SOCIALIST DISTANCING
IS socialism possible in Britain?
I ask after reading an insightful, indeed inspiring, book with that title by thoughtful Andrew Murray, an old friend who advised Jeremy Corbyn.
Until recently union Unite’s chief of staff, the veteran
Leftie who quit the Communist Party for Labour before rejoining his former comrades writes “the ruling class still likes socialism as much as Dracula craves garlic” but the squeezed middle and clobbered working classes increasingly recognise they’ve much in common. Ever the optimist, Murray foresees a radical Labour victory sometime in the future, after Corbyn came close in 2017.
Keir Starmer can point to huge poll leads and the prospect of victory to justify his brand of social democracy now he’s dumped Corbynism as well as Corbyn. Whether socialism was possible in Britain in 2017 had Labour MPs united behind Jezza, instead of many plotting to keep him out of No 10, is a question without a decisive answer either way.