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18 NEWS
Socialist Worker 1 April 2020

Pressure of

‘unity’ sees

Labour shift

rightwards

Keir Starmer is likely to carve out
the left from top posts if he wins the
leadership, writes Nick Clark

THE LABOUR Party leadership
contest was set to finally end this BACK STORY
Thursday with the result to be The winner of the Labour
announced on Saturday. leadership election was set to be
Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit announced on Saturday
secretary, looked on course to win
after campaigning on a promise to lShadow Brexit secretary Keir
Starmer looked likely to take
unite Labour’s left with the right. over from Jeremy Corbyn
He promised to continue the WILL SIR Keir Starmer arise as Labour leader and bend his knee to the bosses?
legacy of Jeremy Corbyn’s left lHe has promised to unite the
wing leadership, while making the left and right of the party UNITED STATES
party appear more respectable and lHis leadership would pursue
acceptable to the right. a ‘scorched earth’ policy to Donald Trump forced into climbdown
His apparent popularity is a marginalise the left
sign that many party members lThe left’s candidate, Rebecca
have been pulled by the argument Long-Bailey, has also made over lockdown as corona cases mount
that Labour lost the 2019 general concessions to right wingers
election because it was too left
wing.
Starmer says that under his members accused of antisemitism. >>continued from page 20
leadership, Labour would remain One Corbyn aide described nothing and I will get absolutely
an anti-austerity party—but has Starmer’s plans as a “scorched nothing because in their tax
refused to say he would keep earth” policy against the left. returns I’m filed as a dependent,”
the radical policies in the 2019 The left’s candidate Rebecca she told Socialist Worker.
manifesto. Long-Bailey is widely seen as “I have student loans I will
He also joined in with the attempt Corbyn’s successor. need to start paying back after I
by right wing MPs to remove Corbyn graduate this semester.
in 2016, resigning his shadow Retreat “I lost my federal work-study job
cabinet post to pressure him to But she also shows signs of retreat- as a result of being evicted from
resign. ing from the more radical aspects of my university.”
And he led the way in pushing Corbyn’s leadership. But the Trump administration is
Labour towards adopting a policy She has run a more polished, looking after the bosses.
of reversing the EU referendum conventional leadership campaign, “We could have guaranteed
result—which was behind Labour’s without the mass rallies that defined universal health care for every
disastrous result in the 2019 gen- Corbyn’s. person in the US for £1.6 trillion,”
eral election. And she backs Angela Rayner to said Kayla. “Yet it’s corporations
Starmer is backed by right wing be her deputy leader rather than the that are being bailed out again.” Sanitation workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, walked out over safety
MPs who openly want to drag the left wing candidate Richard Burgon.
party back to the right—and report- She’s also backed rules that Begging of them have had to buy their own Wednesday of this week. “Millions
edly plans to bring some of them would allow left wing activists to She added, “Healthcare workers protective gloves and masks. have or are trying to file for
into his shadow cabinet. be purged from Labour for anything are begging for the supplies. Workers have also accused the unemployment, but most landlords
more than the mildest criticism of “They know they’re soon going city’s sanitation department of are still forcing them to pay rent,”
Shadow Israel. to have to start choosing who lives not alerting them that one of their she said.
Rachel Reeves is reported to Labour lost the general election and who dies as ventilators run colleague’s partners tested positive “Letters from landlords have
be Starmer’s choice for shadow partly because its leadership under out. for Covid-19. been sent to tenants along the lines
chancellor. Corbyn consistently conceded to Trump’s business as usual Bus drivers in Birmingham, of, ‘We know you have lost your
She has previously implied that right wing arguments, allowing response has seen dozens of Alabama, refused to work without jobs but you don’t have the right
immigration could cause race riots, them to take hold and undermine walkouts in workplaces across the protective masks last Monday. not to pay rent’.”
and has said Labour should be him. US. One the same day abattoir She added, “This is the first time
“tougher” on benefit claimants. Now the pressures of “unity” and Several hundred refuse workers workers in Kathleen, Georgia, I have seen national popular calls
Starmer is also certain to launch “electability” look set to drag the in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, walked out to demand hazard pay. for a rent strike, and people openly
a witch hunt against the left under party even further to the right. struck unofficially last Wednesday “There are wildcat actions calling to abolish landlords.”
the guise of building unity. saying they wouldn’t return to going on,” explained Reece. “This The walkouts and protests show
He will reportedly demand that On other pages... work unless bosses bring in safety is the labour force realising they the kind of action workers and
she didn’t rush to expel left wing  Why Corbyn couldn’t beat capital measures. One worker said, “We have power.” ordinary people can take to resist
general secretary Jenny Formby—
Kayla and others were
bosses during the coronavirus
want better equipment, protective
an ally of Corbyn—resigns because
crisis.
gear—we have no masks.” Many
campaigning for a rent strike on
>>Pages 14&15