James A. Smith is the author of Other People’s Politics: Populism to Corbynism and Work Want Work: Labour and Desire at the End of Capitalism (with Mareile Pfannebecker). He is cohost of The Popular Show podcast.
After years of hand-wringing over alleged antisemitism in Britain’s Labour Party, activists are demanding a judge-led inquiry into Islamophobia. The call exposes right-wingers’ double standards — but will do little to combat the demonization of Muslims.
Keir Starmer has pulled Labour far from his campaign pledges while silencing his left-wing critics. The Left’s situation isn’t hopeless, but it needs to regain the radicalism it showed during Jeremy Corbyn’s first insurgency against the party establishment.
In the best moments of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the Labour left captured an insurgent, democratizing spirit. Yet two years after the Left’s defeat, the top-down approach that led to the fatal “second referendum” policy continues to hamper its recovery.
Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders transformed their respective countries’ policy agendas. That’s exactly why they can’t step aside for other candidates.