Socialist principles have been tossed aside with almost indecent cynicism and casualness. Racial discrimination in Britain has been condoned and strengthened. American butchery in Vietnam has been actively supported and encouraged. Social welfare and economic development in Britain have been sacrificed to carry out a reactionary economic programme at the behest of international finance capital. What of the Left leaders in Parliament? Tell them off on your fingers, comrades, and think of their words and deeds in recent months while the Labour movement has been sold down the river. It is a sad picture and I can personally neither see nor offer any excuses. Are we finished, we of the Labour Left? Malcolm Caldwell, letter to Tribune 20th August 1968
It was not too long ago … that the idea of war was universally denounced by the Left. The Corbett Report: R2P or: How the Left Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace Wars of Imperial Aggression, James Corbett online 2012
Since Trump took power activists have seen a disturbing escalation in state repression against civil liberties, most notably the case of the J-20 for over 200 protesters and journalists mass-arrested at Trump’s inauguration are now facing years even up to decades in prison. Abby Martin, The Empire Files: Trump Expands Police-State Crackdown on the Left, 2017
In time the Left will destroy itself by internal dissent. Sewers of Gold aka The Great Riviera Bank Robbery aka Dirty Money 1979 starring Ian McShane & Warren Clarke & Stephen Greif & Christopher Malcolm & Nigel Humphreys & Eric Mason & Matthew Long & Alain Guano & Barry Lowe & Jonathan Elsom & Arnold Diamond et al, director Francis Megahy, fascist council
Do you think the Red are satisfied with just what they got, just what they’ve got and where they are? They’re threatening to overrun us now. I am one of the people that is going to stamp out that threat. We’ll smash them once and for all. ibid.
I never thought I’d live to see the day when the right wing would become the cool ones giving the middle finger to the establishment. And the left wing becoming the sniveling self-righteous twatty ones going around shaming everyone. John Lydon, tweet 30th May 2022
During this campaign I will be called many things by friends of the press, the media. Mick Jackson, A Very British Coup 1988 ***** starring Ray McAnally & Alan MacNaughton & Keith Allen & Geoffrey Beavers & Marjorie Yates & Jim Carter & Philip Madoc & Jeremy Young et al, Harry; viz also Chris Mullins novel
Harry Perkins, third generation steel worker, trade unionist, socialist, and leader of the Labour Party left his mother’s council flat here in Sheffield a few minutes ago. ibid. news
I think all people are first class, don’t you? ibid. Harry to interviewer
Whom the gods wish to destroy they first send to Sheffield. ibid. Secret Service guy
You can almost touch the history, and there’s the odd whiff of betrayal. ibid. Harry
What the hell kind of a prime minister is that? ibid. US President
Three years ago I exposed major crime in our financial institutions. ibid. Harry
I fear we may be becoming a jumped-up democracy. ibid. man at party
What many are calling the most radical programme of this century. ibid. news
If you jeopardise the Western alliance my government will be forced to regard that as a hostile act. ibid. American Marcus to Harry
What we have in mind is a phased withdrawal over two years. ibid. Harry
Marcus: You need the damn things.
Harry: Vietnam didn’t. ibid.
If we create our own rules we have a chance. ibid. Harry at cabinet meeting
Growing popularity for Harry Perkins and his policies. ibid. news
Lesson #1: Make the buggers shuffle uneasily in their shiny shoes. ibid. Harry
The message hasn’t got through to the real masters. ibid. Frederick in car
I sublimate my sexual urges into changing society. ibid. Harry to Frederick
One day, Mr Fiennes, you will have the entire population under twenty-four-hour surveillance. ibid. MI5 guy
Blackout: The Lights Go Out For Harry. ibid. The Globe headline
There’s strong opposition within the armed forces at the government’s non-nuclear stance. ibid. news
In two weeks’ time at the Royal Ordnance Factory in Berkfield experts will dismantle and destroy a one-megaton Polaris warhead. ibid. Harry’s political broadcast
A sexual peccadillo never comes amiss. ibid. MI5 guys
Don’t let the bastards grind you down. ibid. Frederick to Harry
Your bases must be removed from our soil. ibid. Harry to Marcus Morgan
A very British coup, wouldn’t you say? ibid. Sir Percy to Harry
Do I frighten you all that much? ibid. Harry to Sir Percy
Just when I was getting used to the savage abuse of power. ibid. Harry to Sir Percy
I’m going to tell you the truth. ibid. Harry’s television broadcast
I’m calling a general election for June 11th. ibid.
People who remain quietly behind the scenes generation after generation. ibid.
[closes with sound of helicopters above polling station]
A wingnut is someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum – the professional partisans, the unhinged activists and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They’re the people who always try to divide rather than unite us. John Avlon
In 2015, something strange happened in British politics. A movement no-one expected. With a leader no-one predicted. And the start of the biggest political witch-hunt of the 21st century. Oh Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie ***** 2023
‘Antisemitic and a racist.’ ibid. The Jewish Chronicle front page
Nobody can fail to see that this was a concerted, orchestrated campaign. ibid. Moshe Machover
Senior officials in headquarters were actively working against Labour. ibid. Ken Loach
Starmer: A dangerous deceitful man who will do anything. ibid. woman
In 2017 the supporters of Jeremy Corbyn came close to putting him Number 10. But within three years his party had been crushed at the polls, and Jeremy and his grass-roots movement apparently dumped in the wastebin of history. What happened? And what destroyed the Corbyn project? And has it been destroyed? ibid. Alexsie Sayle
This is a story of injustice and the destruction of democracy. And deception on an industrial scale. ibid. caption
But for the establishment the sudden rise of Corbyn was terrifying. ibid. Sayle
But from the start Jeremy Corbyn’s biggest threat was from his own MPs. ibid.
Corbyn didn’t win the election but he got the largest increase in the share of the vote of any Labour leader since Clement Attlee in 1945. ibid.
The Smear that Stuck: ‘There is a big lie everywhere and one of the big lies of our time is the Labour Party being infested with Anti-Semitism.’ ibid. Machover
The Anti-Semitic smear hurt Corbyn but it didn’t take him down. ibid. Sayle
10th July 2019 BBC Panorama transmitted, ‘Is Labour Anti-Semitic? reporter John Ware. ibid. caption
‘Instead of that we went on the defensive. We tried to say we’re sorry.’ ibid. man
Behind closed doors, there was a secret war against him, being fought by his party’s own paid officials. ibid. Sayle
In London’s Ergon House a secret team were channelling thousands of pounds of campaign funds to the right-wing MPs of their choice. ibid.
In the end it was not paid officials who brought Corbyn down, but an MP [Starmer] who said he was on his [Corbyn’s] side. ibid.
I want to pay tribute to Jeremy Corbyn who led our party through some really difficult times. ibid. Starmer
Peter Mandelson, the architect of New Labour, has said he is working every day to undermine Jeremy Corbyn. ibid. caption
Was the colourless Starmer really an undercover saboteur? A sort of establishment spycop who infiltrated the Corbyn Project just to bring him down? ibid. Sayle
When Starmer became Labour leader in April 2020, many believed his pledges to continue Corbyn’s policies and united the Party. Starmer set out to wipe every trace of Corbyn from the Party. ibid.
Thousands of Labour Party members were witchhunted. ibid.
When QC Martin Forde at last published his findings in July 2022 it was by no means the total whitewash. ibid.