Socialist should support the Corbyn leadership of the Labour Party, but that does not mean Corbyn is not making serious mistakes.
The election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party in 2015 ended a quarter of a century of New Labourism and the collaboration of the Labour Party with neo-economic liberalism. While that victory is welcome, the Corbyn leadership has failed to adjust to the requirements of socialism in the twenty-first century. The main points of criticism are these:
1. On Brexit Corbyn flops around. Brexit means a loss of rights, economic damage and is a fuel for nationalist-xenophobia. These are all things Labour should unconditionally oppose.
2. The 2017 General Election temporarily silenced the New-Labourites who still dominate the PLP and the Party bureaucracy. Yet there is no coordinated struggle from the top against the Right; e.g. supporting de-selection of at least those Labour MPs who would be disloyal to a Crobyn-led Labour government. The leadership has also failed to speak out against the witchhunt of socialists in the party.
3. The leadership is committed to an outdated tribalism and will not work or form electoral arrangements with other progressives forces, in particular the Green Party. The leadership also support the current undemocratic first-past-the-post electoral system.
4. Despite waffle about constitutional conventions, the current leadership supports the Union and opposes independence for Scotland (and for an independent Scottish Labour Party). While it is not for the English left to tell Scotland to be independent, the Labour Party should at least be neutral on the issue rather than rallying behind British nationalism.
Progressive people need to support the Corbyn leadership generally, but also need to organise separately within and outside the British Labour Party for a progressive radical socialism.
Showing posts with label Scotalnd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scotalnd. Show all posts
15 March 2017
Divorcing the Scottish Labour Party
The Labour Party in Scotland should become a wholly independent organisation.
Jeremy Corbyn’s position on the question of a second Scottish independence referendum is utterly muddled, though it is unclear whether he is at fault or the mainstream media. But cutting through the confusion, his opinion seems to be this: Scotland should be allowed to have a referendum if it wants one, but it should not want one. In short, Corbyn has hitched himself to Unionism, and believes that, despite the Scottish rejection of Brexit in the April 2016 referendum, Scotland, as part of the UK, should be taken out of the EU against its will.
In taking that line Corbyn has fallen into step with the fiercely Unionist Scottish Labour Party leadership, the body which has sunk Labour in the last decade from Scotland’s dominant force into a measly third-placed party. Scottish Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, is strongly anti-Corbyn, as is Ian Murray, Scotland’s sole Labour MP. They won't help Corbyn to achieve anything.
Of course, it’s not up to Corbyn to tell Scotland that the country should be independent, any more than it is up to him to say that it should not be. That issue is for Scotland alone to decide. But Corbyn could, and should, disassociate himself from the Scottish Labour Party, and declare that Scottish Labour ought to be a wholly independent organisation. But sadly I don’t think Corbyn will take that step.
Jeremy Corbyn’s position on the question of a second Scottish independence referendum is utterly muddled, though it is unclear whether he is at fault or the mainstream media. But cutting through the confusion, his opinion seems to be this: Scotland should be allowed to have a referendum if it wants one, but it should not want one. In short, Corbyn has hitched himself to Unionism, and believes that, despite the Scottish rejection of Brexit in the April 2016 referendum, Scotland, as part of the UK, should be taken out of the EU against its will.
In taking that line Corbyn has fallen into step with the fiercely Unionist Scottish Labour Party leadership, the body which has sunk Labour in the last decade from Scotland’s dominant force into a measly third-placed party. Scottish Labour leader, Kezia Dugdale, is strongly anti-Corbyn, as is Ian Murray, Scotland’s sole Labour MP. They won't help Corbyn to achieve anything.
Of course, it’s not up to Corbyn to tell Scotland that the country should be independent, any more than it is up to him to say that it should not be. That issue is for Scotland alone to decide. But Corbyn could, and should, disassociate himself from the Scottish Labour Party, and declare that Scottish Labour ought to be a wholly independent organisation. But sadly I don’t think Corbyn will take that step.
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