Posted by Ian M on February 22, 2023, 6:50 pm, in reply to "Re: Thanks Ian"
'We, the leftists associated with the LP, at that time, thought it worth going for it'
Well yes, I think it was worth a shot, and it was certainly revealing how it panned out, probably educating a lot of people as to the cutthroat nature of the UK elite. Wouldn't agree that Corbyn's betrayals are irrelevant though - for me that's the whole point, that popular mobilisations are most often watered down & destroyed by 'leadership'. There was nothing democratic about Corbyn's handling of the various attacks against him by the PLP, despite Momentum arguably providing the means to secure a mandate for strong retaliatory action. Corbyn sacked all that off after the 1st PMQs the way Sanders and Obama did before him, and made all his spectacularly bad decisions based on whatever idiotic advice he was getting from his close circle. Demobilisation leads to compromise after compromise until people get bitter and all the positive energy is frittered away.
Taking that into account, somebody warning you that you're getting led up the garden path is doing you a favour, even if you choose to continue but with your eyes open. It's about putting your energies into things that maximise returns. There's always a pressure directing people into manageable cul-de-sacs where they can uselessly bang their heads against a wall for year after year. The failure of the Corbyn project should be a final gravestone on the idea of change within the system, but of course it won't be, and the idea of getting revolutionary changes through nice, polite parliamentary processes is ever-enticing, and a new generation comes along every 5-10 years who have to learn the same lessons all over again.