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Len McCluskey: ‘a credible, left, radical alternative’ will launch ‘in a very short period of time’

At a recent event with Jeremy Corbyn, former Unite general secretary Len McCluskey insisted that:

In a very short period of time, what will be created will be a credible, left, radical alternative.

He was speaking at a rally of independent socialists in Liverpool, which brought people together in support of a left-wing challenge to Keir Starmer’s government of austerity and war.

He spoke about his expulsion from the Labour Party, after 54 years as a member, because of his support for Jeremy Corbyn’s 2024 electoral campaign in Islington North. Corbyn, he said, is:

the living embodiment of everything that is good and decent in the political arena today.

And he insisted that, while socialists have often suffered marginalisation within Labour, the party’s right-wing establishment has now opted for their outright expulsion instead. That’s why, he said:

it’s time for the resistance!

Looking at Corbyn, meanwhile, he stressed:

I know who the leader of that party should be

People power can beat the establishment!

McCluskey said there are “millions of decent people in this nation”. He explained:

Starmer has just won a ‘landslide’ election and got less votes than Jeremy Corbyn did in 2019.

Forget 2017! Because that’s what the establishment would like you to do: forget 2017, as though it didn’t really happen. More people voted in England for Jeremy Corbyn than ever voted for Tony Blair. This man destroyed the myth that British people are not interested in radical policies. He destroyed the myth that young people are not interested in politics.

2017 was a shock to the elites and “their friends across the sea” (in the US). The latter are the “real establishment”, he insisted.

Reacting to this shock, establishment forces did what they could to “destroy Jeremy Corbyn, destroy Corbynism, and destroy anybody close to them”. Then:

They came up with a puppet in Starmer in order to destroy Corbynism, but much much more – to turn the Labour Party into a mirror image of the Democrat Party in the United States.

Now, the Labour Party which once aimed “to challenge the establishment and speak for working people”, he asserted, “don’t speak for us anymore”. Starmer in particular, he insisted, should ‘hang his head in shame’ as “a stain on our movement”.

But speaking about the hope emerging in the resistance, he said:

There are negotiations and discussions taking place, and have been taking place for a long time — in terms of bringing a united front.

And he stressed that:

people power matters!

With the promise of “a credible, left, radical alternative” emerging “in a very short period of time”, he called on people to

Believe in your values — because your values are the values of millions of decent people in this nation.

And together — we will attain justice and decency.

Corbyn: “we’re going to have something in place” soon

A poll just this week showed the hunger that exists for a hypothetical left-wing party with Corbyn as its leader. Such a party, it suggested, would instantly become one of the main political parties in Britain. And with the poll claiming it would be the most popular party among 18-to-24-year-olds, it could easily become a key contender for power in the future:

Jeremy Corbyn himself has previously spoken about a new political party, saying:

This whole cause is coming together so that by next year’s local elections – long before that I hope – we’re going to have something in place that is very clear and everyone will want to be part of and support.

And as the Canary has been documenting, he has been travelling around the country supporting efforts to build the resistance via community empowerment.

At the same event McCluskey spoke at, Corbyn insisted:

I am determined there will be, in a short time, a strong, alternative, democratic, socialist, left-wing voice that brings people together

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.