This 'leftist accused #FBPE of being a cult. So I did a bit of checking. The account is a peddler of pro-Kremlin tweets. I do this kind of checking now and again. Very roughly about 10% of the Corbynist accounts I check are pro-Kremlin.
2/ Here's another 'Corbynist' who replied to me by attacking Starmer and Blairites. It is account that is an eager defender of Putin's Russia. I have no idea why these accounts are pro-Kremlin, but it is clear Russia has significant influence within the hard-left.
3/ Here's another 'Corbynist' account that is all too eager to leap to the defence of Russia and its allies. This account has a lot of followers, and is therefore a significant promoter of Kremlin influence.
4/ Perhaps the most significant figure among the Kremlin-friendly Corbynists is Chris Williamson. Here he is shamelessly ignoring the Syrian opposition while defending the mass-murdering, hereditary, kleptocratic tyrant and Putin ally Assad.
5/ And of course there are Corbyn and Milne. Here's Milne shaking hands with kleptofascist Putin a few months after the latter attacked Ukraine, and here are both Corbyn and Milne peddling the Kremlin propaganda line on Ukraine.
6/ Some folk will say what about the Tories and Russia. I've written a lot about that. Here are a few graphics that give just a small glimpse into the Tory elite's collusion in Putin's hybrid war against democracy. But Putin is no fool, he has his tools on the right & left.
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1/ I'm seeing a lot of Corbynists repeating the lie that Remainers sabotaged Labour. Yes we opposed Corbyn's collusion in Brexit, but most of us campaigned fanatically for tactical voting in 2017 and 2019 which hugely benefitted Labour. But they cynically forget that.
2/ And this same hard left faction claims that backing a people's vote harmed Labour, conveniently forgetting that Labour's vote was set to plunge below 20% before it switched stance, and equally forgetting that Corbyn was the main reason people didn't vote Labour
3/ Furthermore this same Corbynist faction ignores the fact that in spite of Corbyn and woefully bad Labour and LibDem campaigns, 2nd referendum parties gained a clear majority of the vote in 2019.
Deindustrialisation has led to the crumbling of working class communities and the consequent massive weakening of the unions and Labour movement. Socially disorientated people in a fragmented society - ripe prey for populist propaganda offering the bogus solidarity of nationalism
And as working class communities and organisations have crumbled, working class individualism has been on the rise - working class people who are proud that they have made good through their own efforts, and feel that others should do the same.
Both the working and middle classes are now fragmented into groups with economic positions that push them into different political directions. Neither class forms a coherent basis for a political force. The working and middle class politics of the industrial epoch is dead
Take Back The Flag! It's time we took the Union Flag back from the fascists, racists, xenophobes, liars, cheats, spivs and charlatans. So here's a starter. (Apologies to Woody Guthrie)
Sensible factually minded people will tell me this isn't how things are now. And they are right, and that's why we have to launch a campaign to prise the flag from the clutches of the nationalist right by associating it with messages they hate.
And to all those who say we should ditch the Union flag, I'll say that's the route to being utterly crushed by the nationalist right. The same goes for any kind of frontal attack on the monarchy - who we should depict as being terrorised by unpatriotic right-wing tabloids.
1/ The right to oppose is one of the core elements of democracy. During the two years after the referendum politicians and journalists opposed to Brexit were, with a few brave exceptions, intimidated into publicly supporting Brexit. During that time the UK was not a democracy.
2/ Thatcher echoed Attlee's warning that the "referendum was a device of dictators and demagogues". Such rulers love referendums because they can use them to demonise opponents as enemies of the "democratic will of the people" as Goebbels did after a Nazi referendum victory.
3/ This is one of the reasons why Brexit is politically illegitimate. Democracy is based on fair votes, the right to oppose, the rule of law and accurate information. The Brexiters violated all four of these pillars of democracy. Far from being democratic, Brexit was a coup.
1/ People claim that being critical of Brexit is politically suicidal. There is no evidence for that. From 2017 onwards there was a majority for Remain in spite of both main parties and most of the press backing Brexit, and the BBC deliberately silencing Remain voices.
2/ In the 2019 election 2nd referendum parties gained a clear majority of the vote in spite of Corbyn's unpopularity and wretchedly bad Labour and LibDem campaigns. With better leaders, campaigns and electoral cooperation the opposition would have won.
3/ People point to the bad showing of the LibDems in the 2019 election, even though their vote share rose sharply compared to 2017. Their vote share was hit badly by tactical voting with people frantically switching to Labour in a vain effort to beat the Tories.
When a few months ago, I criticised @Keir_Starmer for his Brexit stance, I was met by many polite replies suggesting that he was employing clever tactics and that we should give him time. The responses are very different now. Remainers are dumping Starmer.
Not only are Remainers reacting angrily to Starmer's Brexit stance, but unlike with Corbyn, when he came under Remainer attack, very few people are leaping to his defence. A few months ago people were enthusiastic about Starmer. Now that seems to have largely fizzled out.
Starmer appears to be taking his advice from Claire Ainsley who is “pretty clear-eyed about the political shift away from economic and social liberalism, and the new centrality of social, culture and identity issues in British politics.” thelondoneconomic.com/politics/what-…