I enjoyed @jemgilbert’s interview about the Labour left on @poltheoryother. The observation that Corbyn and his allies saw themselves primarily in terms of anti-austerity politics and not the longer term trajectory of opposition to Britain’s neoliberal trajectory is insightful.

It’s understandable why opposing austerity was dominant because it was the animating dynamic of left perspectives from 2010-15, firstly in the 2010-11 protest movement and then internally in arguments without the Labour Party thereafter. It explained Corbyn’s election too.

Thinking in terms of long waves of capitalist development is useful for establishing broad patterns of oppositional movements. That shouldn’t just be ‘academic’ and the Corbyn episode should allow us to pinpoint characteristics likely to remain part of future left mobilisations.