Enough with the ‘voices of the left’. Here’s what ‘ordinary Labour activists’ think post-Corbyn

Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer Labour leadership
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In the aftermath of the Labour leadership election, the debate about the future of the party is heated. But one person has pointed out that a whole group of people is missing from the conversation. And she’s aimed to rectify that, at least in part.

Post-Corbyn debate. The usual suspects?

There’s been a swathe of debate online about what direction the Labour Party should take under new leader Keir Starmer. Much of it has been framed around the notion of a ‘post-Jeremy Corbyn’ era. And a lot of it has come from people who already have large platforms, whose voices the media or social media consistently amplify. But now, it might be time for the Labour Party to listen to the people that really matter: its members.

‘Sarah’, under the Twitter handle @ScouseGirlMedia, is a prominent Labour member and activist. And she put out a tweet asking ‘ordinary Labour activists’ what they ‘wanted and needed’ to happen next with the party:

Read on...

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The responses were both interesting and telling.

Activists speak

Jack Johnson said that he simply wanted “Labour solidarity”. Some wanted the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs to start thinking about a potential leadership candidate now. But many of the other comments weren’t quite in this vein. Many people thought that Starmer needed to take action over the ‘Labour Leaks‘ scandal. Meanwhile, Andy P Searson thought Labour needed to reconnect with communities through activism:

Lauren Townsend said similar. And Chelley Ryan took this one step further, saying the party needed to try and get working class ‘leave’ (Brexit) voters to join the party.

David Clarke gave an interesting nine-point outline of his thoughts:

And the Torygraph put forward some policy ideas:

With Matthew Austin going further:

Gerry Allen called for “electoral reform”, possibly proportional representation?

And Alana summed up what some people might ultimately be feeling:

But whatever people’s opinions were, Sarah made a crucial point with her initial tweet.

‘For the many’?

In politics, all too often the voices of those at the bottom of society are forgotten. People with qualifications the system labels desirable, but maybe not much life experience, tend to talk over everyone else. Often, more of us hear those with the louder voices, and the others get silenced. And we’re also fed the opinions of those who don’t rock the boat too much in the safe world of today’s corporate media and politics. The Labour Party is similar, with grassroots members at the bottom of its pecking order.

As Sarah noted, the often self-appointed “voices of the left” are making their views very clear. But this is because most of them already have a platform on which to do it. It’s rare to see or hear, in the swathe of podcasts and media platforms that now exist, ordinary Labour members taking part in debates or writing column inches. Yet it’s these very people who gave the world Corbyn as leader. And it should be these more representative people’s views which matter the most. If one thing should continue post-Corbyn, it’s the idea that every person’s voice matters. ‘For the many, not the few’, after all.

Featured image via Owen Jones – YouTube and Guardian News – YouTube

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  • Show Comments
    1. Stammer the spammer is going to take the party back to the Blair days no ifs no buts it’s started already Blair has been on TV at the beginning of the week two days in a row even he has put his penny worth in the left hasn’t a chance it’s duck down be quite or out they go made up lies so that they drummed out oh ye oh ye the Blair years are back

        1. Not with that man in charge, the Labour Party is finished as a progressive leftish party and has become the same old red Tory party it was under Blair. Watch the membership plummet now. People want change not just better Tories than the real ones

    2. My whole family are Socialists and always have been, I was told by my mum to join the CLP at 14 or leave the house! (I think she was joking😀) I left aged 44 after Blair was elected on a ticket of being better at being a Tory than real ones. Corbyn gave me hope and for that I am eternally grateful but now I find just as I was about to rejoin the Party that it’s Been taken over by the extremist ideology of right wing loonies. I’ve always sent money to the party during elections but no more, in fact I wasn’t the £130 I sent them in 2017 back as it was conned out of me to support the Tories I am also considering reporting the Party to police for fraudulent use of my money.

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