The Left-wing Labour Cult

Photograph: A Labour Party contingent during a 1980s demonstration to protect a woman’s right to choose. On the farthest left hand side is my mum and with her some of those fantastic friends I mention.

This is a response to not only Hadley Freeman’s latest article for The Guardian (which in short describes Corbyn supporters as cult members) but the many pieces carrying similar sentiments I have seen since Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader.

For once I am going to up sell myself because I think it is necessary under these circumstances: I am an intelligent young woman and I consider myself to be equally compassionate and empathetic. I have been engaged in politics since the day my mum stood outside a polling station to support the Labour party, adorned with a red rosette and a baby in a sling (me). I continued to attend political rallies and demonstrations throughout my childhood and adulthood. I wrote the only vaguely political articles for my high-school newspaper in my final years of attendance. I got involved in student protests against the rise in tuition fees and government cuts during my undergraduate degree. I founded an intersectional feminist bookclub online to provide a safe space for those who were interested to discuss feminist literature without fear of being attacked. I have first hand experience of online abuse for daring to even mention I might have opinions; stupid little girl.

I also joined the Labour Party in early 2014 because despite having campaigned against Tony Blair’s policies on multiple occasions I saw an opportunity to be a part of an organisation that was founded on left-wing ideologies and may very well, with support, be able to provide a real alternative to the gruesome austerity measures put in place by the Conservative party. This was before Jeremy Corbyn was even nominated to run in the next year’s leadership election. That is not to say that my opinion as a member is of any more value than those who joined because of Corbyn; they too were inspired by the possibility of a political party, founded by trade unions (more cults?), that might once again defend the rights of the majority in the UK.

I never during any of this signed up to a cult. The very implication by mainstream media, where I expect to see intelligent discussion and diligent research being carried out, that I, and my friends and family are in fact members of a cult is insulting. It is in fact no better than the online hate spouted by faceless twitter eggs that they claim to scorn. Just because someone can turn a phrase, have a news outlet send them a cheque or has a million twitter followers does not make them exempt from being called out when they use derogatory rhetoric. It is an appalling excuse for journalism.

I look at those around me, like my mum and her friends, intelligent, kind people who I personally cannot ever express how grateful I am to for the parts they have played in my life, and then I look at the name calling being directed towards them and it makes me sad. Am I expected to not take it personally? And it is directed towards us; we are the hard left of the Labour Party if that is what you want to call us: we believe in the welfare state, liveable minimum wages, council housing, benefits for those who need them, the NHS, free education, free childcare, more jobs, better working conditions and progressive taxation; we oppose the acadamisation of schools, tax avoidance of the wealthy, the privatisation of the healthcare system, the bedroom tax, the discarding of student nursing bursaries, the slashing of disability benefits, fracking and countless other damaging right-wing policies. And we all voted for, and will vote for Jeremy Corbyn.

These are men and women who supported the miners’ strike, who fought for gender equality, for LGBTQ+ rights, who campaigned against the Iraq war, who have raised money for refugees, who fought the poll tax and the bedroom tax, who have knocked on doors during elections, handed out leaflets, organised hustings and engaged in both local and global politics their entire lives. These are people who raised me, who taught me kindness and showed me unconditional love and support. They are not an insignificant bunch of Corbyn fanatics. It is not the so called ‘cult’ of Jeremy Corbyn that has people engaging with the Labour Party on an exciting new level – it is the progressive, anti-austerity and anti-hate politics that he symbolises.

Continue to tell me I am not a decent person, that I am the member of a cult and an extremist, that I am stupid and incapable of making an informed decision. In the mean time I will continue to fight for a fairer and more tolerant country, one that mirrors the family I grew up with.