CLEMANTICS Spring 2018
“Can anything be more disgusting than to hear people called
'educated' making small jokes about eating ham, and showing themselves
empty of any real knowledge as to the relation of their own social and
religious life to the history of the people they think themselves witty
in insulting? [...] The best thing that can be said of it is, that it is
a sign of the intellectual narrowness—in plain English, the stupidity
which is still the average mark of our culture.”
George Eliot
George Eliot
Re-conSydered…
Well, my
old darlings… I have to begin with a declaration. I am currently a
member of the Labour Party. I say this to explain why, only last
week, I received a letter, addressed to me personally, from John
McDonnell – yes, that John
McDonnell!
Now, you
can imagine this came as something of a surprise given that I have
never met the man. But nevertheless my interest was piqued. Could he
be inviting me for lunch at The House, tea at Party HQ or, perhaps, a
ringside seat at Jezza’s next outing? Unfortunately the reality was
rather more prosaic, as he asked me
if I could see my way clear to giving him a few quid toward funding
the Party’s local election campaign! I thought to myself, “600,000
members and he’s still on the ear’ole. When will enough be
enough”?
More than
this, however, I have issues with the Party which I need to express
and the word I used earlier - ‘currently’ – begins to assume
more and more importance. So here follows my letter in response to
that which I received, personally remember, from John.
Dear
John,
Never
has an address (above) been more fitting, as this letter is in fact a
‘Dear John’, John.
No,
not because you asked for money, although with 600,000 Members I did
wonder when enough could be enough, and not even for the impudence of
addressing me by my first name when you don’t know me from Adam.
No, the reason this is a goodbye letter concerns the current state
and culture of the Labour Party.
A
prime example of the culture to which I refer is the current problem
of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.
Since
the Sharmishta Chakrabarti report on antisemitism and the suspension
of Ken Livingstone nothing of any consequence has been done. This has
been compounded by the poor or failing eyesight of Mr Corbyn and Ms
Shawcroft, who both apparently could not see what was in front of
their eyes and whose knee-jerk reaction to a mural and a Facebook
post respectively was to defend what were clear anti-Semitic
statements. Then, when members of the Jewish community protested at
the complete lack of attention given to the problem, (and were given
active support by some members of the PLP and the House of Lords),
the protest was immediately spun by the hard left as an attempt to
smear ‘Jeremy’. Furthermore, some of those MP’s who attended
the protest against anti-Semitism were later threatened with
de-selection.
At
a later date, Momentum did acknowledge that anti-Semitism is a
problem in the Party but couldn’t resist adding that some people
were using the opportunity to undermine ‘Jeremy’!
Historically,
the Labour Party has prided itself on being a broad church. Now, it
is more of a long, narrow church such that any dissent from the new
orthodoxy is considered treasonous by the leader’s Praetorian
Guard, Momentum; to the extent that so called disloyal MP’s receive
a variety of threats and abuse as well as being threatened with
de-selection.
I
often wonder how Clement Attlee would fare in the ‘modern’ Labour
Party. Attlee, a man who fervently believed in the Socialist ideal,
but did not think that one size fits all. Attlee, a man often derided
for his low key demeanour but who pursued his leadership as a means
of uniting rather than dividing factions. Thus, as Prime Minister,
his Cabinet consisted of a cross section of the Party, from Ernest
Bevin, on the right, to Aneurin
Bevan, on the left.
The
Attlee leadership philosophy is one Mr Corbyn might do well to follow
wherein dissent/disagreement is tolerated and embraced. A view I
would think you, John, and Mr Corbyn might share given you both
dissented from Party policy on numerous occasions without the threat
of de-selection hanging over your heads.
Unfortunately,
I won’t be holding my breath especially given that Mr Corbyn is
effectively in thrall to Momentum. Nor in my opinion will that
organisation countenance allowing him to be inclusive for that would
t dilute the purity of the hard left ideology.
So
I come to the crux of my letter. I resign my membership of the Labour
Party with immediate effect. This of course also deals with the issue
of your request for a donation but importantly it sends an
existential message to yourself and Mr Corbyn.
So,
whilst my resignation won’t make much of a difference, rest assured
it will make some difference, and one which will reverberate until
such time as the Labour Party can once more claim to be the broad
church it, once, aspired to be.
Sincerely
Syd
PS
Hard copy in the post – not hard left of course.
Editorial note: A 'Dear John' is, in prison argot, a letter from a prisoner's girlfriend telling him that she has blown him out.
Dear Mr Rumpo,
ReplyDeleteI write to ask you to reconsider your thoughts in your open letter. I acknowledge that I am more likely to be successful discovering faster-than-light travel than changing someone's mind on the internet, but animal instinct has compelled me into an attempt. I would ask you to consider that I have decided to dedicate some of the few minutes I am afforded to myself each day, and it may not have been as thoroughly proof read as I might have liked.
In everything written in my response below, I hope you will remember that I write all without personal judgement. How could I? I do not know you, or the life you have led.
I like to start a letter with a quotation, it makes me appear better read than I am. Today I have chosen Lollard priest, and early advocate of equality, John Ball:
“Ah, you good people, things cannot go well in England until all property is in common and there are neither serfs nor gentleman but one united people. How ill they behave to us, for what reason do they hold us in bondage? Are we not all descended from the same parents, Adam and Eve? And what can they show or what reason can they give, why they should be more masters than ourselves? The lords claim to be more lords than are we rests only on their power to force us to labour and produce in or that they may spend.”
I have chosen this quotation because, I think it shows how little politics has evolved in the 680 years since John Ball’s death. I am stating the obvious when I write "racism is a major problem, even in modern society. Antisemitism falls under the umbrella." It makes me feel patronising to have to state it in such unsophisticated terms, but without condescension, I feel it necessary.
It is extremely convenient that a lot of people, and sadly it seems you are included in that number; seem to have forgotten about comments made by various members of the current government in a similar vein, such as one your favourite targets, Boris Johnson. If I had the time, I would provide you with reference material to look into showing politicians of all parties being racist. Search the internet for “[Cabinet Minister’s Name] racist” and I am sure you can find enough examples and allogations. Two years ago, almost to the day, Mr Johnson shamelessly criticised Mr Corbyn for lack of leadership over the issue of antisemitism. Why are we not discussing racism across politics, including anti-Semitism in the Labour party?
Again, without condescension, I would humbly suggest that Mr Johnson's ploy that day was, and is, one of the few weapons in the establishment's arsenal against our growing unity. Accuse Labour of antisemitism, accuse Mr Corbyn of a lack of leadership, watch the moderates leave the party. Ironically, history has shown Mr Corbyn to be a consistent campaigner for equality amongst races for four decades, a fact that seems to have been ignored by many people. Who state he has not shown leadership on the issue.
Yet, no politician has ever done enough to tackle racism in the UK, even the ones who genuinely tried, like Mr Corbyn. We still have racism in many forms and at all levels of society, and it is often publicly perpetuated by politicians and the main stream media. If you want proof, search Google for one of your favourite subjects, "Brexit foreigners" and read the first search result. You don't even have to click on it, nor do I condone doing so. It takes collective will to end racism, and as long as it benefits someone's agenda, it will continue to exist.
ReplyDeleteI would press the point that you, Mr Rumpo, have apparently fallen victim to an obvious smear campaign; but depressingly, I start to wonder if it you have done so willingly. When I listen to many of my friends, conscientious, thoughtful and considerate friends speak of the Labour party today, and also Mr Corbyn, it is to hear neat little sound-bites from BBC news. I read it in your letter to Mr MacDonnell above. I hear it from my conscientious friends from privileged, white backgrounds, who benefitted from a decent education, whose parent’s had enough money to feed them.
I do not blame them, I do not blame you. The information is absorbed subliminally whilst washing dishes, walking to work or cooking the children dinner. I myself have had to give up to listening to Radio 4, which was not a decision that weighed lightly. I strongly urge you to do the same, and know now that I would never go back, as I have found it liberating to make my own mind up about things.
The more cynical part of me wonders if you have not been looking for a convenient reason to abandon Mr Corbyn, because of the radical shift within the politics of the party that he has come to represent. I wonder if you, Mr Rumpo, have been looking for a convenient reason to abandon the first chance in a generation. Then I wonder why a person might do that.
When I did finally had time to consider the question, I have concluded that there are a lot of people who have forgotten what a struggle the world can be for others. I meet, and speak to, people unable to afford to survive on a daily basis. One person I met had limited themselves to drinking tea so that their daughter could have enough food to concentrate at school. This was someone who had already had their allowance from all the local food banks, as well as the two food vouchers they were allowed every eight week period from the soon to be scrapped social fund.
I admired the resolve of that person so much in that moment, and raged at the sham-society that has let it happen. Our brothers and sisters being treated worse than animals, with a government and media establishment that encourages those marginally better off to look down on them. You, and I, Mr Rumpo, let it happen, and I for one am ashamed.
But you know all of this, probably from personal experience of some kind. I only wished to remind you of how you felt when you did experience it, vicariously like me, or otherwise. That person, whom the establishment has looked down on and cast out, that is the person the ideas of the Labour party, exemplified at this time by Mr Corbyn, resonate with.
They represent a will to genuinely change government and politics for the first time in a generation, to take it beyond the scope of its traditional limitations. A lightning bolt of hope striking an oil field of discontent.
ReplyDeleteLabour ideas resonate with a generation who will never own property, with a generation who cannot afford their own care, with a generation that will have no retirement. I appreciate that it might be difficult for the generation who sold our future out from under us to comprehend that. I suppose they had it alright, though.
There are more and more people sliding into the "have-not" section of society every day, so the government begins the obvious game of sowing dissent within their enemy, to derail, to slow the building momentum and stave off meaningful reform as long as possible.
Sadly, it looks like you, Mr Rumpo, have bought into it. I know that you did not intend to appear so, I fear that you may have come across more out-of-touch in your letter than you intended. I try to remember that every moment of my leisure and luxury is bought by the under-valued labour of someone who happened to be more unfortunate on when, where and to whom he was born. Someone who will work three hours to every hour I labour, someone who has a long working life before they eventually expire on duty, with no chance of retirement or dotage.
It is those “someones” who do not have time to worry about the fact that John MacDonnell used his first name without being on personal terms in an unsolicited letter asking for money (I mean where else is a party that represents the working man going to ask for funds, big business?).
I would remind you of the words of John Ball, Lollard, scholar and a man who died for what he believed in:
Those “someones” struggling to survive do not have time to be buy into smear campaigns perpetrated by the privileged in society, whom seek to undermine a movement seeking to reform. They need meaningful political change, please Mr Rumpo, do not give up on them.
I will not.
Yours sincerely,
ADreamOfJohnBall
“When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then a gentleman?”