Will Jeremy Corbyn revive UK's Labour Party?

In the contemporary world driven by corporate ideology, alternative economic models tend to be projected as harbingers of cataclysm. It’s then hardly unusual for Britain’s newly elected Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn to be hammered as a “Communist/ radical extremist and threat to national security”, by his detractors among the Conservatives and the media. The unbridled fear-mongering — a proclivity mainstream policymakers, politicians and media are known to indulge in from time to time, particularly when facing serious alternative political/economic challenges, is indeed interesting. Not to mention that the deliberately manufactured labels need to be deconstructed if only to acquire a more insightful understanding of the real interests that are at work behind the random name-calling.

For instance, it can easily be argued that the charge of “extremism” can and should squarely be laid at the door of Britain’s current Cameron-led dispensation. The disastrous policies of austerity rolled out by the Conservative government — slashing public spending, catalysing the housing crisis, lengthening the queues at food banks — have brought immense hardships upon the most vulnerable sections of society. There is little room to deny that these policies are nothing if not “extreme” in their nature, in hurting the poor, pushing them to the margins; that too, when they are still struggling to recover from the catastrophic losses of the 2008 global economic collapse. 

Unlike some of his Labour Party peers, Corbyn does not walk a middle-path, nor does he speak the mainstream economic shibboleth. In jettisoning the contemporary brand of fashionable Labour Party politics in a whole range of policy matters — from economics to foreign affairs — Corbyn has enthused multitudes. It can be argued that the very “extremism” that Corbyn’s challengers are accusing him of subscribing to, has well and truly struck a chord among people. In the process, he is picking up new supporters as well as bringing back to the fold many who were disillusioned with Tony Blaire’s New Labour politics. As the recent UK elections reveal, many Labour voters transferred loyalties to UKIP, to the SNP, to the Tories in the South. Even the West Midlands are no longer safe for Labour.

Coming on the back of this bleak verdict, the new Labour Party leader not only sounds different but appears to have the resolve to push for an alternative set of policies. In his acceptance speech, Corbyn said: “It (society) doesn’t have to be unfair, poverty isn’t inevitable, things can, and they will, change.” This, after all, was the original credo embraced by Labour. Subsequently, the fear of losing voters tempered these principles to an extent that they are now barely recognisable as integral to Labour politics. If Corbyn sticks to his words, the party may return to its roots, which, many would argue, is the only way to breathe life into the flagging organisation.

The hand-wringing Conservatives and Liberals may pour scorn on Corbyn for his Left-wing policies and politics. But before flinging idiotic charges his way, they should pause and consider whether policies of austerity have actually beefed up the British exchequer. The data seems to tell a different story. A comparison with the US, which has pursued moderate policies, shows that in 2014, Britain’s budget deficit was 4.9% of G.D.P. as against America’s 2.8% the same year.

For Corbyn, the challenge happens to be as formidable within his own party as it is outside of it. Without being dogmatic, the revival of old school Labour politics may be an effective prescription at this juncture when all but right-wing economics seems to be touted by the political classes as the only way to deliver people out of  poverty. As the columnist Polly Toynbee has written in The Guardian: “The real extremism is across the House of Commons in the most radical government of our lifetime — and it needs a forceful opposition to show voters that’s where the real danger to the country lies.”