Labour is currently all at sea over class – and at risk of drowning. For a party whose members imagine themselves to be the only legitimate representatives of working people the last election has provoked an existential crisis. George Orwell once said Britain is ‘the most class-ridden society under the sun’. That may no longer be the case, but Labour is determined to prove Orwell right.
In December, Boris Johnson smashed Labour’s ‘Red Wall’ and captured constituencies in the north and midlands whose histories evoked some of the greatest moments of proletarian struggle. The resulting symbolism is painful for Labour: the Durham Miners Gala will now take place surrounded by Conservative-held seats. But the reality is even more unpalatable: Labour attracted just one third of working-class voters.
And yet Labour’s manifesto promised the greatest redistribution of wealth and power to the working class in Britain’s history. Supporters of Jeremy Corbyn consistently deny that Labour’s defeat was a reflection on the radicalism of that document: it
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