Listener questions: Jeremy Gilbert on the Labour Party
Added 2021-06-02 10:12:54 +0000 UTCThe recent episode with Jeremy Gilbert on Labour and Keir Starmer's leadership has generated lots of interesting comments and questions. And so later this week Jeremy will be doing a PTO patrons-only episode where he'll be responding to some of those comments. If you'd like to put a question to Jeremy please comment below or email politicstheoryother@gmail.com (with 'listener questions' in the subject line). I can't promise to ask every single question, but will do my best to select the best ones. Thanks as ever for supporting the show!
Comments
No problem Alex, I'm sure it'll be a great interview. Thanks, E
E Ramsay
2021-06-14 19:25:59 +0000 UTCNo worries at all! Looking forward to the show! Thanks for all your great work.
Jim Cranshaw
2021-06-14 18:54:53 +0000 UTCHi E, I hope all's well. Just wanted to apologise for not asking your question in the upcoming interview with Jeremy. I somehow failed to notice that the earliest comments on this thread don't appear without clicking a button to show them - and so I therefore managed to miss the first three questions on the thread from my list. Sorry about that. I hope the episode is still of interest. Best wishes, Alex
Politics Theory Other
2021-06-14 18:35:01 +0000 UTCHi Jim, I hope all's well. Just wanted to apologise for not asking your question in the upcoming interview with Jeremy. I somehow failed to notice that the earliest comments on this thread don't appear without clicking a button to show them - and so I therefore managed to miss the first three questions on the thread from my list. Sorry about that. I hope the episode is still of interest. Best wishes, Alex
Politics Theory Other
2021-06-14 18:34:32 +0000 UTCHi Nathan, I hope all's well. Just wanted to apologise for not asking your question in the upcoming interview with Jeremy. I somehow failed to notice that the earliest comments on this thread don't appear without clicking a button to show them - and so I therefore managed to miss the first three questions on the thread from my list. Sorry about that. I hope the episode is still of interest. Best wishes, Alex
Politics Theory Other
2021-06-14 18:34:10 +0000 UTCOh no! It took me ages to think of that question...
Shatner's Bassoon
2021-06-11 12:50:15 +0000 UTCHi Tom, unfortunately I just this minute finished recording the interview with Jeremy - before I saw your question. Sorry!
Politics Theory Other
2021-06-11 12:46:49 +0000 UTCDoes the left's role in the culture war help or hinder the left's cause in the class war?
Shatner's Bassoon
2021-06-11 11:54:48 +0000 UTCHas Jem ever conducted a thoroughgoing historical materialist analysis of the Labour Party and popular frontism?
Tom Williams
2021-06-09 14:35:33 +0000 UTCApols to picking out that tweet thread I think it represents a theme useful for my rambling question but you know there's alot to unpack from the whole conversation so of course any response is dead good ✊
cheapjack
2021-06-08 08:22:22 +0000 UTCHey wanted to give jem a chance - which I'm sure he'll do this anyway - to respond to the predictable and not without worth I think anger at what I assume is his keep-in-labour- just-in-case stance. I don't think he's arguing for mind numbing electoralism or giving up on anti imperialism but wondered if he'd comment (not expecting predictions just reflection) on what strategic value an assemblage of electoral punishment (ie not voting) , exodus from the party and/or relentless anti-imperial critique / attack/antagonism from the left or whatever - might have alongside some other more modest(useless consciousness raising- it has some value but be interested in hearing you both talk it through...even though its well worth acknowledging that the immigration argument might be 'lost' to us certainly on the mythical doorstep - I think I'm right in that he's not nievely arguing for the value of 'unity' - which the quest for is ridiculous vacuous and destructive - and is being used to purge many of us - and yes many of us are 'letting them win'. Think reminding us that free broadband/ mild reform refusal shows that we have to build consciousness slowly but all that extra parliamentary organising and molecular stuff - including some destructive 'radical negativity' - is part of strategy and I think we should try welcome and articulate that explicitly and that could be part of responses like this on twitter which as I said before are not without value https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1401539380754497547.html
cheapjack
2021-06-08 08:16:57 +0000 UTCHi Jeremy - What are your thoughts on the Socialist Campaign Group, in terms of their influence within the party, and their ability to shape the wider political conversation? Do you see the SCG (individually and collectively) as advancing a truly radical and modern socialism, fit for the 21st century? If not why, and what lessons would you like to see them learn? Is it even possible to be a 21st century socialist AND an MP in today's Labour party? Thank you.
James Sunderland
2021-06-07 19:37:13 +0000 UTCIt seems that Jeremy agrees with Chris Dillow's assessment on his blog Stumbling & Mumbling that Keir Starmer simply has neither the talent nor experience for the job, that "Starmer’s problem is that whilst there was a good match between his skills and the job requirements of being Director of Public Prosecutions, there is a less good match between them and what it takes to be a good Labour leader." If this is the case and we aren't to insist on ideological purity, how can we choose leaders who do have such skills without falling for those who embody the market-technocracy of the Labor right? How do we insist upon the Rayners over the Starmers or Corbyns, the Warrens over the Bidens or Clintons, or--as in New York City where I live--the Garcias over the Wileys or Yangs? Surely there must be a way to message competence over purity, especially when the center-right lays claim to competence, builds its entire political brand on it even.
Neil K
2021-06-06 16:50:07 +0000 UTCHi, I really enjoyed listening to this episode - it was very enlightening! There was one stance of Jeremy‘s though that I think is actually more complex than he put it and that is the Tory party‘s electorate: as far as I know they are split between affluent home owners and the socially conservative, pro-Brexit „left behind“. It would be great if he could elaborate on how that affects Labour‘s strategy to win back votes. Thanks!
Caroline von Taysen
2021-06-05 11:31:17 +0000 UTCQuestion for Jeremy: what is the long term strategic prospect for Labour if Scotland leaves the UK? Do you think this could push the party towards PR given a majority is less likely? Will having to pursue primarily English votes will change Labours platform?
Mike Crotch - Harvey
2021-06-04 20:54:22 +0000 UTCQns for Jeremy: - What is the point of the local labour party? - What can/should a local labour party do (that's actually useful!) (I haven't had time to listen to the pod yet, sorry if these were covered in the episode, but they've been on my mind!) Thanks Alex!
Joseph Mabe
2021-06-03 17:19:40 +0000 UTCYes, I think Biden's had a pretty easy press of late in the UK... but, on the other hand, from a UK-standpoint it's kind of unimaginable to think of Starmer thanking Corbyn in the way that Biden thanked Sanders after he passed the (very large - and far more impressive than the EU's efforts for instance) stimulus package. I don't think Jeremy is any kind of Biden fan - but Starmer is at war with the Labour left in a way that doesn't seem to be the case with Biden and Sanders/the Squad.
Politics Theory Other
2021-06-03 17:14:43 +0000 UTCI think Jeremy is really over estimating how Bernie is effecting Biden. Biden seems to unable to pass anything. He won’t take executive action. He hasn’t raised minimum wage. He has made nothing permanent
Gabo Goff
2021-06-03 16:35:25 +0000 UTCLoved this episode. Tempting to ask something vague and open-ended about the v interesting Gramscian strategy stuff (always up for more of that), but I'll ask a more direct and focused question: what should the Labour left be pushing Labour to do to win over pensioners? As a counterpoint to the dreadful sub-Blue Labour messaging from LOTO. Surely there must be some way to peel off some older voters who aren't lifetime Tory voters, whether they're asset-rich or not?
Dan Hancox
2021-06-03 16:16:37 +0000 UTCJust on the topic of the Left's stance on immigration, I too share Jeremy's visceral disgust (as I'm sure most listeners do) of the way xenophobia and racism pollute this whenever it's mentioned. However if you look at Scotland, there's been nowhere near the same level of vitriol and scapegoating, in fact it's almost a non-issue. Scottish politicians routinely talk about the need for immigration into the country, and the Yes campaign in 2014 was explicitly and proudly pro-immigration. Obviously at the governmental level this stance is (mostly) economic but at ground level this distinction is irrelevant. I know Jeremy wasn't arguing we have to just accept we've lost the issue, but I thought it was important to say (even if only for the sake of one's health!!) it's not too far gone!
Andy Cassidy
2021-06-03 14:26:52 +0000 UTCGiven that the fault-line of progressivism/conservatism (broadly speaking) runs right through the middle of the Labour Party at the moment, as you say, do you think it will be possible for the party to attain even the appearance of unity in the foreseeable future?
Shatner's Bassoon
2021-06-02 19:30:37 +0000 UTCJeremy's advice is to keep one foot in the party and to get more involved in other organisations (trade unions, renters unions, social movements etc) and then get active again when the time is right. What ways can we use our activity in other organisations to put pressure on Labour to move leftwards and/or force Starmer out of the leader's office?
E Ramsay
2021-06-02 13:38:38 +0000 UTCKeir Starmer is often described as being on the soft left of the party. Yet he has waged war on left members and is advised by Peter Mandelson. Clive Lewis and Nadia Whittome are also often described as soft left, as is on the other side, Yvette Cooper. Is the term 'soft left' meaningful as an ideological current and political constituency or is it so diffuse as to not mean that much?
Jim Cranshaw
2021-06-02 11:18:59 +0000 UTCWhere is Jeremy's evidence for the claim that Labour's target voters in the Red Wall are all affluent homeowners? In any case it isn't immediately clear to me that a homeowner in Hartlepool is analogous to a homeowner in London. The former is still tied into selling their labour in an area still reeling from deindustrialisation, and can't just sell up due to price differentials. The relationship between home ownership and class is just much more complicated than Jeremy seems prepared to admit.
Nathan Beesley
2021-06-02 10:45:57 +0000 UTC
