Politics: Corbyn Just Defined Modern Socialism

David Kear, chairman of the Kensington Constituency Labour Party was at the party’s conference in Brighton where leader Jeremy Corbyn got the most rapturous reception of any party leader in mahy years. Here, Kear explains to Felix Magazine why he is convinced that Corbyn is the man to lead Labour into Downing Street with a new definition of socialism

“I have been in the Labour Party since I was a student at the University of Liverpool in the 1970s. My parents were strong socialists who came from working-class backgrounds, so socialism is in the family genes. I left the Labour Party over Iraq but I decided to rejoin when Ed Miliband became leader and I was chairman of the constituency party when Corbyn was running for leader.

“Surprisingly Kensington is a Left-wing local party and we solidly voted for Corbyn. We don’t have a Progress (moderate) faction or any of the other factions and obviously we have some centrist members and we all get on pretty well. During the second leadership challenge we overwhelmingly voted for Corbyn, at a time when neighbouring MPs were warning us not to vote for him, which was very entertaining.

“I always come to the conference. I come to increase my understanding of the party and it’s all about networking as well. I know lots of people here. We are also here with our new Kensington MP, Emma Dent Coad. She did incredibly well to win election. She is a terrific candidate, a councillor for many years, local person, very committed to the people of North Kensington and that showed in the election earlier this year.

“So what am I doing here? It is because I like to hear the shadow front bench speak on policies and I like to go to fringe events. There was a terrific event last night which was the Labour event against austerity. It had a terrific range of speakers and John McDonnell delivered a very inspiring manifesto. He set out what we have been waiting for for decades, at least many of us have. He set out a fully-planned socialist economic manifesto when we win the next election.

We Were Dispirited

“Why does Jeremy Corbyn inspire so much hope and provide the necessary leadership? We were dispirited because we knew we could do better. I felt that Ed was alright and I quite liked his policies but with Ed Balls our economic policies were not good. Ed (Miliband) stepped down and those of us who are on the Left did not find any of the other candidates very inspiring. It would have been the choice of the best of the rest, if you like.

“As soon as Jeremy entered the leadership contest, suddenly there was renewed hope and a sense of direction. I was always a supporter of his right from the start, right when he was just a backbencher. I was also involved in the anti-apartheid movement and I’ve been a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament since I was a teenager, so I have had an affinity with Jeremy ever since. And there are lots of people like that.

“I went to all the early rallies. They were quite small but he was still packing out the places. So as soon as his campaign started for the leadership they escalated to the one in Camden Town Hall, then Kilburn and then rolled out across the country. Phenomenal stuff, what other leader has had a football chant for him?

“He’s given us hope and also re-calibrated the Labour Party, re-framed it in terms of socialist values. I think (the key is) the anti-austerity approach and challenging the neo-liberal economic model of the Tories and to some extent our own party going back in the Blair-Brown era. It’s been drawing a line under that neo-liberal agenda and enabling those of us who believe in decent public services, fair wages, opportunities for all and a challenge to the disgraceful inequality between the very top in our society and everyone else. It’s been all about that.

“The reason why he will make such a great Prime Minister is because he is a man of cast-iron principles. He is a proper socialist; we haven’t had a socialist leader of the Labour Party for a very long time. It’s not revolution but it is new. What you are seeing is momentum. The young people who a few years ago would have joined the Socialist Workers Party, now they don’t feel compromised.”

 

by Bob Graham

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