Corbyn
The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics
by Richard Seymour
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Pub Date Jul 05 2016 | Archive Date Jul 05 2016
Verso Books (US) | Verso
Description
Up-to-date analysis of how Corbyn rose to the head of the labour party, and his prospects for staying there
Jeremy Corbyn, the “dark horse” candidate for the Labour leadership, won and won big. With a landslide in the first round, this unassuming antiwar socialist crushed the opposition, particularly the Blairite opposition.
For the first time in decades, socialism is back on the agenda—and for the first time in Labour’s history, it controls the leadership. The party machine couldn’t stop him. An almost unanimous media campaign couldn’t stop him. It is as if their power, like that of the Wizard of Oz, was always mostly illusion. Now Corbyn has one chance to convince the public to support his reforming ambitions.
Where did he come from, and what chance does he have? This book tells the story of how Corbyn’s rise was made possible by the long decline of Labour and a deep crisis of British democracy. It surveys the makeshift coalition of trade unionists, young and precarious workers, and students, who rallied to Corbyn. It shows how a novel social media campaign turned the media’s “Project Fear” on its head, making a virtue of every accusation they threw at him. And finally it asks, with all the artillery that is still ranged against Corbyn, and given the crisis-ridden Labour Party that he has inherited, what it would mean for him to succeed.
Jeremy Corbyn, the “dark horse” candidate for the Labour leadership, won and won big. With a landslide in the first round, this unassuming antiwar socialist crushed the opposition, particularly the Blairite opposition.
For the first time in decades, socialism is back on the agenda—and for the first time in Labour’s history, it controls the leadership. The party machine couldn’t stop him. An almost unanimous media campaign couldn’t stop him. It is as if their power, like that of the Wizard of Oz, was always mostly illusion. Now Corbyn has one chance to convince the public to support his reforming ambitions.
Where did he come from, and what chance does he have? This book tells the story of how Corbyn’s rise was made possible by the long decline of Labour and a deep crisis of British democracy. It surveys the makeshift coalition of trade unionists, young and precarious workers, and students, who rallied to Corbyn. It shows how a novel social media campaign turned the media’s “Project Fear” on its head, making a virtue of every accusation they threw at him. And finally it asks, with all the artillery that is still ranged against Corbyn, and given the crisis-ridden Labour Party that he has inherited, what it would mean for him to succeed.
Advance Praise
“Richard Seymour has a brilliant mind and a compelling style. Everything he writes is worth reading.”
—Gary Younge
“Seymour is an essential voice on the left, and this book is a necessary intervention, explaining this daunting political moment and bringing the focus back to strategy. Not so much a call to arms as a call to brains.”
—Laurie Penny
“The Anglophone left has been cheered by the surprising rise of Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in Britain. Richard Seymour’s elegantly written book is a reminder of all the obstacles facing Corbyn. Even if you’re not as pessimistic as Seymour about his prospects, you really need to pay attention to this critique. It will make you a better fighter of the necessary class war.”
—Doug Henwood, author of My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency
“No one writes about politics the way Richard Seymour does. He takes a very British story of the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, with all its peculiarities and details, and turns it into a revelation of the international crisis of parliamentary democracy. Whether you love Corbyn—or Sanders or Podemos or Syriza—or loathe him (and them), you’ll find here the most sophisticated diagnosis of why men and women across the globe are turning to the left and why their aspirations are so continuously being frustrated. Seymour is a magnificent explainer: pointed without being pedantic, funny with out being flip, and always insisting that we take in the whole.”
—Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin
“One of our most astute political analysts turns his attention to Corbyn, and the result is predictably essential: not just to make sense of how we got to this unlikely situation, but for his thoughts on what the left might do next.”
—China Miéville
“Long after the Labour left was thought to be dead, Jeremy Corbyn’s emergence has inspired millions. There is no one better positioned than Richard Seymour to take a look at his emergence and whether Corbyn can actually turn Labour into a force for radical change.”
—Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin
—Gary Younge
“Seymour is an essential voice on the left, and this book is a necessary intervention, explaining this daunting political moment and bringing the focus back to strategy. Not so much a call to arms as a call to brains.”
—Laurie Penny
“The Anglophone left has been cheered by the surprising rise of Bernie Sanders in the US and Jeremy Corbyn in Britain. Richard Seymour’s elegantly written book is a reminder of all the obstacles facing Corbyn. Even if you’re not as pessimistic as Seymour about his prospects, you really need to pay attention to this critique. It will make you a better fighter of the necessary class war.”
—Doug Henwood, author of My Turn: Hillary Clinton Targets the Presidency
“No one writes about politics the way Richard Seymour does. He takes a very British story of the rise of Jeremy Corbyn, with all its peculiarities and details, and turns it into a revelation of the international crisis of parliamentary democracy. Whether you love Corbyn—or Sanders or Podemos or Syriza—or loathe him (and them), you’ll find here the most sophisticated diagnosis of why men and women across the globe are turning to the left and why their aspirations are so continuously being frustrated. Seymour is a magnificent explainer: pointed without being pedantic, funny with out being flip, and always insisting that we take in the whole.”
—Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin
“One of our most astute political analysts turns his attention to Corbyn, and the result is predictably essential: not just to make sense of how we got to this unlikely situation, but for his thoughts on what the left might do next.”
—China Miéville
“Long after the Labour left was thought to be dead, Jeremy Corbyn’s emergence has inspired millions. There is no one better positioned than Richard Seymour to take a look at his emergence and whether Corbyn can actually turn Labour into a force for radical change.”
—Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781784785314 |
| PRICE | $19.95 (USD) |
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