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

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:

You know, in all the post-Corbyn soul searching on the left, all the events/zoom calls/articles, all the “voices of the left” giving their views, I’ve not yet seen one just ask ordinary activists what they think. So I’m going to: what do *you* want and need to happen next? x

— Sarah (@ScouseGirlMedia) April 24, 2020

Read on...

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:

Community based activism. Let’s restart the heart of Labour. It rose from the needs of ordinary people who got organised to change lives in their own communities & then nationally. We should become like a family, doing things for each other out of love & cate for no personal gain

— andyPsearson 🌹 (@andysearson) April 24, 2020

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:

4: Build up institutions to help restore and build confidence in the party in wider communities.

Labour councils should already be doing this.

5: Set up groups and courses to educate the membership about Socialism, Class and Trade Unionism.

6: Expel those named in the report.

— ⭐️⭐️⭐️ David Clarke ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@david_clarke91) April 24, 2020

7: Put pressure on the new Leadership and the Trade Unions via Conference to accept Open Selection and further party democratization.

8: Change the staff culture and establish an independent but trusted process for disciplinary issues.

9: Keep the Leadership on a Leftist Path.

— ⭐️⭐️⭐️ David Clarke ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@david_clarke91) April 24, 2020

And the Torygraph put forward some policy ideas:

I want!

Commitment to policies.

• Writing off Student Debt
• Reversal of PFI
• Reversal of Academy Schools
• New Green Deal

• Non alignment to neocon wars (Iran)

• £10 ph minimum wage and rules to minimise ZH contracts

• HMRC Powers to close tax avoidance loopholes

— The Torygraph 🌍 (@TweetForTheMany) April 24, 2020

With Matthew Austin going further:

Add to that:

Nationalisation of train and energy services.

Free Higher Education

National Pharma

Basically THE MANIFESTO.

(And yes, National Broadband)

— Matthew Austin (@Fertweetssake1) April 24, 2020

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

Electoral reform. Much easier for Left/Centre-Left parties to coalesce around common policy ideas whilst remaining ideogically 'pure'

— Gerry Allen (@allengerry44) April 24, 2020

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

I want the Leadership Election nullified and Jeremy Corbyn reinstated, obviously Keir being a 'united' kind of guy will agree! Why do I want this? Because the Labour Leaked report proves that it was not JC fault we lost election in 2017 and very much likely 2019, end of story!!!

— Alana H. #GTTO #JC❤️ (@Athemis2014) April 24, 2020

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