Reassessing Corbynism: success, contradictions and a difficult path ahead

[LeftishBrit]

29. First of all, I do agree that the Remain campaign was very poor; that if it had been better we might

not be in this mess; and, in particular, that George Osborne lost votes for Remain every time he opened his pie-hole.

But:

You are treating opposition to Brexit and opposition to the economic and other policies of the RW government as separable. In fact, Brexit is a vehicle for right-wingers to be able to pursue their policies in an untrammelled manner.

It is like someone saying in 1960s America, 'It is more important to make the country more liberal than to insist on Southern states complying with federal directives', when in fact 'states rights' were being used as a vehicle for resisting civil rights. As an abstract constitutional issue, the relations between state and federal government could indeed be seen as a relatively low priority. But it was not just an abstract constitutional issue. It was crucial to fighting hard-right policies. And the successes in doing so were only partial - nevertheless this does not mean that 'states rights' should have just been accepted in the service of Jim Crow.

Similarly, while we may not get into a perfect situation even if we remain in the EU, we are certainly fucked if we don't; and the main REASON why the right-wingers want to Brexit is to enable their policies. Some are mainly anti-immigrant; some want the UK to become a tax haven for the super-rich; some want a 'bonfire' of employment, environmental and employment regulations. All resent the EU for interfering with their untrammelled 'freedom' to pursue their right-wing goals.

I would add that all UK DU-ers, to my knowledge, are very anti-Brexit. It is not just Denzil's specific Scottish concerns. It is the unanimous view of people from different parts of the UK, with different views on a number of political issues, but all left-of-centre to varying degrees; all anti-Trump - and all anti-Brexit.