Squatting in No.10 are destroying the economy. For God’s Sake Go so that we can have a general election now.

  13. John Penney says:

    The Blairites, like Yvette Cooper, appear to have decided that trivial issues like Labour fighting against Tory Austerity, are all now “off the agenda” – so that a PLP freed from the “disruptive” left politics of Jeremy Corbyn and the Corbynite LP membership can become in all but name , components of a Tory-led National Government.

    And the clear purpose of this Tory/Labour Blairite partnership in al but name ? To ensure “neoliberal business as usual” eg, the UK remains within at least the Single Market of the EU, and subject to as much of its neoliberalism enforcement mechanisms as possible . Including absolute free movement of labour (an absolute core mechanism under neoliberalism , and the Blair/Brown Labour government specifically, for keeping the working case in general, and the trades union movement in particular, weak and incapable of effective bargaining).

    The irony is that Labour adopting this in all but name ” neoliberal pro EU partnership ” role with the Tories will lead to utter devastation on a Scottish Labour scale for English Labour in the Labour Heartlands which have just voted Brexit in such millions.

    1. Bazza says:

      So are you with us John or sitting on the fence perhaps reading?

      1. John Penney says:

        What on earth are you on about, Bazza ? Who is “us”, and what is the issue on which a fence could be sat ?

  14. Robert Green says:

    40? Not bad not bad at all. Now let’s de-select the other 172 and get Jeremy into No.10 to trigger Article 50 and negotiate a worker-friendly relationship with the EU. We need to end the uncertainty and stop the EU and the markets from humiliating Britain as they did Greece. Cameron and New Labour are collaborating with them to smash our economy until we beg to Remain.

    1. C MacMackin says:

      Wasn’t it a secret ballot? That means we don’t know who all of them are.

    2. John Penney says:

      I think 40 to 172 was actually pretty damned bad. The fight is going to get a lot uglier yet. The Labour PLP majority seem quite willing to smash the Party rather than see it move even mildly Left Keynsian under Jeremy Corbyn. In all such Right v Left standoffs in the past (eg, 1950’s over nukes and 1980’s over Bennism) it has been the Left which has capitulated totally – “to preserve Party Unity”.

      The Labour Right (in fact most of the entire PLP) are fundamentally wedded to the EU, ideologically , because of its neoliberalism, and personally, because serving well paid time in EU sinecure jobs secured via patronage is a large element nowadays for Labour career politicians , for young scions of the Labour hierarchy pre Westminster politics and then the post Westminster career paths.

      The PLP EU fanatics fully intend to work with the Tory majority to overturn the substance of the “Leave” victory. “No-one escapes the EU neoliberalism enforcement machine”. That so many on the Left still seem to see some sort of progressive role for the EU , after the crushing of Greece, and the secret dealings on TTIP, beggars belief.

      1. C MacMackin says:

        I think a lot of them don’t so much see a progressive role for the EU as are scared of what the future will hold now that there has been the Leave vote. I’ve got to say, I kind of am too. You outline the challenges yourself in your reply to my post.

        I’m not sure if the PLP actually intend to overturn the referendum decision. I’m not sure if they know what they’re going to do, to be honest. I suspect they might opt for membership of the EEA, which in some ways would be worse as the UK would be bound by all of the same rules but without even having a voice in the European Parliament (not that I have any illusions about that institution).

        What I think may be one of our greatest challenges ahead will be uniting the Labour voters. A lot of the young, middle-class liberal-left types who voted for Corbyn are also very strong supporters of the EU (believe me, they’re my friends and I think a lot of them would de-friend someone who voted Leave). Some of this I think represents a generational divide (and class divide too). I think most of Corbyn’s base among the young was NOT the working class or even your middle class revolutionaries such as myself. They were Guardian-readers (who forgot that the Guardian only ever likes to complain about neoliberalism but has no desire to confront it). Most of them are not even socialists, although they might be won over to socialism if they were exposed to a debate. They are middle class and the sort who grew up expecting to be able to live for a year in France, take a job in Germany, then move to Denmark for a bit, etc. They are, in effect, middle-class cosmopolitan progressives. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it has given them a blind spot to the EU and the issues it creates for working-class voters. One of the problems which I think the left will now face is that we have lost a lot of the support of the working class and relied on middle class progressives. In the post-referendum polarisation I’m afraid that the latter may well opt for Tim Farron with his cynical (but likely strategically clever) call to ignore the result.

        I should add that the sorts of people I describe in the last paragraph are different from many on here, like David Pavett and Bazza, who felt that we’d be better off trying to reform the EU from the inside than leaving it. They articulated a much more nuanced coherent position than the unquestioning loyalty to the EU which seems to come from the people I was describing.

        1. John Penney says:

          The “EU and young voters” trope peddled endlessly by the press, to “prove” “Leavers” are all stupid, old, knuckle dragging racists, is interesting. The narrative strongly promoted is that “the youth” are all very pro EU, and really all collectively hacked off at the Brexit vote.

          The reality is that only about 36% of 18 to 24 year olds voted at all. And it is from this remarkably small (compared to other age cohorts) voting group that the large “yoof” pro EU vote derived. And who are this voting 18 to 24 voting group ? – overwhelmingly the better off, privileged section of youth. The non voting 64% are the disengaged, politically unreached working class youth, most battered and oppressed by Austerity and neoliberalism. They aint going to vote for the EU if they were to get politically engaged . Not for them the prospect of jobs in Brussels, and skiing trips to Switzerland – they are too busy on zero hour contracts flipping burgers and stacking shelves at Tescos.

          The Left needs to get its collective head round the basic fact that it was the massive intervention of the poorest, most oppressed , UK working class voters, from Labour heartlands, who decided the Brexit victory. Socialists need to stop sneering at them and start working how to politically engage with their very real concerns – and of course how to tackle the racism that sometimes also distracts and weakens their now visceral but often misdirected, expressed desire to “kick back” against decades of ever rising impoverishment.

          1. C MacMackin says:

            I wasn’t meaning to feed into those tropes too much. What I’m reflecting is more the fact that the young people I’m referring to are often the same ones who backed Corbyn. It’s certainly problematic that the left needs these sorts of people as part of its coalition, but for the moment it does. Hopefully we can reach out to sufficient numbers of working class voters to change that.

            If I came across too strong, it’s because I’m in Oxford. Most people here are privileged (if they weren’t when they arrived, they will be after they leave) or international students (whom understandably, are extra sensitive to any racism or xenophobia they perceive). Add to that the fact I’m surrounded by scientists, many of whom (including my PhD supervisor) get funding from the EU and most of whom work with students or postdocs from the EU, and you’re hard pressed to find people in favour of Leave. I only personally know one Leave voter (at least who’d admit to it) and he was upper class and seemed more persuaded by nationalism than anything else. Just a couple of hours ago I was eating dinner and overheard a peer telling her boyfriend how she doesn’t think she can even associate with anyone who voted leave as it represents a fundamental disagreement on values. As I say, this is definitely not a representative sample but it can’t help but shape my perceptions.

    3. Peter Rowlands says:

      Problem solved then.Easy when you know how!

      1. Karl Stewart says:

        It certainly isn’t easy, but JohnP is right here. Not every young person is a student. Most young people are young workers on low pay who didn’t vote or young unemployed people who didn’t vote.

        No-one’s saying don’t listen to young articulate, politically engaged students – their views are extremley important.

        But please can we get away from the idea that only students, that only the ‘NUS’, is the only voice of young people.

        It’s one voice of young people, but not the only one and not the majority one.

  15. C MacMackin says:

    I think we’re going to reach a tipping point in the next few months; either the Labour Right gets rid of Jeremy (which would probably require dirty dealings, although I suppose it’s not impossible that a lot of his supporters are angry at his lack of enthusiasm around Remain) or Jeremy stays and we get a split. This could be far far worse than the SDP split–we could be looking at the vast majority of MPs leaving. Even the soft left, judging from an op-ed piece by Zoe Williams, no longer seem to support Corbyn (although that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll split). We shouldn’t kid ourselves on what electoral consequences this would have. While I think Labour would likely get more votes than the neo-SDP, the vote may still be sufficiently split to lose the election. However, seeing as a newly neoliberal labour would probably lose an election too, I guess it doesn’t make much difference.

    We’d also have to wonder about what would happen to most of those making up the party machine, local councilors, etc. Seeing as they are generally on the right, presumably they’d leave. The problem then becomes, who takes up those positions. Are there enough leftists around with the experience? Do such people have enough of a name to be able to get into those positions? Perhaps most importantly, as Momentum has given us cause to wonder, would these people be any better than the right at involving members in decision making, giving people the resources they need to organize, etc?

    Finally, what sort of program would Labour be running on? Jeremy and McDonnell didn’t seem to have one before the referendum (at least, not that they were sharing) and there are considerably more challenges which will need to be faced now. In particular, changes will be needed to an import/export strategy. The low pound may at least help with the latter. The UK will probably need to start producing considerably more for itself as well; more than ever, a serious industrial and regional revitalisation policy is needed. Given that finance may start moving abroad, what sort of jobs and industries will replace that in London? Are there any pieces from left-leaning think tanks we can use as a starting point? (I seem to vaguely remember some publication on a new industrial policy which was brought to the attention of Left Unity when they were trying to devise an economic program–do you remember it by any chance, John Penney?) I certainly don’t claim to have the answers to any of these–I’m only a physics grad student! But some people who have the necessary knowledge had better start thinking about it!

    1. John Penney says:

      Yes, C. MacMackin, on a viable possible Labour radical economic strategy already written up
      and, ready, you are referring to
      “Building An Economy For The People: An alternative economic and political strategy for 21st century Britain” by a group of radical Left economists in the orbit of the Communist Party of Britain (with which I have no political connection or overall sympathy whatsoever I can assure you ) viewable at http://www.manifestopress.org.uk . A very comprehensive strategy well worth a look.

      I think the current hubris and utter treachery of the PLP has actually produced a long developing fundamental historical “tipping point”. Because if the PLP majority win, and reintroduce neoliberal policies (and an alliance with the Tories to subvert the Brexit vote result) as Labour’s “policy offer” , it will be utterly wiped out, Scottish Labour Style, in the looming General Election. Alternatively, if we win out getting Jeremy re-elected strongly as Leader, a large cohort of the PLP, and local Labour Councilors, will decamp to a new SDP vehicle.

      I think the Labour Party, as a broad church party is now in its death throws. The future,
      hopefully with a proper radical Left Labour Party with major trades union backing , beckons if all goes well. If not the Left is going to be smashed , and the Far Right will sweep the electoral board – with us Lefties having to shelter in the Green Party to survive politically.

      1. John Penney says:

        The Alternative Economic Strategy book, at £6.95 is still available ,on Page 3 of the book listings on the Manifesto Press site. it is well worth a read by anyone looking for a comprehensive strategy for our unbalanced economy today.

  16. Syzygy says:

    ‘I think the Labour Party, as a broad church party is now in its death throws.’ I agree and the current battle is really for who keeps the name LP, the finance and infrastructure. Wonder who the Unions would back?

    btw Mandelson who is behind all this, always wanted to engineer a centre left party of ‘permanent majority’. It would be naive not to know that all of this has been extremely carefully planned … and we can expect more.

    1. James Martin says:

      I agree, but we have to be verey careful with language here. WE are the ones defending the rule book, defending Party democracy, defending the membership and attempting to stop the selfish wreckers from destroying our Party. We need to make it clear that they are acting like the SDP did and are betraying the Party, that we want Party unity and we also need to try and win back some of the softer people not at the heart of this coup but who have been caught up in the febrile Westminster air, if one or two of those can be pulled back to reality then that would be a huge boost. We also need to focus a lot of attention to the affiliated unions – so far they have been good in opposing the undemocratic wrecking antics of the coup plotters, but we need to work through every union branch and regional committee to ensure that this support for the elected leader of the Party is maintained going forward. The coup wreckers have the media but little else – we need to ensure that our much larger numbers mean that the truth of what they are doing becomes the narrative that Labour and trade union members hear and accept.

      1. rod says:

        James Martin: “… acting like the SDP… ”

        Indeed.

        Let’s not forget that Sainsbury, who now bankrolls Progress, bankrolled the SDP.

        However, the prospects for such a breakaway, even if it did take a majority of Labour MPs with it, are not very promising.

        The general election experience of Brown, Miliband and Jim Murphy should tell them all they need to know about the electoral appeal of the Blairite approach.

        But there should be no doubt, if hardcore Blairites aren’t able to rule the LP, they’ll do all that they can to ruin the LP.

  17. Bazza says:

    Really good protest called by Momentum in Leeds tonight in the bloody rain in Millennium Square with many turning up at very short notice (followed by Leeds Momentum meeting and room not big enough so the rest had to meet in the pub and I wondered why I wasn’t in that group Ha! Ha!)
    And as a working class socialist and as a bit of a sociologist and I think a good observer I am sure I saw some working class people in the crowd almost close to tears.
    But brothers and sisters witness the film coverage by the BBC on the event and it was like Goebells propaganda with the interviews with great working class and progressive middle socialists with the backdrop of an empty square before we all turned up!
    But it”s time – time to support Jeremy, time to end austerity, time to grow our economy out of recession, time to end poverty, time to love black people, time to love the diverse working class, time to love the progressive middle class, time to love disabled people, refugees, migrants, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Jewish people, the LGBT community, people with learning disabillities and anyone I may have forgotten apart from the general middle class -you have been socialised to vote Tory but you could reach a higher social plane by supporting Labour and joining the progressive middle class – as John Lennon sang: “Join the human race!”
    But in Labour we now need re-selections in every constituency before the General Election probably in October or so.
    Brothers and sisters politics is simple (donkeys in themselves are wonderful animals) but politically to paraphrase the trade unionist Ron Todd, we have with Jeremy and 40 or so a small group of Lions at the top surrounded by a larger group of donkeys who are surrounded by a larger group of mainly grassroot Labour member Lions.
    The answer is simple – get rid of the donkeys!
    Jeremy is a star and I’ve been singing a version of the James song all day, “Those of you who believe in justice sit down with Jeremy! Oh sit down…
    Love & international solidarity!

  18. Bazza says:

    Yes brothers and sisters and many of us are furious but we need to use WISDOM.
    Be calm, rational, friendly and polite in your emails etc.
    Remember we have a Right Wing opposition of uncritical thinkers.
    The Right are trying to prevent a Corbyn socialist Government that WILL fight for the oppressed in the UK and internationally.
    Oh by the way finished James song lyric rewrite: “Those of you who believe in justice stand up with Jeremy. Oh stand up, oh stand up, in solidaity!”

  19. Bazza says:

    Anna Eagle said fairly recently: “We can’t have members making policy.”
    The Eagle is stranded!

  20. Bazza says:

    When the Tories demand you go it shows they are worried Jeremy may win!
    From the horses mouth!
    Oh evidence from Ashcroft’s research is now showing Labour got 63% of its voters to vote for Remain whilst the Tories got ONLY 42% of its voters for Remain plus many Right Wing Labour MPs areas had large votes for Leave so the root cause for the coup is exposed as a fake!
    By the way Jeremy had 76% for Remain in his constituency.
    Stand firm Jeremy most of the diverse progressive middle class and working class are united with you!
    Solidarity!

  21. Gary Elsby says:

    Stoke-on-Trent appears to be solid behind Jeremy.
    Apart from a couple of irritating MPs who happened to have landed in here by parachute.
    Stick with it Jeremy all the key players up here are watching your back.
    Good on John McDonnell before I go.

  22. Bazza says:

    See Gordon Brown now weighing in, er Mr I voted for the Iraq War, Mr I neglected working class communities, Mr I couldn’t engage with one working class woman and had to call her a racist!
    Whilst Jeremy on behalf of Labour and its members visits Polish Cultural Centre (which was daubed with racist slogans) to show solidarity with their community; what finer Leader could we ask for!
    Great solidarity from Greece PM too and TSSA union leader now just giving the Right Wing in Labour a real dressing down!
    Great support for JC from 45 constituency chairs asked with a further 5 uncommitted.
    And the pure Gaul of Cameron re getting party voters to vote for Remain when Labour got 63% of ours and Cameron 42% of theirs!
    Cameron should keep his mobile on these Labour Right Wingers may offer him a job!
    Stand with Jeremy!

  23. Karl Stewart says:

    Laura Kuensberg backing the Red Tory traitors as usual.

  24. Bazza says:

    Tom Watson weak on MPs having a mandate, and who selects those Labour MPs, who delivers leaflets and knocks on the doors etc in all weathers?
    This is now a fundamental battle for who owns Labour – us the grasroots members or these top down Right Wing MPs?
    We can always pick new MPs to represent us (and there are thousands of talented diverse male and female working class and progressive socialist members around the country).
    But to Labour MPs members are their key public so as Berthold Brecht once argued Right Wing Labour MPs may need to find another public!

  25. Bazza says:

    Watson taking MPs side over members when he is Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
    From a poverty of choice for Deputy I didn’t vote for him and wanting a gender balance voted for Eagle but never again.
    Hold firm Jeremy we are with you!

  26. James Martin says:

    The 24 hour rolling coup is now 4 days old. It has failed on its own terms, abnd the plotters have no Plan B. They have no policies to discuss, no politics. All they have is more and more vicious personal abuse on Jeremy – they are trying to break him as a human being, and it is a disgrace. Can I therefore make a plea – alongside the campaigning to defend Jeremy I would urge *everyone* to send him cards and personal letters of support to him c/o the Commons, and let him know that he is surrounded by friends.

    1. Bazza says:

      Brilliant idea James and I posted my card this lunchtime!

  27. Karl Stewart says:

    After all the rumours of Watson and Eagle standing, now apparently neither of them are.

    Looks like the traitors might be starting to run out of steam.

  28. Bazza says:

    Oh no now it’s Ed Miliband who was a disaster on Election Question Time and couldn’t even handle Tory Business people – the night HE lost the Election! All part of their drip, drip, drip master plan (probably co-ordinated by Mandelson).
    They are all afraid of a Left Wing Democratic Socialist Corbyn Labour Government that WILL actually fight for the oppressed in the UK and internationally.
    Perhaps we need to have a laugh guessing who’s next and who is their crown prince/princess.
    Meanwhile be strong brothers and sisters as it continues – drip, drip, drip.
    They are trying to wear everyone down.
    As the union bloke said, they should put up or shut up, they are as infantile as those who will not accept the democratic referendum result, equally they have never accepted Labour’s Leadership democratic result – it is their attack on democracy!

  29. Bazza says:

    As a working class socialist I support Jeremy Corbyn and we have an alliance of working class left wing democratic socialists and progressive middle class socialists supporting Jeremy but I thought I would dedicate a poem to the one who aims to stop a left wing democratic socialist Government under Jeremy.
    One that WILL end austerity, WILL grow our economy out of recession, WILL end poverty and WILL offer diverse community solidarity as demonstrated today!
    This working class left wing democratic socialist voted for Eagle as Deputy because she was a poor option amongst a poverty of Deputy choice but I will never vote for her again!
    And she was absolutely terrible on TV in the EC referendum debate!
    So here goes:
    Oh how she laughed as she climbed the Oxbridge Steeple.
    “Can’t have Labour infiltrated by socialist working class people.”
    “We can’t have members making policy” the eagle demanded!”
    Ladies and gentleman the lame duck has landed!

  30. Bazza says:

    This is now a battle between real left wing democratic socialists In Labour and Labour’s social democrats.
    We want: to end austerity, to grow the economy out of recession, to end poverty, to build diverse community solidarity in the UK and internationally.
    They offer working people: crumbs, top down decision making, an occasionally pat on the head.
    As a socialist I stand with Jeremy.

  31. Robert Green says:

    The alliance between the working class and the neo-liberal middle classes in which the former were subordinated to the latter and as embodied in the New Labour political formation is irretrievably fractured. The working class have been getting screwed by globalization and the EU, one of its institutions. We cannot allow workers to fall into another cross-class alliance in which they are once again the subordinate class. A situation that would be perfectly illustrated by UKIP or some far right coalition replacing the Labour Party as the popular `opposition’ to neo-liberal capitalism and which recruited workers but was dominated by the petit-bourgeois rabble. An independent working class policy is needed so that that class can lead society out of its current malaise and unite broader masses behind it as capitalist globalization continues to unwind. Can the left opportunists develop such a policy?

  32. Bazza says:

    Come on Angela, what’s up?
    Are you afraid of a democratic election?
    Are you a person, or a Muppet?

  33. Bazza says:

    The Right in Labour are getting hysterical now.
    So Ruth, wasn’t Jeremy at the Polish Cultural Centre in London yesterday offering solidarity?
    Oh and where were you?
    Oh and wasn’t Jeremy’s first act as Leader to attend a rally to support refugees?
    Good job watching the last Muppets film is keeping my spirits up!

  34. Bazza says:

    Corbyn brilliant on racism inquiry.
    Human beings whether Jewish or Muslim are not homogenous groups.
    There is difference in political views within all communities etc. and JC trying to unite us all as human beings!
    Stand firm JC we are with you in spirit and love!

  35. Bazza says:

    Ooooh Angela!
    Aren’t we m/s decisive, and such strong leadership Ha! Ha!

  36. Karl Stewart says:

    Even leaving aside the politics, the ‘tactic’ of ganging up on a gentle, sincere, kind and honest man and trying to publicly bully him onto a nervous breakdown is totally disgusting.

    Whatever the eventual outcome, I’ll always hold a deep hatred in my heart for each and every one of the Red Tory traitors.

  37. Bazza says:

    Yes I am angry too and I am afraid they are now in the gutter but it is fascinating to observe the lengths that some people will go to, to try to stop a Corbyn-led left wing democratic socialist Government which WILL fight for the oppressed in the UK and internationally.
    But don’t dehumanise yourself by hating them; they are political non-entities.
    We may be in an historic moment and some are perhaps on the wrong side of history.
    But pity them; they are little people; we only have one life and they may have ever existed.
    Be calm, rational and use WISDOM and we may win.
    Yours in solidarity and p.s. send a card 2 Jeremy!
    With best wishes.

    1. John Penney says:

      “Don’t hate them” – worthy liberal words Bazza.

      I see the Labour mutineers as simply Tories who have been systematically infiltrated into our party over many years by the capitalist class, particularly billionaire backers of the Labour Right (and the SDP in the 80’s) like Lord Sainsbury.

      As Tories in all but name we have to view the Labour PLP mutineers exactly as Nye Bevan did in his famous diatribe:

      “no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were. ”

      As true today about the Tories AND their Labour collaborators as then .

      So, sorry , Bazza, I’ll keep on hating them with a passion. To quote a line from a Terry Pratchett Discworld novel :

      I intend, ” to let the rising waters of (class) resentment and rage power the turbines of eventual (socialist) revenge”. So should we all.

  38. Bazza says:

    May have never existed.

  39. Robert Green says:

    We are witnessing the shifting of the tectonic plates of cross-class alliances. The working class so long politically subordinated to the neo-liberal urban middle classes as summed up by the New Labour project, now defunct, have had enough of that as globalization and the EU, one of its institutions, has driven them into sink estates and abandoned communities or onto zero hours contracts or food bank queues or benefits sanctions and bedroom taxes and into the hands of blood-sucking landlords. But it has not yet rediscovered its own independent voice in the form of a programme and vision that can lead society out of the capitalist coffin. Instead it boosts the numbers of the petit-bourgeois rabble with their inevitably contradictory and reactionary world view involving a strange mix of hyper neo-liberalism plus protectionism and racism. Corbyn and his Momentum movement are in a unique position to begin to formulate the independent working class programme needed. A programme that neither celebrates capitalist globalization nor envisages an impossible world in which it had never happened. That has to include a socialist manifesto for a post-Brexit Britain (no talk of rejoining or second referendums) that contains such things as a Peoples’ Bank to replace the bankrupts, a regime of full-employment, workers’ control to replace fat cat managers and socialisation of the big corporations and their mega profits. But it must also include a plan for a Socialist Europe to replace the wretched EU. Can the left reformists develop such a thing?

    1. John Penney says:

      Good post, Robert. I don’t know if the “Corbynist” Left can produce a believable radical Left comprehensive economic/social Programme to meet exactly the raft of vital working class needs you list. I don’t think at this stage it even has to be described in hard line “socialist” terminology – radical Left Keynsian economics – operating within a heavily state interventionist Plan,plus selective nationalisation, and the removal of the legal shackles of trades unionism, plus, as you say, vitally, a total commitment to Full Employment – for UK citizens as a priority, and affordable housing for all, is quite enough to build a new working class pro-Labour movement of gigantic proportions .

      Creating such a radical Left Programme is not rocket science – but , apart from the interesting stuff Jeremy issued around his election campaign – and John McDonnell’s interesting but ultimately pointless “Celebrity Left – ish bourgeois economists Roadshow” , NOTHING has been done , particularly by Momentum, to create this vital weapon to rebuild alienated working class support for a Left Labour Party, in the critical last 9 months before the inevitable Right coup.

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