30 Comments
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Barbara Walter's avatar

It's so very sad. At the onset, a lot of us were filled with hope. That first fiasco over joining and then being told we weren't joining was beyond belief. I emailed them, asking what was going on and would they please reassure me that they have finally sorted themselves out. I've yet to get a response. I won't be joining them after all. This was the perfect opportunity to found a proper socialist party and they blew it. Meanwhile, the Greens are busy picking up the crumbs of the undecided...

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Mike Curtis's avatar

They only had to do one thing, be different, but at the first opportunity they have done the exact opposite and tried to emulate their idea of the Labour Party, an idea which had failed repeatedly over the years to capitalise on potentially large scale public support. I feel that Jeremy must take most of the blame; he is a nice guy and his heart and politics are in the right place but he is not a leader nor even an organiser. Given the opportunity to assume a elder statesman role for which he is ideally suited he chose not to, took on the leadership and did exactly what he did before, surround himself with absolutely the wrong people whose only qualifications were that they had risen to high(ish) positions in what we now know is a totally corrupt Labour Party. I would advise Zarah and any others who are young enough to cast off the historic Labour background to leave immediately and start again. Staying in and trying to restore the original idea is exactly what Jeremy et al did with the Labour Party, condemning the left to years of failure. I paid in the initial membership drive; I may try and get my money back given the blatant false pretenses, but as it stands I will vote Green

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Paul Seligman's avatar

Exactly. Being principled, and a nice guy, are not sufficient qualifications for Leadership.

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RakB's avatar

I, like alot of people are annoyed with all this bickering. We had so much hope and a real chance of change but sadly I don't believe Your Party is going to achieve what it's initial aims were and I agree with Ricky's analysis of Corbyn - so sad and a lost opportunity

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Adeel Mirza's avatar

The whole affair is very sad, but what i don't understand is when did it become good to vilify hard work? Adnan Hussain who is a brown-faced 2nd generation immigrant, worked very hard and saved money to buy a house so that he could rent it out because he wanted to better himself and make sure he could provide for his family. When did this become a crime???

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Ricky Hale's avatar

Passive income is not hard work. Landlordism is exploitation.

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

Your response seems to be an example of rigid thinking, a knee-jerk ideological response.

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Ricky Hale's avatar

sounds like something a landlord would say

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𝓙𝓪𝓼𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓦𝓸𝓵𝓯𝓮's avatar

Landlords are fucking parasites.

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Jane Ellen B.'s avatar

So many people including you Ricky seem to have got the wrong idea about Your Party. The whole point of it is that it will be built from the bottom up using grassroots democracy. That is what is happening in members' Assemblies around the country where actual members (not MPs or ex Labour party admins) are meeting to decide how the party should operate. Of course it's chaotic. It's never been done before. But it's really exciting being amongst a group of people who want a party with real democratic structures. What is disheartening is hearing people complaining and declaring they are not going to take part because someone else rather than themselves has not fixed things for them.

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Ricky Hale's avatar

What you're describing is exactly what I hoped it would be, but all the signs are that it is going to implode. I hope you're right and I'm wrong.

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Jane Ellen B.'s avatar

We'll get involved then. 😊

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Mike Curtis's avatar

I have been involved since it was first announced, just as I have been involved in left wing politics for nearly 70 years and the Labour Party for much of that time. My answer to you is a resounding No! They have destroyed the good work that you have been talking about and the one thing I have learned, somewhat belatedly, is not to throw good money after bad. I also hope you are right, but all my experience tells me you are not and further effort is wasting time and effort which could be far more effective elsewhere, which is of course exactly what the neoliberal capitalists want us to do.

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Jane Ellen B.'s avatar

It's not just what the neolibs want, it's what the far right want. So where is it that time and effort could be more effective? What could be more important? If we don't grasp our opportunity for democracy then we will succumb to fascism. We must do it ourselves because no-one will help us.

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William Bowles's avatar

Your Party is a direct reflection of the state of politics in the UK. Chaotic, formless, without direction, without discipline, without a clear vision of an alternative to a bankrupt, neoliberal capitalism. 50 years of neoliberalism has destroyed our working class institutions, destroyed our collective culture, destroyed the organised working class. In its place we have ragtag of professional lefties, academics, who have made a living out of calling themselves socialists or Marxists. Their 'socialism' lives in books, pays the mortgage or a handful sit in Parliament, on £100,000 pay packets whilst children go hungry, homeless live on the streets, the sick go untreated, we wage war on the planet. Corbyn and his ilk have misled us. We need to create a truly revolutionary organisation that has a real vision for a socialist alternative to this madness.

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damien flinter's avatar

"He has a moral obligation to offer an alternative to Starmerism...".

Which is why I suggested the party should be called Not The £abour Party.

Starmer is the final brick in the wall of Maggot Hatcher's self-proclaimed 'finest achievement', New £abour under Tory B£iar.

If they don't have the strategic nous to identify the rot they cannot be the required solution.

Back to the Sisyphian grindstone.

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Jane Ellen B.'s avatar

What we have here is a self-fullfilling prophecy. "I knew it wouldn't work so I did precisely nothing to make it work".

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MR HOWARD S MARKS's avatar

If Corbyn and his followers had any depth of knowledge and a single original thought in their heads they could write a manifesto that would obliterate both Labour and The Green Party but instead they peddle their flaws. The Greens have spent more time on Gender than Ecology. Corbyn and Co just cannot help but push the Trans Identity Politics trash while having no real knowledge, understanding or ideas on the Green-Tech transition an actual transition that is needed not the kind where a surgeon mutilates your dick.

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Indie's avatar

Almost like Corbyn invited and allowed the saboteurs in again

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Paul Seligman's avatar

It's very sad but was very predictable, as I may have said here before.

I surprised some political acquaintances by telling them, after the chaotic and absurd launch of this non-party, that I wouldn't sign up or donate, unless and until they united and proved themselves, and until I could see their platform.

I agree with all your comments - except where you say that 'Shambolic isn't the word'! It's certainly one of them.

I'd add that it was a very English party which had no concept of how it would operate in the other three countries of the 'United Kingdom'.

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I Know Nothing's avatar

Why put any stock in any of this? Come on. Why do i have to see this stuff all the time? Nothing that occurs within the system can ever improve anything that you're concerned about.

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Susan Mercurio's avatar

This proves what I have been saying about third parties: You can't plug a third party into a rotten system and expect it to change anything. It will just get dragged down by the rot.

You have to clean up the system first before you can hope to have new parties to succeed.

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Steve's avatar

Left parties need roots in the labour movement, but labourite factions in the unions themselves need to get out of the way.

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Big Green Soul's avatar

Pretty accurate summary. Damn shame.

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Theano's avatar

I had hoped this project would work out but it seems at the very least to need much more time to develop and establish itself. For now I'm with the Greens; Polanski promises well.

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