Corbynism

The Searchers: Andy Beckett, Allen Lane £30. Review by Gerry Hassan Bella Caledonia, 14 June 2024 This book covers the rise and fall, and rise again and subsequent fall, of the Labour left over a period of over fifty years - from the late 1960s to the present. Andy Beckett locates such an epic canvas through telling the story of five connected individuals - Tony Benn, Ken Livingstone, Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Diane Abbott. Such an approach aims to make this more human and relatable.  However, this is a questionable conceit, as it assumes a major thread connecting all

Continue Reading How not to do radicalism: The hold of capital-ism on Labour’s left from Benn to Corbyn

What has Labour got to say as the British establishment collapses? Gerry Hassan Sunday National, September 22nd 2019 The Labour Party meets for its annual conference at Brighton this weekend, confident about its future prospects. The reality is that the state of Labour is not good. The party are polling between 21% and 28% in the polls - with the two pollsters who called 2017 most accurately putting it on 21% and 24%, and in one they are third place behind the Lib Dems. This puts Labour on course to lose a massive six million votes from 2017 to the

Continue Reading What has Labour got to say as the British establishment collapses?

Could Corbyn’s Labour be the future? A work in progress, but now imaginable Gerry Hassan Compass, September 27th 2018 Labour conference this week is an important staging post in the new Corbyn-led, energised mass party - not just the biggest in Britain, but bigger than all the other party memberships put together. The Jeremy Corbyn-John McDonnell leadership has been three years at the helm, and are the new establishment running and defining the party. They are now in near-total control of the party, its institutions and in tune with the expanded grass roots. This is their party now and

Continue Reading Could Corbyn’s Labour be the future? A work in progress, but now imaginable