The only thing worse than not getting what you want, the saying goes, is getting what you want. Having spent my entire adult life wanting the Labour Party to have a left-wing leader, the months after Jeremy Corbyn's election have left me disorientated and strangely deflated, more fearful than revelling in victory.
Partly this is because of a sober recognition that, in spite of having won the leadership, the left is far from having won the Party. The British left loves its comforting stories, more so now that it can share them instantaneously through the perpetual emotional maelstrom that is the internet. Unable to distinguish support from sycophancy, hardly an hour passes without the self-declared Corbynistas birthing a new Jeremy-themed meme or Facebook group. Where once an activist might show her commitment to socialism by picketing, now she is more likely to do it by photoshopping. A left which once prided itself on possessing a certain amount of intellectual weight now communicates mainly through hashtags, declaring uncritical support for the leader of the Labour Party. One would be tempted to quote against this phenomenon the lines 'no saviours from on high deliver', were it not for the fact that those most in need of the message would be unlikely to get the reference.
There a decent argument to be had that uncritical support is no support at all. Corbyn deserves comrades, not worshippers. Any successful political movement, let alone one aiming at the radical transformation of society, requires a base that is critical and, to some extent at least, autonomous. This, however, is not a truth that sits comfortably with the mood music of the moment, which is driven by the relentless optimism of those who do not realise that the light at the end of the tunnel comes from a very fast oncoming train being driven by a maniac with nothing to lose. However much we murmur the mantras, 'decisive victory', 'mandate', and 'will of the party', the truth is that the hard work remains to be done. And here I'm talking about the effort we need to stand still, to retain the leadership. Winning the next general election is a different matter altogether.
Here again the absence of any tangible sense of reality is an obstacle to the change of gear the left so desperately needs. Once more the comforting tales get told: we won Oldham with an increased share of the vote. This was hardly a noteworthy victory for an opposition party a few years off a general election, but for parts of the Labour left the news was greeted with the near-orgasmic joy of a Tranmere Rovers fan learning that their side has pipped Barcelona to UEFA glory. Oldham perhaps seemed remarkable because Corbyn's opponents in the press had talked up the UKIP threat, but with the benefit of hindsight, it is a good deal less impressive. What is far more deserving of attention is the fact that Labour, already facing an uphill challenge in 2020 because of boundary changes, is tailing miserably in the polls nationwide.
I must change tack at this point, because I'm in danger of subtly participating in the most worrying trend of the moment, an excessive focus on the parliamentary. It is a familiar criticism of socialists in the Labour Party that we focus on slinking our way through the corridors of power at the expense of class struggle beyond Westminster. It is also charged that we place the unity of the Labour Party above that of the working class, and certainly above that of the wider left. If any of these complaints were true, the only appropriate response from anyone with a claim to be a socialist would be to leave the Labour Party immediately. Our loyalty to Labour is not of the sort one might have for a family pet or a football team, whatever the modish talk of the Labour 'family' might imply. Labour is a means, not an end, and the end is socialism.
We're in danger of making the means the end. As a revolutionary socialist I do not believe that socialism will ever be handed down by a Labour government, which doesn't mean for one moment that I don't very much want a Labour government. It does mean, though, that I think a narrow Westminster focus is a mistake. Struggles outside parliament matter. The day by day fights against cuts and closures, for better pay and conditions - these ought to be bread and butter for socialists. I can't avoid the impression that we've taken our eyes off the ball in this area. Leftists who a few years ago would be boring the will-to-live out of their more Labour-orientated comrades with lectures on 'the importance of building the fight against the Tories in the workplace' have taken to following the latest shadow cabinet escapades with the resigned enthusiasm of the new junkie. Leaving aside the well-worn debate about reform and revolution - it could, after all, be that I am wrong - many battles won't wait four years. Take, for example, the current attack on our trade union rights: imagine what a difference would be made if the Momentum group made as simple a move as asking each of its several thousand members to join a union.
Ultimately there is no opposition between fighting austerity at grassroots level, on the one hand, and consolidating Corbyn's position and aiming at a Labour government, on the other. The truth is, as witnessed by the experience of Podemos and Syriza (remember them?), that the radical left wins political power not in spite of, but on the back of, movements that transcend the boundaries of politics as usual. Britain is far from having any such movement. The biggest mass-membership bodies with political potential and a significant presence in the working class remain the trade unions, strangely ignored by Labour's new left. There is a void here that needs filling. Instead, we're dancing over the precipice and falling into the darkness
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