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I'm fascinated to see the apparently limitless efforts that both the media and his own party went to in order to brand Corbyn as an extreme and dangerous left w

I'm fascinated to see the apparently limitless efforts that both the media and his own party went to in order to brand Corbyn as an extreme and dangerous left winger and undermine his progress. His policies were comparable to, and sometimes to the right of, those of the SDP. The SDP being the right of the Labour party who split in the 1980s and later merged with the Liberals to give today's LibDems. He was more of the fringe in his youth. So were quite a lot of people, current politicians, even Blairites included. Peter Hain (anti-apartheid and gay rights) and David Blunkett (Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire[0]) spring to mind as having had far more activist and strident roots than Corbyn. Blunkett went on to be a Home Secretary the right of the Tory party would have been proud of. Edit: Nowhere am I advocating his policies, why the downvotes? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_South_Yorkshire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_South_Yo...

noobermin 8y ago
In the spirit of current split in dominance between neoliberals and the far right, labor-ish politicians are well left of the current establishment.
crdoconnor 8y ago
Most of the Blairites had deep links to elite establishment institutions (think tanks, global nonprofits) and industry (media, PR, finance, etc.). That formed the mainstay of their power while Corbyn's power base was grass roots (e.g. Momentum), left wing activist networks and unions. Ultimately it wasn't really about policy for the rebel MPs, it was about seeing the main source of their power undermined. There isn't much of a career left for the Blairites under Corbyn. Lots of corporate groups allied with the PLP hate his policies though. Richard Branson with his rail franchise and attempts to set up an American style HMO is obviously no fan, for example.
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  You're entirely right, of course. It's the schadenfreude of watching everyone framing him as some sort of neo Trotskyite. Blairites have little career under any leader until memories have faded and there's another tipping point like Black Monday that brought them in in the first place. Brexit looks like it could easily cause one of those, going on current negotiations, so perhaps they won't be waiting too long.
notahacker 8y ago
Corbyn branded himself as a radical leftwinger for most of his career, including when it suited him during his leadership campaign. Nobody remotely familiar with Corbyn would attempt to characterise his views as "fringe in his youth" or compare him with Blunkett unless they were being deliberately disingenuous. We're talking about someone with a lifelong dedication to "anti-imperialist" foreign policy causes who could be found delivering speeches about the fine example set by Chavismo and supposed progressive credentials of Hamas to tiny fringe audiences throughout his 60s (he's now 69). The one thing his staunchest supporters and biggest detractors agree on is that he's been largely consistent in his stances.
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  Always an anti-imperialist and pacifist; but neither exactly unusual views on the left of centre. That he met with Hamas is no different to his meetings with Adams and others of Sinn Fein years before. Both seem consistent with seeking peace. I could easily classify it as naive and unlikely to achieve much outside of government. Then again, considering both Major era Tories and Blair era Labour including Mo Mowlam met Sinn Fein regularly and that ultimately led to the Good Friday Agreement, who knows if those meetings helped any. No peace will come to Palestine without all parties reaching agreement and some resolution of Israel's illegal occupation and settlements. That has to start with someone meeting Hamas and Israel - though I doubt he could make a difference. I'm not sure I call the stop the war coalition a tiny fringe audience though. Blunkett was far out on the loony left with Derek Hatton's Militant Liverpool. That Blunkett managed to reinvent himself as a right-wing Tory the moment he got a ministry perhaps shows that he didn't mellow through the years as go so far left as to reappear on the right. He's remained well to the right since leaving politics. I don't see anything disingenuous about the comparison or that his views are somewhat different now to then.
ascorbic 8y ago
This article is the exact opposite of what you're claiming. Labour HQ was trying to make him appear less left wing than he is, by refusing to run the more extreme ads that he was demanding.
- NeedMoreTea 8y ago
  No, it isn't. It's quite well known that both party MP's and admin tried to make both his leadership and campaign difficult. They chose to "refuse to run the more extreme ads" that were well within the bounds of moderate Labour policy of relatively recent years. With a manifesto that resonated pretty well with voters on most issues as it turned out yet didn't include several of Corbyn's actual well known fringe views such as unliatera disarmament as that went against agreed party policy. The manifesto is what counts. Thus he's being treated as some dangerous extremist whose views can't even be let out in public during an election campaign. Views that, as put forward in the manifesto, are not actually that extreme. It's miles away from Foot's longest suicide note manifesto for example.
  - ascorbic 8y ago
    Unless you're claiming that they were refusing to run the most moderate ads, and would only run the more left wing ones, I still fail to see how this could be seen as them trying portray him as more left wing.

noobermin 8y ago

In the spirit of current split in dominance between neoliberals and the far right, labor-ish politicians are well left of the current establishment.

crdoconnor 8y ago

Most of the Blairites had deep links to elite establishment institutions (think tanks, global nonprofits) and industry (media, PR, finance, etc.). That formed the mainstay of their power while Corbyn's power base was grass roots (e.g. Momentum), left wing activist networks and unions. Ultimately it wasn't really about policy for the rebel MPs, it was about seeing the main source of their power undermined. There isn't much of a career left for the Blairites under Corbyn. Lots of corporate groups allied with the PLP hate his policies though. Richard Branson with his rail franchise and attempts to set up an American style HMO is obviously no fan, for example.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago
You're entirely right, of course. It's the schadenfreude of watching everyone framing him as some sort of neo Trotskyite. Blairites have little career under any leader until memories have faded and there's another tipping point like Black Monday that brought them in in the first place. Brexit looks like it could easily cause one of those, going on current negotiations, so perhaps they won't be waiting too long.

notahacker 8y ago

Corbyn branded himself as a radical leftwinger for most of his career, including when it suited him during his leadership campaign. Nobody remotely familiar with Corbyn would attempt to characterise his views as "fringe in his youth" or compare him with Blunkett unless they were being deliberately disingenuous. We're talking about someone with a lifelong dedication to "anti-imperialist" foreign policy causes who could be found delivering speeches about the fine example set by Chavismo and supposed progressive credentials of Hamas to tiny fringe audiences throughout his 60s (he's now 69). The one thing his staunchest supporters and biggest detractors agree on is that he's been largely consistent in his stances.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago
Always an anti-imperialist and pacifist; but neither exactly unusual views on the left of centre. That he met with Hamas is no different to his meetings with Adams and others of Sinn Fein years before. Both seem consistent with seeking peace. I could easily classify it as naive and unlikely to achieve much outside of government. Then again, considering both Major era Tories and Blair era Labour including Mo Mowlam met Sinn Fein regularly and that ultimately led to the Good Friday Agreement, who knows if those meetings helped any. No peace will come to Palestine without all parties reaching agreement and some resolution of Israel's illegal occupation and settlements. That has to start with someone meeting Hamas and Israel - though I doubt he could make a difference. I'm not sure I call the stop the war coalition a tiny fringe audience though. Blunkett was far out on the loony left with Derek Hatton's Militant Liverpool. That Blunkett managed to reinvent himself as a right-wing Tory the moment he got a ministry perhaps shows that he didn't mellow through the years as go so far left as to reappear on the right. He's remained well to the right since leaving politics. I don't see anything disingenuous about the comparison or that his views are somewhat different now to then.

ascorbic 8y ago

This article is the exact opposite of what you're claiming. Labour HQ was trying to make him appear less left wing than he is, by refusing to run the more extreme ads that he was demanding.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago
No, it isn't. It's quite well known that both party MP's and admin tried to make both his leadership and campaign difficult. They chose to "refuse to run the more extreme ads" that were well within the bounds of moderate Labour policy of relatively recent years. With a manifesto that resonated pretty well with voters on most issues as it turned out yet didn't include several of Corbyn's actual well known fringe views such as unliatera disarmament as that went against agreed party policy. The manifesto is what counts. Thus he's being treated as some dangerous extremist whose views can't even be let out in public during an election campaign. Views that, as put forward in the manifesto, are not actually that extreme. It's miles away from Foot's longest suicide note manifesto for example.
- ascorbic 8y ago
  Unless you're claiming that they were refusing to run the most moderate ads, and would only run the more left wing ones, I still fail to see how this could be seen as them trying portray him as more left wing.