{"id":260838,"date":"2025-10-14T12:51:05","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T11:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/?page_id=260838"},"modified":"2025-10-14T14:09:46","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T13:09:46","slug":"jeremy-corbyns-new-real-change-party","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/jeremy-corbyns-new-real-change-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s new \u2018real change\u2019 party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s be clear: as socialists, we don\u2019t necessarily dislike Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, some things he says we\u2019d agree with. Where we differ explicitly is on how our society can achieve \u2018real change\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We agree \u2018poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable\u2019, but to be rid of these troubles \u2014 and not merely partially, or only for a brief time \u2014 we contend that their root cause must be effectively dealt with. No tinkering. No sticking plaster solutions. What\u2019s needed is major surgery.<\/p>\n

The aggressive, deadly cancer killing and immiserating humankind in every country is the existence of the divisive, worldwide, capitalist system, so ignore nitwits who say North Korea, Venezuela, China, etc have \u2018socialism\u2019 or \u2018communism\u2019. They don\u2019t. The current profit-driven system is the undeniable cause of poverty, inequality, war and so much else.<\/p>\n

Where Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana and others on \u2018the left\u2019 go wrong is thinking capitalism can be reformed, incrementally or otherwise, so that it becomes useful and beneficial to the majority. Not only will reformism never bring about socialism, far worse, it misleads people into thinking their problems can be solved. Voters led to believe their difficulties can be reformed away will be diverted and put off from considering the \u2018real alternative\u2019 \u2014 real socialism.<\/p>\n

All reforms tend to do is smooth over some problems but create or worsen others. Even when capitalism causes something appalling like the 2008 financial crisis, reforms that were rushed in to solve a crisis can then, over time, be gradually amended, weakened or even ignored because businesses will always be under pressure to cut expenses and increase profits.<\/p>\n

Because the fundamental function of capitalism is for capitalists to make profits (otherwise they can go bust), and a fundamental function of government is to assist the capitalist class to make profits (otherwise the economy can go bust), this means even a Corbyn-Sultana government would have to give capitalists what they need to succeed and compete.<\/p>\n

So when the going gets tough (which seems to be a never-ending situation now under capitalism), whether Corbyn and Sultana accept it or not, the needs of a profit-seeking few would have to come before the needs of the working-class many. This is why we reject reformism completely.<\/p>\n

And nationalising industries etc \u2014 which is not socialism \u2014 is not a solution. State-run firms must still be profitable, and competitive in markets, so workers\u2019 wages still tend to be the \u2018going rate\u2019, which often means little more than enough to pay for all of the essentials.<\/p>\n

Therefore, when Corbyn says \u2018hope\u2019 is \u2018something that is desperately missing from our broken political system\u2019, in reality, the suffering majority has no hope of being freed from poverty, inequality and exploitation by a new left-wing party because the political system isn\u2019t \u2018broken\u2019 \u2014 it\u2019s biased \u2014 towards the asset-owning class.<\/p>\n

To prevent a capitalist economy getting into trouble even left-wing governments put the needs of the asset-owning class ahead of the working class. The fact is both right- and left-wing governments have been hostile to the working class struggle for \u2018real change\u2019 in the past, and will be in the future. Corbyn says \u2018real change is coming\u2019. We say, only if the majority reject reformism and replace capitalism with socialism \u2013 the common ownership and democratic control of the resources society depends on to survive and where production directly to meet people\u2019s needs will replace production for profit.<\/p>\n

For the latest edition of the Socialist Standard, click here<\/a><\/p>\n

For a free 3-month subscription to the Socialist Standard click here<\/a><\/p>\n

For a brief introduction to the SPGB’s ideas click here <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s be clear: as socialists, we don\u2019t necessarily dislike Jeremy Corbyn. Indeed, some things he says we\u2019d agree with. Where we differ explicitly is on how our society can achieve \u2018real change\u2019. We agree \u2018poverty, inequality and war are not inevitable\u2019, but to be rid of these troubles \u2014 and not merely partially, or only … <\/p>\n

Read more “Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s new \u2018real change\u2019 party”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2339,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-260838","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/260838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2339"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260838"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/260838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260844,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/260838\/revisions\/260844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/spgb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}