CROYDON COMMENTARY: As party politics in Britain fractures ever more, BOB HEWLETT, a former official in the local Labour Party, takes a look at the newest alternative
Left turn: former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn (second left) and Zara Sultana have confirmed that they are launching a new party
So with a press of the “Send” button, I became part of the new left political project called “Your Party”.
The founding statement by Zara Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn is broad brush and any left-leaning individual could not but agree with its contents.
Because of this approach, the inaugural conference will be interesting logistically, as it will be both online and in-person, according to the email I received. The direction, structure and platform will be decided by this conference.
While I am interested in and hopeful of this project, the enormity of transforming, from having politically nebulous ideas and thoughts from thousands of individuals, into a hard physical political representative entity, is not lost on me.
The enmity to this project from all sides will immense and unrelenting. The vested interests from the established leftist political parties and the capitalist class will ally with each other to destroy this newcomer.
But this new political venture can learn from the failures of both of these.
The capitalist failures are there to be seen so can be of short shrift. The failures of the established leftist political parties can be harder to discern. Failures can be from “being in permanent opposition” to esoteric dissertations.
I will lay my cards on the table, that as a proud socialist, I am dogmatic in my politics but I am pragmatic in its applications. It can be a political ha-ha to have one’s political aims turn into a Christmas wish list.
I hope my fellow travellers in this new project avoid this and focus on making this new political project into a member-led political reality.
I will keep Inside Croydon readers impartially informed.
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