Corbyn's Revolution

The Corbyn clip at the bottom of this post is certainly not the most instantly gratifying (it’s over two hours long) but for me, more than anything else around, it reveals the depth of the Corbyn revolution – a revolution which goes way beyond the British Labour Party, beyond British or even world politics and maybe even beyond politics itself.
There were portends. Like you’re on an island in the Pacific and suddenly the birds start flying backwards, “Curious…” you mutter to yourself. Ten minutes later an earthquake on the ocean floor sends you running for your life. Well, remember the Scottish referendum? Days after the Scot Nats had been resoundingly defeated and a rattled establishment heaved a huge sigh of relief, Scot Nat recruitment went through the roof and six months after that in the General Election, they swept the board. And in that same election, after a lefter-then-ever Labour party was thoroughly humiliated in the polls… well blow me if Labour’s recruitment didn’t also go through the roof.

Then along comes Jeremy Corbyn

He’s an unlikely figure even for an unlikely figure. I mean, unlikely figures come from nowhere and are imbued with some kind of inexplicable charisma and make rousing speeches that say nothing. But Corbyn’s not like that. He doesn’t come from nowhere. He comes from years and years of dogged opposition, his straight-faced, low-key demeanor is legendary and he certainly knows what he’s talking about.

So what kind of revolution is this?

It’s a revolution in perception

We’re just a load of self-interested consumers characterised only by ‘aspiration’ and our young, after a lifetime of fast-food and Facebook, care nothin’ about nothin’. But it seems we’re wrong. Suddenly, there’s a world out there of decent, concerned, articulate folk with thousands of them, especially the young, signing up to Corbyn and hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions more, watching and listening.It’s also revolution in democracy

In the clip, after Corbyn’s initial address the meeting is thrown open for questions. Nothing unusual there as we prepare ourselves for the usual pointless questions, always taken in threes and always for the platform to dispense its wisdom and deliver the answers. But after the first three questions  Corbyn suggests they go on, “Let’s take a few more”, he says and then suggests that the questioners could even perhaps ‘interact’. And they do. For the next ninety minutes articulate, informed speaker follows articulate, informed speaker asking relevant, pertinent questions or making relevant, pertinent points. No bores, no red-herrings, no grandstanding. How he does it, I’m not sure but my guess is that it’s less what he does and more what he doesn’t do – less what he does, more what he is.

It’s a revolution in discourse too

It’s long been a given, not least by Corbyn himself, that it’s the policy not the person that matters, yet Corbyn’s appeal is as much, if not more, due to him as it is his policies. His decency is everywhere but then, when you think about it it’s not so surprising, after all, don’t decent men have decent policies?But it’s when the person and the policies come together that we see the full impact on our political discourse. I can date my conscious political awareness back to Harold Wilson so I’ve seen some politicians come and go, but none with the same clear grasp of detail delivered with the simplicity and charm as Jeremy Corbyn.  I never knew Inner London housing stock could be quite so interesting.It’s also a revolution in politics 

Left, right, who cares? Is it left-wing to hate poverty? Is it right-wing to hope for prosperity? Corbyn is breaking down the barriers and with none of those notorious leftist tendencies: no dogmatism, no class conflict. It’s to the good of us all that poverty ends and to that end, the better-off might well wish to pay more taxes. I wasn’t around in those days of Clement Atlee and the post-war Labour government. That was a socialism that engaged pretty well all the British people. And it’s lived on. To this day, the National Health Service is, quite simply, loved by the people of Britain.So, what’s going on here? What is this new socialism-for-all, this new national socialism for God’s sake?A revolution in ethics

In our world, at best our leaders pretend to have principles and at worst, they have no principles. Corbyn’s decency is everywhere. How many times in the past weeks have we heard corrupt and compromised figures like Tony Blair or Jack Straw, halfway through their denunciations find themselves compelled to confess “I know Jeremy….I like Jeremy…”I saw this coming and when Corbyn’s name was first mentioned and he was struggling to get his name onto the ballot paper I wrote about his decency here and I concluded:

“I can hear them now:”Oh sure, Corbyn’s a fine man, a man of principle but that’s not necessarily what we need in a leader”. I disagree. In these terrible times, that’sexactly what we need in a leader.”

  

Posted by Paul Eisen