BY A UNANIMOUS vote on Tuesday the disciplinary panel of the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee overturned the suspension of former leader Jeremy Corbyn from membership.
This decision by Labour’s ruling body followed the suspension of Corbyn by the right-wing leadership of Keir Starmer on trumped up charges of anti-Semitism.
In normal times the reinstatement of Corbyn to Labour Party membership would automatically result in the party’s ‘whip’ being restored, meaning he would resume sitting in parliament as a Labour MP.
But yesterday morning Starmer announced that he would not be restoring the whip to Corbyn, telling the press that there was ‘no confidence’ in the party’s ‘disciplinary process’.
What Starmer really meant was that the disciplinary panel didn’t make the decision Starmer wanted, which was to keep Corbyn suspended and then expel him at a future date.
Corbyn’s suspension was immediately followed by an all-out purge of his supporters in the party. Members were banned from discussing Corbyn’s suspension and local parties were warned not to pass motions in support of Corbyn, and threatened with disciplinary action if they refused to obey.
Despite all these threats there was a massive support for Corbyn. Thousands of members resigned in disgust at Starmer’s witch-hunt of Corbyn, while local constituencies defied the threats to pass motions condemning his suspension and demanding his reinstatement.
The general secretary of the Unite union, Len McCluskey, told Starmer that failure to reinstate Corbyn would create ‘chaos’ in the party, leading to a civil war that would tear it apart.
This huge groundswell of support for Corbyn forced the disciplinary panel to make their decision. But if they hoped it would ‘draw a line’ under events and hold back the huge tide of anger towards Starmer and the right-wing, they were wrong.
Starmer and the right-wing cannot afford to draw a line and allow Corbyn to remain on the backbenches as a Labour MP. They are determined to drive him and Labour MPs who support him out for good.
The reason for this is the fear that behind Corbyn stand the millions of workers and young people who have had enough of this bankrupt capitalist system.
Corbyn is a danger because he gives voice to socialist ideas such as the nationalisation of industry and the redistribution of wealth, and as far as Starmer is concerned any mention of socialism must be driven out of the Labour Party.
With workers only too aware that that the furlough scheme must end shortly meaning that over 4 million will be thrown out of work, along with all the small shopkeepers and businesses that will crash into bankruptcy, any talk of socialist policies is a danger to Starmer in his preparations for entering a national government with the Tories.
A national government of Tories and the Labour right-wing is increasingly seen as the only government that can hold back workers and the middle classes from taking to the streets demanding an end to the capitalist crisis.
In purging Corbyn and silencing any talk of socialism in the Labour Party, Starmer is clearing the way for entering a national government with the Tories.
The Tories on their own are too weak to impose on workers mass unemployment, wage and benefit cuts that capitalism will demand to bail-out its bankrupt system. They desperately need the support of Labour leaders to force these measures through – this is what is behind the attacks on Corbyn.
Workers will come out in support of Corbyn and demand that he leads a real fight to kick out Starmer and the right-wing Labour MPs who are prepared to throw the working and middle classes to the wolves in order to ‘save’ British capitalism.
The trade unions, who built the Labour Party, must now intervene decisively and put an end to Starmer’s treacherous witch-hunting of socialists and his preparations for a national government by calling a general strike to bring down the Johnson government and bring in a workers government that will nationalise all major industries and banks, placing them under the management of the working class as part of building a planned socialist economy. This is the only way forward.
