All Organisations subcategories:
Committee for a Workers International
Nationalist and National Liberation
Pro capitalist and Imperialist
Left and radical keywords:
International Socialist Resistance (54)
Revolutionary Communist League (1)
Socialist Peoples Party (Denmark) (1)
Momentum
Highlight keywords |
Print this article
Search site for keywords: Labour Party - Labour - Momentum - Jeremy Corbyn - Election - TV
Documentary: Labour - the Summer that Changed Everything
Blairite horror and Labour's divisions graphically exposed
Awkward: Blairite Stephen Kinnock (Click to enlarge)
Dave Reid, Socialist Party Wales
Until the recently renewed attacks on Momentum, it all appeared to be sweetness and light in Labour.
The daily Blairite attacks on Corbyn have receded. Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell seem to believe the parliamentary Labour Party is behind them.
But David Modell's fly-on-the-wall documentary following four Labour candidates through the general election campaign should act as a reminder of just how deep-seated Blairite opposition to Corbyn is.
During the campaign, they all expect Corbyn-led Labour to get hammered, and Theresa May to achieve an unassailable position. Some fervently hope she succeeds.
One of the most dramatic TV moments this year was the 8 June exit poll that correctly predicted gains for Labour and losses for the Tories. This is the documentary's climax.
In particular, Stephen Kinnock - MP for Aberafon and latest product of the millionaire Kinnock dynasty - looks aghast.
His eyes are frozen in horror and amazement as the implications of this huge moral victory for Corbyn sink in.
You need to remind yourself that he is not a Tory, but a Labour MP. And that he has been re-elected - with an increased majority courtesy of the Corbyn surge. The narrator gets it right. "He is thinking that the Corbyn-free future he has been dreaming of might never actually come."
The shock and disappointment in Kinnock's eyes as he learns Labour has not been hammered is the most eloquent description of how Labour remains two parties in one.
Kinnock's party, New Labour, wanted the Tories to win so Corbynista Labour could be defeated.
But the film also shows how the right wing has got over the shock and regrouped. In the immediate aftermath many of the Corbyn backstabbers have recovered their poise and publicly turned into Corbyn back-slappers.
Tom Watson, alleged author of the 'Project Anaconda' strategy - to squeeze the life out of Corbyn's leadership - wraps his arms around a surprised Jeremy Corbyn in an apparently joyous hug.
But that hug is a metaphor for the right wing trying to wrap Corbyn up for now, and prepare to strike late.
At Labour Party conference, left-wing journalist Owen Jones - who made prophecies of doom if Corbyn continued as leader - is back on the stage at Momentum's 'World Transformed' event.
Unfortunately the Momentum leadership, and Corbyn's advisors, have apparently been seduced by the parliamentary Labour Party's sham surrender.
Corbyn's supporters must press home their advantage to demand democratic rights including mandatory reselection of Labour MPs.
This excellent documentary did, however, miss some important issues. It never showed, for example, the turning point in the election, which was the launch of the radical manifesto that marked a break from the old politics as usual.
Until then, the press campaign, unanswered up to that point, had an effect in turning some working class supporters against Corbyn.
Nevertheless, it demonstrates the chasm between Corbyn's supporters and most Labour MPs, exposing the utopian idea that the Blairites can ever be won over to supporting Corbyn or his policies.
- 'Labour - the Summer that Changed Everything' is available on BBC iPlayer
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
LATEST POSTS
12 May Stop Israeli state brutality
 |
9 May Post-election meetings
15 May Birmingham Socialist Party: How can we fight for socialist change and a new workers' party?
17 May Oxfordshire & Aylesbury Socialist Party: The role of the state
18 May Bristol North Socialist Party: Liverpool - history of socialist struggle
CONTACT US
Phone our national office on 020 8988 8777
Email: [email protected]
Locate your nearest Socialist Party branch Text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206
Regional Socialist Party organisers:
Eastern: 079 8202 1969
East Mids: 077 3797 8057
London: 075 4018 9052
North East: 078 4114 4890
North West 079 5437 6096
South West: 077 5979 6478
Southern: 078 3368 1910
Wales: 079 3539 1947
West Mids: 024 7655 5620
Yorkshire: 078 0983 9793
ABOUT US
ARCHIVE
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999