A cult of Corbynistas?

Corbyn has triumphed, endearingly so, over Establishment odds. MPs with the closest links to the Blairite status quo have had their chance and failed. Though the movement against Corbyn spanned from stalwarts such as Tristram Hunt to more sideways characters such as Ed Miliband, it was fundamentally an attempt to pull Labour somewhere a tad closer to the range of ideas that lost the leadership only last year. A campaign for Owen Smith, which held all the cards in the context of factual observation, but almost none in terms of emotional clout, lost against passion, and a desire for that consistently appealing brand of ‘change’, ‘honest politics’, and so on. Corbyn could have walked on stage at the last debate, argued for nothing but the nationalisation of the Great British Bake Off for almost an hour, and he would have still won doubtless. He would have won because his niche, nascent cult of personality already exists in Labour. It’s the kind that might indiscriminately boo Owen Smith, the kind that encourages a blanket rejection of criticism and takes advantage of a certain groupthink veil of anonymity. However, it’s also the kind of cult that could give Labour its saving grace. After all, could you hope for any more?

The falange that has supported Jeremy Corbyn for the past year has frequently found itself on the wrong side of history, in a confusing subversion of the narrative that now hangs over Blair’s legacy. Antisemitism has run rampant. Shady connections have been established as fact. Deselection, abusive behaviour and a wide range of threats have all been associated with the Corbynite camp. And yet, it hasn’t dissuaded soft Corbynistas from backing the North Islington Vitruvian Man. Neither have the abysmal polls.

While the side that broadly supported Owen Smith’s campaign to supplant Corbyn has also been guilty of making threats, these were less hurtful and more foreboding. Neil Kinnock, for example, made a forceful speech in a private court of Labour MPs making a strong case for Corbyn’s resignation. There was no real ad hominem to be found at this end. However, all of the complaints made against Corbyn during his time in office (and, clearly, more so in the last few months) still stand up to scrutiny. His leadership is not ideal, not even his own ideal. Management of press releases and internal tensions has been poor. Policy has been scant and ripped from the hands of Miliband. Most prominently of all, Corbyn will doubtless be blamed for diffusing the pro-EU Labour vote for some time to come. With Smith’s promise of a second referendum in tatters, Brexit is inevitable. Making the best of it is on Corbyn’s head.

How, though, could anyone change polls so sticky? How could a party run by an established maverick (with little to no economic or political credibility) overtake a party run by a woman who has just recently converted herself in the public eye into a level-headed, meritocratic mentor for the modern age? The simple answer requires a simple observation. A beautifully persuasive zephyr like Corbyn could only be elected if enough people believed in his unique rhetoric above all else. Labour is the largest mainstream political party in Europe based on membership alone, and a presumed sixty percent of those members believe in Corbyn enough to defend him in the presence of a more ‘electable’ alternative. Those people should now be prepared to fight for him on every street corner of this country, from Berwick to Basingstoke, from St. Andrews to St. Ives, from sunny Surrey to soggy Shetland. The same group of people that shoot down any opposition to Corbyn over their modem ought to do the same over the doorstep. If anything, it might shave off some misconceptions about the man. It might bring some of May’s misgivings to light. Any political debate is good; especially so if you bring it to the people your way.

Corbyn matched this in his acceptance speech by claiming that this coming Saturday would be the day on which Labour marched en masse into English suburbia to defend the bog-standard comprehensive and point out all the massive, glaring bullet holes in Theresa May’s grammar school visage – and perhaps shoot some more in the process. He wants to make Labour more democratic, more about the people that make it the mass movement that it has become under Corbyn’s leadership. To give people the power not only to shape policy but to shape opinion. To bring in the doubters, and to give people faith in the movements that were once the bastion of the Left, the movements that brought Labour to power from its very foundations. We honour the suffragettes and the early trade unionists. It’s up to Corbyn and his shaky subordinates to create something we can honour for today.

The velocity behind Smith has faded fast, but the roundup behind Corbyn will be slow. Regardless, it is the only option. Corbyn has proven the Establishment wrong consistently, from his election in 1987 to today, when he trumped expectation for the second time in a year. What’s to say he can’t do so again? The Conservatives smirk now, but if you were to name the party that was the most progressive at this point, would you name the one defending grammar schools and an Orwellian state?

This isn’t the end for Labour. The politics of hope aren’t dead yet.