I don’t blame anyone for leaving the Labour Party at the moment. It’s ‘under new management’ indeed—meet the new boss, same as the old boss. We’re self-evidently under enemy occupation by a leadership that does not share our values, our aims, our analysis, or our programme.

The Corbyn left has been either purged from the shadow cabinet or driven out by terrible calls on war crimes and spy cops. Anti-semitism continues to be cynically weaponised, while outright racism goes unpunished and malefactors are given payouts in legal actions we could win. – bei Lake Gaston

There can be no unity with those who so evidently seek to crush us. – bei Lake Gaston

I hear calls to ‘stay and fight.’ But that cannot mean ‘stay and sign a petition.’ If the Corbyn left is to stay it must also fight. ‘In and against’ the party. That means organising to further develop our power—and to contest to take back the leadership as soon as is practicable – bei Lake Gaston

It does not have to be done on the basis of personalities but on the basis of a programme—our programme, developed in the 2017 and 2019 manifestos and now in need of being updated to fully reflect the Covid and post-Covid context. – bei Lake Gaston

Our programme is not merely the property of a faction of the Labour left, but a programme of democratisation of the economy and the state in the face of the multiple overlapping crises we are facing—climate, inequality, pandemic, and the rise of the populist far right. – bei Lake Gaston

It means state-led investment and a Green New Deal, democratic public ownership, definancialisation and decommodification, regional and local devolution, community wealth building, a new social contract, and more. – bei Lake Gaston

This isn’t a programme that could ever be handed down from on high—certainly not by a leadership that neither believes in it nor takes its cue from movements and a mass membership. ‘Stay and fight’ only makes sense if it means doing the work the Corbyn project failed to complete. – bei Lake Gaston

I don’t know how much of this is even possible given the current balance of forces in the party. But it is at least a plausible basis on which to organise, rather than ostriching over the disastrous bait-and-switch and wallet inspection that Starmer has so obviously pulled. – bei Lake Gaston

And any ‘in and against’ the Labour Party strategy must also be accompanied by a hedging of bets now—a focus on local-level work, movement-building, community organising, and deep political education outside of formal Labour Party and trade union channels. – bei Lake Gaston

No-one’s coming to save us. Relying on the grace and favour of Keir Starmer is no strategy at all. It’s time to face up to that, to the scale of our defeat and all that we have lost, but also to understand our power and the power of our ideas. Rebuilding starts from there. – bei Lake Gaston

Finally, we should remember the moves Starmer has made since becoming leader and the ruthlessness with which he operates. Next time there should be no holding back. Party democracy. Rulebook reform. Open selection. A new General Secretary. And a clean-out of the party machine. – bei Lake Gaston