Win or lose, Corbyn’s cronies threaten Britain
Dogged determination, mixed with blind arrogance may be enough for Corbyn's supporters to ignore the inevitable result of a general election, argues Chris Everett.
Jeremy Corbyn has won the Labour leadership race. While the result of the leadership election is two months away, we shouldn't kid ourselves: Corbyn's won. He's already succeeded where Eagles daren't; the chances of Owen Smith overturning his majority against both long-term party faithful and newer members alike are virtually impossible.
Most Conservatives are by this point celebrating – as long as Corbyn stays in charge of Labour, the party and its increasingly illiberal policies will be kept far away from public office. This is to assume, however, that Corbynism is no more dangerous than the party it represents, that it doesn't offer a wider threat from public disorder, and that a minority political movement cannot destroy a majority outside of an election.
What we now might call Corbynism – united hard left ideologies couched in the terms of a popular mass movement – has already seeped into other parties and groups. The SNP is a great example to showcase the toxic mix of populism intertwined with a hint of mob rule that is central to Corbyn's policies, while fringe parties such as the Greens' long held disdain for mainstream media represents a cornerstone of Labour's current press strategy. The election of Corbyn has only served to buoy these elements.
Protest groups also find common cause with Corbynist Labour. Class War, the sinister far left equivalent of the EDL, marched on Boris Johnson's house armed with flares, calling for the deaths of the bourgeoisie, and even a splash of violence. Members of Momentum, Corbyn's own Praetorian Guard, are clamouring for forceful deselections of erring Labour MPs, while the leader's supporters have also allegedly been involved in threats and intimidation towards them. The passions Nigel Farage is said to have stirred up among a minority of xenophobes during the referendum can be mirrored tenfold in the new socialist zeal being fomented – directly or indirectly – in New New Old Labour.
While a popular mass movement twinned with a hint of far left antagonism in itself isn't dangerous, the real peril comes from the potential for both to mix. The assumption that Corbyn can never democratically win power, and therefore is not a threat, is one that relies on seeing the proponents of an increasingly fringe socialist ideal willing to accept Parliamentary legitimacy. But Corbyn continues to reject calls from the overwhelming majority of the Parliamentary party to stand down. While this doesn't make Corbyn himself the next Lenin, or Labour the next set of Bolsheviks, can you really see Momentum or Labour accepting the inevitable result of the next general or even an internal leadership election? Their dogged determination, mixed with blind arrogance may well be enough to convince them that despite the inevitable result of the general election, they have the support of the 'people' who matter, and therefore a mandate to fight on. Conservatives and moderates alike must remember that a mob is not a majority, but a revolution requires only the former.
