Jeremy Corbyn’s economic plan to rescue British capitalism
By Paul Mitchell and Chris Marsden of WSWS
The economic prescriptions put forward by Labour Party leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn have been met with apoplexy in some quarters.
Daily Telegraph deputy editor Allister Heath fumed about “a disaster for Britain” should the “unreconstructed socialist” Corbyn become leader of the Labour Party. His election would deal “the pro-capitalist side a terrible blow” and mark “a return to the ultra-confrontational 1980s… Class war, extreme language and nonsensical positions.” Labour Party shadow chancellor Chris Leslie denounced Corbyn’s supposedly “starry-eyed, hard left” plan.
In reality, Corbyn’s campaign and the policy prescriptions he espouses are shaped by two related considerations.
He decided to enter the leadership race in the aftermath of Labour’s disastrous performance in May’s General Election. Noting that the collapse in the vote for the party is due to widespread opposition to the austerity politics that it has implemented, Corbyn is seeking to revive support by putting on a “left” face. But Corbyn has always insisted that all that can be achieved are minor reforms through the very Labour Party he criticises.
Under conditions of an ever deepening systemic crisis, his aim, in the words of the former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, is to save capitalism from itself. He speaks for a layer within ruling political circles who believe that merely continuing with unrestrained austerity threatens to plunge British and world capitalism into a second economic crash.
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