Should we blame Corbyn for the loss?

The press will have put many, many people off voting Labour. It always does. It’s basically why it exists, to get the masses voting against their interests. And it’s even worse now, given that big change is needed - to address the climate crisis, reduce inequality, undo NHS privatisation, etc - which requires taking on the powerful interests whom these newspapers serve, like never before.

They’ve spent years attacking a lifelong anti-racist, man of peace, as a terrorist-loving, anti-Semite. The BBC fanned it all too, particularly during this election, whilst under-reporting the actual racism, bigotry, classism, deceit and authoritarianism of Boris Johnson and the rest of the Tories.

Despite all the usual propaganda, in the 2017 election, enough people saw through it and Labour managed to do surprisingly well. With a radical manifesto to take on those powerful interests, and with Corbyn as leader, they got the highest vote share they’ve had since 1945.

You cannot blame Labour’s ‘far left’ policies for their massive loss in this week’s election. They are popular, as demonstrated in 2017, (and as shown by polling).

You CAN put some blame on Corbyn, a. for not running as good a campaign as 2017, and b. for not resisting the media/PLP/Labour membership demands for a second referendum. This, clearly, was the main reason for their loss. Labour leavers, disillusioned following decades of neoliberal destruction of community/society, felt cheated and ignored once again, by a self-serving political elite in London.

But it would‘ve been an extremely big ask for Corbyn to have done this, and who knows, might even have resulted in him being removed as leader by the party.

And ultimately it might’ve resulted in an equally as poor result in an election, as many Labour Remainers would’ve abandoned the party.

There were no good options. Increasing polarisation around Brexit made things impossible for Labour. Personally, I’d put a lot of blame for this on the remainiac centrists. Their refusal to back any option other than a second referendum (which they’d probably have lost), was key to that polarisation.

Unlike them, Corbyn recognised the referendum result and thought the most responsible, realistic path forward was to respect it and seek a soft/customs union deal. He was attacked constantly by centrists for this.

If not for Lib Dem/Change UK opposition, the customs union proposal would’ve passed in Parliament back in April’s ‘indicative votes’. Had centrists backed Labour and their agenda for a soft Brexit, five more years of Tory rule, and a hard Brexit, might’ve been avoided.

That’s my general thoughts anyway. Happy to hear anyone out who wants to try and convince me I’ve got it all wrong. I don’t actually want to fight centrists - we need to unite. And that requires you come left; that you start acknowledging what decades of neoliberalism has done to the country, (and the world); that you realise what is at the root of this rise of the hard right.