After years of trauma-induced inertia on the British left, something is stirring. Despite its initial false start — and some internal backbiting, aired unfathomably in the bourgeois media — around 650,000 people have signed up to register their interest in the new left-wing party recently announced by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana. Should a majority of these become dues-paying members once it is formally founded, the new Corbyn-Sultana party will have the largest membership base of any political party in the country.
The party is currently just bones, but the unpopularity of Keir Starmer’s reactionary Labour government — just over a year after it was elected with a landslide House of Commons majority, albeit on less than 34 percent of the vote — has created a generational opportunity in British politics. Starmer himself, most likely egged on by his malignant chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, has gone out of his way to antagonise the left at every opportunity: the fleas have been shaken off, and the barnacles have deserted the boat. Rachel Reeves has criticised Corbyn for trying to destroy Labour, but the party only has itself to blame.
Starmer has resisted social reform and increased military spending to please Donald Trump. Progressive and Muslim voters, previously Labour’s base, are repulsed by the party’s active, practical support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza; their votes are now lost, possibly for good. With Reform UK leading recent opinion polls, the party risks defeat at the next election. Yet, Starmer’s mostly bovine MPs show few signs of revolt. Another poor showing in next year’s local elections may prompt a leadership challenge, but swapping Starmer for Angela Rayner or Wes Streeting is unlikely to produce any significant change.
What remains of the Labour left is weak. To secure the ballot, candidates for party leadership elections must receive 20 percent of the Parliamentary Labour Party vote, which is beyond the reach of the dwindling Socialist Campaign Group. It is unlikely that MPs will nominate an aspiring left leadership candidate to push them over the line, as some people did for Corbyn in 2015. John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, and Clive Lewis, who are front-runners of the campaign group, are committed to Labour; however, their influence has diminished as their left-wing colleagues have decreased.
Admittedly, they have good reason to be hesitant about jumping ship. British politics is notorious for failed left-wing parties, including the Independent Labour Party, the Socialist Labour Party, and Respect. Opinion polls suggest that the new Corbyn-Sultana party could take some of the Labour vote, but it is unclear how this will translate into parliamentary seats. In the absence of electoral reform, the first-past-the-post system creates an obstacle for insurgent parties; however, this could change, considering the breakdown of the Labour and Conservative duopoly.
The political and media establishment will isolate and delegitimise the party, even before it has made electoral headway. The mainstream parties and their media allies will likely paint the alliance as extreme and unfit to lead and participate in government, even as a junior partner. Accusations of antisemitism were one of the most damaging weapons used against Corbyn during his tenure as Labour leader, and we can expect these smears to be redeployed against the new party, assuming it supports Palestinian national liberation — as it should. Yet, the party must not repeat the mistakes of Corbyn’s Labour and bow to the bad faith actors of the Israel lobby or try to placate the implacable.
Rebuilding the left’s unity and morale will be difficult. Following Corbyn’s defeat, activists were burned. Working-class consciousness remains troublingly low, which has enabled the reactionary, racist right to galvanise workers, including trade union members and officials. The party, therefore, should not focus solely on the government office, which is unlikely in the short to medium term. Corbyn and Sultana need to organise social forces at the base, build popular confidence, and shift the political centre of gravity.
Without a long-term strategy, the party will become another electoralist outfit, chasing quick hits of approval. The alliance needs to strengthen and deepen socialist consciousness, prioritising political education and cadre formation, and creating new spaces for discussion, study, and ideological development. The group needs to develop a media and cultural apparatus to disseminate ideas among the masses; we need to reshape public opinion and incubate a new socialist common sense, forming a new generation of organisers.
The possibility of a strategic alliance remains unclear. Zack Polanski’s left-social democratic campaign for the leadership of the Green Party in England and Wales has won the support of many former Corbynites. (Polanski has called for Britain to withdraw from Nato, which Corbyn’s Labour — no doubt fearing a mutiny — never did.) If Polanski wins, which is likely, an electoral pact between the Corbyn-Sultana party and the Greens could be formed to avoid vote splitting. Given the political common ground, such an arrangement is worth exploring. It makes little sense for the parties to eat into each other’s votes. Nevertheless, the new party has its own functions to perform — specifically, building counter-hegemony and counterpower at the base — and needs to maintain a distinctive identity to avoid being subsumed.
The new party should be able to win support in areas where the Greens lack a solid grounding, such as the trade union movement. Many rank-and-file unionists are disaffected with Labour and could be receptive to a new political vehicle rooted in class politics; however, a large-scale disaffiliation is unlikely to happen soon. Corbyn and Sultana should therefore aim to forge strong ties with the organised working classes and support people who are struggling, without subordinating themselves to union bureaucracies.
Still, the party’s relationship to electoralism needs to be defined. Election campaigns can facilitate political education and provide opportunities to disrupt orthodox narratives. Principled socialist MPs, of course, would be a great asset. Despite this, Parliament absorbs British capitalism. The trajectory of several former Corbynite MPs, who have since reconciled themselves to Starmerism, demonstrates that parliamentary politics can neutralise dissent and cut off elected representatives from the people who put them there. The new party must work out how to be in and against Westminster — using the platform effectively, without fetishising it.
With only Corbyn, Sultana and the four other MPs aligned with the new party, the parliamentary caucus is small. The Independent Alliance MPs are a mixed bag politically, and only Corbyn and Sultana are consistently left-wing. There are also concerns that members will not adhere to a party programme. Corbynism showed us that left-wingers can quickly be pulled rightward by the trappings of office. Mechanisms to ensure MPs adhere to party discipline — for example, open selection — will be necessary.
The party is needed to renew and spearhead socialist working-class politics, not just to keep Corbyn, Sultana, or any other MPs in the Commons. To be successful, the organisation must radically remake Britain’s political terrain, popularise socialist ideas, and confront the pervading power of capital. Ideological clarity and a patient, counter-hegemonic strategy will be required to cultivate solidarity, democracy, and equality, which is a lot to ask of a fledgling organisation. Yet, the progression of society will determine the party’s success or failure.