Corbyn’s campaign has helped to enthuse workers and youth, who are otherwise turned off by the Tory-lite policies of the Blairites. Darrall Cozens, of Coventry North West Labour Party (personal capacity), reports on the leadership hustings in Birmingham, which saw a large attendance, mainly as a result of those who are attracted by Corbyn’s anti-austerity message.
Corbyn’s campaign has helped to enthuse workers and youth, who are otherwise turned off by the Tory-lite policies of the Blairites. Darrall Cozens, of Coventry North West Labour Party (personal capacity), reports on the leadership hustings in Birmingham, which saw a large attendance, mainly as a result of those who are attracted by Corbyn’s anti-austerity message.
It was Hegel who once said that necessity can express itself through an accident; and that was certainly the case on Saturday 27th June, when 1,300 people came to listen to the Labour Party leader and deputy leadership candidates.
The audience consisted of LP members, LP supporters who had signed up to be able to vote and others who were interested in what was going on in the Party. All had come to hear what was on offer. This was probably the biggest meeting ever held by the LP in Birmingham. In fact, it could have been held twice and still been packed, as (free) tickets for the meeting had all been booked out a whole week in advance.
The questions had been carefully selected, but covered terrorism, austerity, immigration, Scotland, the lessons of Blairism, abstention at the polls, education, the 2020 elections, the trade unions and the LP, and the economy. The chair had asked for no heckling and no applause, but the audience was having none of that. There was hardly any heckling, but there was plenty of applause as attendees expressed their feelings for various candidates and points of view.
And what was the accident in all of this? The fact that MPs had “loaned” nominations to Jeremy Corbyn so that he could be on the ballot paper.
Wherever he has appeared and spoken, Jeremy has been received enthusiastically. Saturday was no different, as he stood out from the other three leadership contenders who are all in favour of austerity (albeit “fair” austerity). As Jeremy correctly pointed out, austerity means cuts for those at the bottom of society, growing inequality, lost jobs, and poor pay; and, in the end, the cuts agenda has not resolved the problems of the budget deficit. In other words austerity does not work in achieving the stated aims of those who advocate it.
The other three candidates favoured cuts to balance the budget so that, as one said, the interest rates now being paid on servicing the debt could be used to benefit people. The outcome of that is that you cut £100bn to save £5bn, which can be used for spending on vital services. But, at the end of the day, you would still be £95bn worse off, and that will mean massive cuts in social spending, wages and jobs.
While not putting forward a fully fleshed out socialist policy for tackling the crisis of capitalism, Jeremy enthused people at the meeting with his agenda of condemning the Iraq war, asking who is arming ISIS, attacking austerity, defending the partial nationalisation of the banks after 2008, fighting racism and xenophobia, inspiring people with a vision of a welfare society, creating a social movement out of the now 240,000 members of the LP and making the LP more democratic, ending academies and free schools by bringing back comprehensive education for all, and giving people hope for the future.
The fact that Jeremy Corbyn is a contender has widened the debate in the LP beyond the “Tory-lite” programme of the three Blairite candidates. But the crucial aspect of that debate will be how the reforms that Jeremy call for can be paid for in a capitalist system that is in decline – a system that demands austerity in order to save itself.
Jeremy’s campaign has enthused workers and has revitalised the Labour Party in terms of numbers and participation. 60,000 people have joined since the election and many of them are looking for answers to the problems they face. Many will be hoping that Jeremy can provide those answers. In this respect, Jeremy’s presence in the leadership contest has provoked a genuine discussion about what the LP is and who it represents – about the fight for the “soul” of the Party. It has shown that the LP is not dead and finished, but could become a pole of attraction to workers, provided it had a leadership – like Jeremy – willing to provide a fighting alternative to austerity and Blairite policies.
Socialists should be taking part in these discussions surrounding the leadership contest and Jeremy’s campaign, in order to raise ideas about the real nature of the crisis and the need for the socialist transformation of society.
