The outbreak of open hostilities between the Jeremy Corbyn faction and the supporters of Zarah Sultana in the putative Your Party has horrified the petit bourgeois left. It had welcomed the joint announcement of its establishment in July with effusive enthusiasm. Now all is despondency, principally because its idol, Jeremy Corbyn, has been revealed for what he really is: a dyed-in-the-wool reactionary. September’s tears have replaced July’s elation. Thus Socialist Worker’s editor Tomas Tengely-Evans writes:
‘…history will forgive neither side in Your Party if this blows up the project before it is even set up. It will not remember the rights and wrongs of this or that argument over membership lists or conference procedures. There is an urgent need for a left alternative to Keir Starmer’s failing Labour government, the neoliberal consensus it upholds and the far right it fuels…If this opportunity is squandered, millions of working class people will pay the price as the likes of Reform UK and the far right benefit.’
Socialist Alternative is equally despondent:
‘We are deeply concerned first and foremost with the interests of the working class and our movement, which are seriously threatened by developments which might undermine the prospects for building Your Party before it has even been able to get off the ground. There is a very real danger of an open split at the top which could rupture plans for a united left party, which our class desperately needs.’
Rs21, an offshoot of the SWP, laments that ‘This should have been a moment of celebration, a step towards making this new party democratic, with power in the hands of the members. Instead, the feud between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, and the teams around them, has taken a drastic turn…[but] we should focus on what we want: the successful founding of a democratic new left party. That outcome is at risk, but we can take action to save it.’ Left alternative, united left party, new left party, it is all the same: left Labour social democracy.
Counterfire, another SWP offshoot, dejectedly reports ‘a great deal of upset and anger from Your Party supporters’, adding that ‘There should be every attempt to heal the rift but not on the basis of backdoor deals or on legal resolution. If the factionalism and division continue, then the party will have failed to match the aspirations of its supporters and, more importantly, will have failed to meet the challenges of British politics, not least the need to provide an alternative to Starmer, and to Reform and Robinson. It is shocking that we are in this position.’
The Revolutionary Communist Party’s Fiona Lali shares the despondency: ‘Your Party debacle is breathtaking. I cannot think of such a criminal waste of potential. Reformism, identity politics, dithering and organisational fetishism. This party has such potential.’ The Communist adds ‘Many people are shocked and demoralised by this. Even those who support the new party – but with a healthy scepticism about the quality of its leaders – have been astonished by the conduct of Corbyn and Sultana.’
In its determination to defend the creation of an opportunist social democratic party, the left has to cover up for the completely reactionary politics of Corbyn and his allies and pretend that the split is not political. But Sultana is clear: Labour is dead, anti-Zionism is essential for Palestine solidarity, and there can be no concessions to transphobia. In contrast, Corbyn does not accept that the Labour Party is dead, and he recognises the Israeli state as a legitimate entity, supporting a two-state solution and therefore rejecting Palestinian self-determination. His alliance with socially reactionary MPs from the Independent group is a kick in the teeth for the working class and oppressed. But the left won’t say this! It reduces the division to ‘organisational fetishism’ or whatever to protect Corbyn.
FRFI welcomes the conflict that has emerged as a step forward. The mayhem unleashed by Sultana’s unilateral action is doing more to sweep away Corbyn’s preposterous reputation, and the Labour left’s dead grip on the movement, than any of these left organisations. Sultana is calculating that youth are going to be the force for moving forward and that Corbynism will rely on the elderly forces from Labour’s past. One thing is certain: Sultana’s stance will make collaboration with Corbyn and his faction impossible.
