You know something is happening when people like my mum and
dad (78 and 80 respectively and no longer in their young socialist phase) sign
up as Labour Supporters so they can vote for Jeremy Corbyn. My Mum had been a party
member but drifted away and Dad had been active in his union the GPMU. Living
in Shropshire they had almost given up hope of
hearing a labour voice they could support.
This shows that Jeremy’s reach is way beyond what the Westminster chattering
class would have us believe. What is fascinating about this Labour leadership
election is the way that the more publicity and the louder attacks on him the
more people stop and listen to what he actually has to say and the more they
like it.
Then and this is the key thing they are then able to express
that support through the ballot box. It is interesting also that over the last
few years some of the Tories and New Labour’s democratic fix’s have come back
to bite them on the bum!
The Tories believed that giving the Unions back to their
members that greater democracy would make them more moderate. Yet what actually
happened was that they won every ballot for a political fund and then started
to elect real left wing leaders.
Described as the awkward squad they began to change the
terms of debate in the Labour Party. Now the reforms that Ed Miliband agreed to
get the unions to give up their collective voice in the party have opened the
doors in ways that are a nightmare for the Labour right.
The truth is that there has always been an appetite for the
views that Jeremy Corbyn expresses but they have been squeezed out by electoral
manipulation. Now they are out there and being clearly expressed the true level
of support for them can be seen.
I remember going to Tony Benn’s ‘shows’ after he left
parliament to devote himself to politics and seeing the huge numbers of all
ages and class backgrounds who turned up and broadly agreed with him.
What most people on the broad left feel I think is why are
Labour so spineless? Why have they surrendered so much ground to the Tories
without a fight?
For me this goes back to the Philip Gould effect within the
Labour Party. Find out what the public want and give it to them. Reflect the
publics opinions back at them. Don’t try to shape or lead public opinion but
follow it.
This is the complete abdication of any form of leadership.
It also leaves that public opinion to be shaped by others. One thing that is
interesting at Jeremy Corbyn rallies is that often he asks how many people read
a daily paper. The response is often a very
small number. This means that amongst the young and the less affluent the right
wing press has less and less influence.
Of course this does not stop the BBC giving it undue
prominence but it does mean that with social media this campaign is the first
one for the Labour leadership that has truly exploited the power of the
internet. This is what has enabled huge crowds to turn out for Jeremy’s
meetings at incredibly short notice and for his message to be heard unmediated
by the mainstream media thought police.
Not everyone who hears Jeremy Corbyn agrees with every word
but I do not think that anybody finds his views outlandish or in any way
extreme. This is why the hysterical reaction of the Labour right is so
laughable.
He is also remarkably unspun, completely authentic, kind,
generous and lacking in ego. Whilst he is asking you to vote for him his
message is one of join me, come with me, we can change things if we do it
together. He is not just building a
party he is building a community.
Listening to some shadow cabinet members criticise Jeremy’s
economic ideas just demonstrates their economic illiteracy and exposes how far they
have swallowed the Tory big lie on the necessity of austerity.
One thing is certain the genie is out of the bottle. Now we
have to build the biggest possible vote for Jeremy over the coming days and
weeks. And when he is elected we need to build that support as broad and wide
as possible.
The Tories have a tiny majority. We need to build the
campaign into next years mayoral election in London and the local elections across the
country. And before those elections we need to do what Barak Obama did and actually
build the electorate with registration drives!
The Tories where elected by around a quarter of the
electorate people who voted against Human Rights and for the bedroom tax. To
win a general election we do not need any of their votes we need the votes of
the other three quarters.
The people who need a message of hope. All across Europe people are asking for the same thing we are not
alone. At last there is an alternative!
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