Reflections on two Jeremy Corbyn Rallies July 2015 and July 2016

I wrote what follows a year ago. I reflect on it because we went to see the Jeremy Corbyn for PM meeting in the Brangwyn hall in Swansea last night Like last year I had seen so many of the people before over the last 35 years. We all looked older. However there were many young people there and there was a sense of hope that had not withered,

Two events stand out. Mark Serwotka if PCS had a simple message for Tony Blair it was “fuck You” the hall erupted. Its like the story of the Emperors new clothes. Suddenly so many people have seen through the Blairite years and the Corbyn phenomena is the major part of it. Its like a shameful past that no one speaks of and it was only a few years ago. The most electrifying speaker was Franseco Morelli. She spoke from her wheelchair and talked of the severe disability she suffered from . She told the hall my parents were told that I would always be retarded she smiled and siad 2 “But I have never voted UKIP or read the Sun”. The hall exploded once more.......oh there was one more event when reminded of the departure of Farage there was a massive cheer.........

This morning on the Blog Labour List two Mps have made a call for Proportional representation. One Mp is a Corbyn supporter . The other a supporter of the non Corbynite Parliamentary Labour Party. Its quite clear that the labour party has come to the cross roads. The call for PR shows where the left stands. The tacit assumption behind the post on labour List is that there is no going back. The monolithic era of two large parties dominating the state is over. We will soon have multiple parties ranging across the political spectrum. Tthe political cyulture has changed for ever. I wonder what I will be reflecting on the state of the left in a years time.

I leave you with the reflections of a year ago. I was wrong abour Plaid and I had not foreseen the victory of jeremy corbyn. I hear though that Corbyn himself in early July of 2015 was only expecting a 30% per cent vote. None of us can see the black swans as they emerge and it is indeed refreshing that most predictions are wrong. Please read my speculations from this year and last.

SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE JEREMY CORBYN MEETING IN SWANSEA July 2015

Its rather early on Sunday morning and Hayley has just gone to work and I think I may have a hangover from last nights meal and wine. I shall try though to reflect upon my impressions of the meeting. I suspect though that my dyslexic tendencies may be worse than usual.It was odd going back to the Unitarian Church in High Street. Last time I was there I was speaking on a platform with Peter Tatchell and Swansea's Les Woodward. It was a historical trip to the past. Figures from my political past were there. I saw Paul Elliot, Dai and Fran Griffith s from the Labour party, Martin Chapman from the SWP and several Green Party members including Tony White from Neath amongst them.

There was a sense that many Labour Party members were seeking to reclaim the left both within themselves and within the party at large. The meeting was chaired by Bob Clay a former Labour MP and now a Swansea City Councillor. He had a sense of reclamation, of a desire for renewal and a hope that the Labour Party could be taken back to its true roots. However the presence Of Mike Hedges the AM for Swansea East on the platform as a representative of the left surprised me greatly. Lis Evans the defeated Labour candidate for Gower spoke sensibly, analytically and with insight. She recognised that Labour had lost Gower because of losing over 5000 votes to Ukip and the fact that Labour HQ refused to help the local Party. ( Lis Evans views were apt and I reflected they matched what I had thought in the aftermath of the election.....despite being told by a Gower member of the Labour Party that it was the Green's fault) She went on to say that the Tories poured thousands of pounds into the seat during the election and clearly out organised the local party. I saw that myself when I went to vote to vote om behalf of Jenni Jenkins and Howard Middleton Jones as their proxy on polling day ( and yes Penny I did vote for Lis Evans as they asked me to). Liz would certainly have made a good MP for the people of Gower. However I suspect she will not get the chance as Tory boundary changes will move Clydach into the Neath Constituency . She recognised that the Labour Party did not appeal to its base anymore and suffered from a dose of being austerity lite.aul Eliot made me smile he read out text from his son threatening to vote Green. Paul he had been persuaded otherwise but I am not convinced. Paul also commented on just how many " Greens and Anarchists" he had spotted at the anti austerity protest in Swansea a couple of weeks ago. I glanced back and saw Dai Griffith s sticking out his tongue at me. I smiled and winked at him.

Many of the speakers from the floor clearly felt the modern Labour Party needed reclaiming from the managerial style of its younger activists straight out of University. Steve Smith from Gower said ,if asked them what strikes they had led, what actions they had taken and what demonstrations they had been on then looked blank and without understanding. I thought of Councillor John "Costa" Bayliss from the Uplands. Bob Clay argued that the Iraq War decision had destroyed Labour and was still damaging it even now.

Jeremy Corbyn has an ease of speaking his policies are clear and radical and Socialist. He talked about Constitutional Change, Social Justice, and Green Economics , he hinted at his Republicanism and talked about equality. He refreshingly broke from the traditional "Brit left" pose and recognised he was in Wales. He would be a good member of the Green Party ( I thought of the fact that Corbyn had his highest majority ever and yet in his constituency the only opposition comes from one Green Councillor and that the Green vote in his constituency had climbed to 10%). There was the usual question from the Socialist Labour Party about reopening the Coal mines and the claim that there was such a thing called clean coal. Corbyn side stepped the question by talking of the role of the state in the miners strike but nevertheless disappointed me by using the term "clean coal". However he impressed me with his ease , poise and passion.

I have been teasing Hayley about her becoming the Corbyn organiser for the Neath Constituency. Neath Labour Party is very different to what I heard and saw yesterday afternoon. Since the election I have seen nothing from Christina Rees the new MP since then. Her only action has been to close down Neath Voice that was pain painstakingly built up by Peter Hain. When we saw Peter Hain at Hay he spoke of Libertarian Socialism with a passion .I saw a great deal of that at tbe Jeremy Corbyn meeting in Swansea I see none of that in Neath I am afraid.....perhaps with the exception of Councillor Andy Jenkins from Neath South.

Anyway perhaps Corbyn campaign is the last flowering of the left in the Labour party, a romantic quixotic last gasp before realignment of the left between the Labour left, the Green Party and the Ecosocialists from the post Plaid coup by Rhun "nuclear" or Elin Jones Who knows?( I am just watching Andrew Marr he claims that the GMB and UNITE are going to back Corbyn and that he is doing very well in the contest) Perhaps we live in very interesting times, perhaps he will capture the Leadership but I wonder if he does how he will deal with and cope with the loathsome Blairites and the Sun endorsed Liz Kendall.

I think I have raved long enough but I leave this comment from rPaul Elliot. He talked about the Blair tendency capturing the Labour Party far more effectively than the Militant Tendency. Tim from the SWP reflected on Chris Mullins book " A Very British Coup" he pointed out that needed not only a party of the Left but a radical movement to take on and beat globalisation and international capitalism . To quote Harry Perkins I hope the Greek people tell the Troika and IMF to "go to hell". Just before my rave I have posted the blog "Surreal Ale" it argues from a different perspective. Excuse this rant.....but my hang over is gone and Hayley will be back soon and we can go for breakfast .

Afterthought July 2016

Reading through again. I realise how much has change din a year. Let us see what will happen next. Farage has gone that also electrified the hall last night. What will I be writing in July 2017?