In the wake of the 2019 General Election, Labour have been forced to lick their wounds, and may be doing so for quite a while. A shift to the centre now looks probable, with many of the usual critics coming out of the walls to deem both Corbyn and his project an abject failure, lambasting the Party for its position on Brexit, its seemingly ambivalent attitude to antisemitism, and its inability to attract the core vote, with the so-called “Red Wall” crumbling under a blue wave. Corbyn has already committed to resign after a period of reflection; reflection presumably meaning a chance for the shadow cabinet to plunge the knife in, Caesar style – they might invite Tom Watson back for the privilege. Don’t unfurl the black umbrellas yet, though, because the left-wing cause is not dead, even if it is on life support. In Corbyn, the left found an empathetic and principled talisman straight out of the Bennite handbook. The only problem was that the handbook in question was the original, unedited version, and with him followed a train of baggage chief among which being his support for a united Ireland, and his connection with Irish republicans. He was widely chastised for this, with Boris Johnson mentioning it in the last of the BBC leadership debates in the leadup to the 2019 election; the fact that these figures were instrumental in ensuring an end to conflict in Northern Ireland was evidently unimportant. Corbyn’s integrity was his biggest strength and his biggest weakness, as while it contributed to a huge growth in core support, it’s also the foundation of his political inflexibility, with his admirable principles taking precedence over appealing to the populace, and it ultimately will cost him his job.
To rejuvenate the cause of the left, and make sure the impressive policies of the Labour manifesto are not thrown to the shredder like 1983, we need a new class of young left-wing politicians to emerge, carrying the mantle but leaving the baggage behind. It became very easy for the media vultures to pick away at Corbyn, painting him as a political nostalgic, unable to adapt to the modern political landscape, and as much as the manifesto was transformative, there may be some truth to it. Much of the socialist theory in the Labour Party today is derived from figures like Tony Benn, or born out of the rapid deindustrialisation that occurred in Britain during the 1980s and early 1990s. Before this, the working-class was predominantly made up of manufacturing industry workers, and these workers were disproportionately affected at the time. As such, the left-wing of the party, which Corbyn was a member of, worked to support them and their needs. The problem is that two decades later, the working-class demographic has shifted entirely, as have their hardships and desires. In place of the factories and mines, there now stand clothing warehouses, where hundreds of people suffer on zero-hour contracts, knowing any kind of misstep can result in the sack. The rise in lone-parent families has also largely been ignored by figures on the left, despite cruel condemnation from the right. To truly reinvigorate the cause of democratic socialism, we need to reform it from the base, ensuring it is capable of facing up to the burning injustices and new problems of modern Britain, and this can only be done by a new brand of politician who has grown up a part of the society they have to represent. The left needs its own Blair-esque phenom, somebody who is a product of this new society, aware of the crippling obstacles emplaced by the wealthy to entrap the poor, and passionate enough to challenge the Tories on their constant endorsement of business at the expense of workers’ health and security. The problem is, we may have to sit tight before they arrive at our doorstep, for only a person whose formative years were spent under the austerity measures of the Coalition will know the extent of the atrocities, and have the true anger needed to challenge the Conservatives over the continuation of such plans while corporations are allowed to run free. From this, a strong opposition with a completely alternative stance can be formed, an opposition that will be compassionate to the millions left behind, providing hope to a demographic that Corbyn had been trying to reach out to. The left can be resurgent, but we must reform and adapt to tackle the new injustices endured by so many workers across the country, and this can only be done through youth; the light is at the end of the tunnel, and all we have to do is keep the engine running.
Keeping Left 