THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING : the making of a new left, from anti-austerity to the fall of corbyn... and the future of mass politics

To the crowd of misfits, troublemakers and idealists, who smashed the plate glass of Conservative Party headquarters and the consensus that enveloped the world we lived in; who were ridiculed, beaten and incarcerated; who never apologised, and never should. vi Contents Preface and Acknowledgements viii x Preface and Acknowledgements There are almost innumerable others who I should thank, and I will not make the mistake of attempting to list them all, running the almost certain risk of forgetting and offending them. Many are interviewed and quoted, and many of the rest know who they are. The world has changed a lot since I started writing this book, though in many ways it hasn't. The pandemic created a new reality, but one of the deeper arguments that I want to make is that many of the roots of the political and economic crises we now face can be traced to the way in which the global ruling class responded to the 2008 financial crisis in the decade that followed it and to the social and political movements that sprung up in response. As popular support for neoliberalism collapsed, the world polarized between visions of the future based on environmental sustainability, economic radicalism and social progressivism on the one hand, and nostalgia, climate denialism, borderbuilding and authoritarianism on the other. We are, to a great extent, still stuck in the waiting room after that moment: the old centre cannot hold, but what will replace it remains unclear. Whether progressives win or lose will depend much on our ability to understand what happened in the 2010s and to learn the lessons the decade contains. This is Only the Beginning and internal democracy, the culture of loyalism and the failure to successfully confront the rise of right-wing nationalism. In 2010 and the years that followed it, I was an organizer in the student movement and the wider anti-austerity movement. When Momentum first established democratic structures, I was elected onto its Steering Committee and saw first-hand many of the tensions and contradictions within the Corbyn project. I spent most of the following years organizing movements for migrants' rights and against Brexit, campaigns which put me in the awkward position of going head-to-head with a Labour leadership which I continued, in a broad sense, to support. My perspective is inevitably partial, controversial and based on my own experiences, and it is from this perspective that I will attempt to set out what we, the left, need to do now that both our mass movements and our electoral projects appear to have run aground. This book is my account of the rise of a new left in British politics, a force created by the specific experiences of the social movements and political upheavals of the 2010s but which can also trace a lineage to the movements and new lefts of previous eras. The emergence of Corbynism not only gave the movements of the 2010s a greater platform but also limited their horizons, as many of their adherents came to identify not as partisans of a distinctive new left politics but as supporters of the Labour leadership. And yet as we emerge from the pandemic into a new era, it is this force that holds the key to the progressive renewal of politics, if only it can cohere itself. ## \* \* \* Over the course of the 2010s, Britain became a meaner, nastier place, and for most people a poorer one. In the seven years up to 2015, median earnings fell by 10.6 per cent, a drop second in the developed world only to Greece, and had still not recovered by 2020. 1 By the end of the decade, child poverty had increased to 4.2 million, meaning that one in every three children lived in households which struggled with basics like food, shelter and heating. 2 Rates of homelessness and rough sleeping rocketed. The Trussell Trust, Britain's main but by no means only food bank provider, handed out 40,898 food parcels in the financial year 2009-10; in 2019-20, it handed out 1.9 million. 3 The pandemic has provided governments with a never-ending source of excuses for poor health outcomes. But the truth is that by the time Covid-19 struck in early 2020, NHS waiting lists were already at record highs and Britain was already in the grips of a chronic crisis in public health. For a whole century prior to the 2010s, life expectancy increased by around three years every decade,

The 2010s were a decade of foodbanks, riots, and the rebirth of political alternatives. Looking to escape a future of rising debt, falling living standards and climate meltdown, a set of movements were born across the globe, led by students, workers and the tent cities of Occupy.
A new wave of optimistic, radical young people were building mass movements outside the political bubble, rejecting the neo-liberal consensus and the enrichment of the 1%, and laying the foundations of a new left. Eight years later, Bernie Sanders was favorite to clinch the Democratic Party nomination, and Jeremy Corbyn and Momentum had taken over the Labour Party in Britain, promising 'a new kind of politics'.
But as the new left poured into Labour, it was overwhelmed by older, institutional forces on both left and right. Four years after Corbyn became leader, after bitter-infighting and a Brexit-fuelled strategic crisis, it all fell apart.
This is the inside story of how the left came back to life in the 2010s, from a man who found himself at the centre of events - featuring unparalleled access and a range of interviews with key left-wing figures. Influential journalist and activist Michael Chessum explains how this movement was built, why it failed, and what it needs to do now.

"Looking for answers to problems ignored by the political class - low-wages, un-achievable house prices, global warming, the bailout of the banks and subsequent enriching of the 1% - a new global, young and left-wing movement was born with student Occupy movements. Ten years later, Bernie Sanders was favorite to clinch the Democrat Party nomination for president, and Jeremy Corbyn and Momentum had taken over the Labour Party in Britain. A new wave of optimistic, organised and passionate young people were building mass-participation movements outside the political bubble. 6 years after Corbyn became leader, after bitter in-fighting and allegations of incompetence, it all fell apart. This is the inside story of how and why that happened, from the man who helped start it all - featuring unparalleled insider access and a range of interviews with key left-wing figures. Influential journalist and activist, Michael Chessum explains how this movement was built and why it failed to bring about lasting change (so far)"-- Provided by publisher Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction Part I: 2010–15 Chapter 1: Students in a dream world Chapter 2: A generation without a history Chapter 3: The wave breaks Part II: 2015–20 Chapter 4: The riptide Chapter 5: The movement versus the machine Chapter 6: The machine strikes back: Brexit Conclusion: What now? Notes Further reading Index