Owen Jones suggests that “to understand the future, we must reconsider the past” (Blair should accept his era is over, 20 July), adding that the lesson of the past is that “Labour’s role is to tear down a bankrupt social order, not defend it”. Noble sentiments – but surely not an accurate historical assessment? The early Labour party of a century ago was a reformist, social-democratic movement, not a revolutionary Marxist organisation. If it had been intent on tearing down “a bankrupt social order” there would have been no need for the British Communist party. Instead, it has seen its job – from Ramsay MacDonald to Tony Blair – as giving capitalism an acceptable face. And in that respect it has some notable achievements to its credit. If there is any lesson at all from history, it is that there are no lessons from history; as the election this year demonstrated once again with startling clarity, no one has a clue what’s coming down the pike.

Peter Lyth

Southwell, Nottinghamshire

• Owen Jones notes that we are living in an age when the ideas of Jeremy Corbyn fit the reality and those of Tony Blair don’t. Change can sometimes happen quickly but ideas and the individuals who have them are often slow to catch up, which means New Labour and its supporters will be around for a while yet.

While Chartism as a national movement was effectively dead by 1860, Chartists remained politically active, primarily as Liberals, until the 1890s. Nor had they forsaken the ideas they had picked up in the 1840s and 1850s. WS Sanders in his book Early Socialist Days noted meetings of the Marxist Social Democratic Federation in Battersea in the 1880s attended by supporters of the long-since-departed Chartist Bronterre O’Brien, putting forward his ideas that currency reform was the way to grapple with capitalism. They were, of course, as Sanders said, regarded as relics from another age, a fate that one suspects will in due course befall Blairites.

Keith Flett

London

• For Labour to reach the magical land of a 41% share of the vote with 3.5m extra votes is a stunning achievement, but the next election will be fought on vastly different terrain – the economy and Brexit. Labour still does not have economic credibility with the electorate and a coherent stance on Brexit cannot be put off forever. Election-winning Labour leaders – Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Tony Blair – could appeal to the middle ground. It is hard to see where the support needed for the 100 seats required for a working majority is going to come from. Fighting the next election in two or three years’ time on this year’s programme will lead to the same result – another glorious failure.

Andy Sellers

Stockport

• Owen Jones may be just a bit premature in identifying Jeremy Corbyn as the saviour of Labour. There was a swing from Labour to Tory in more than 100 English and Welsh seats in the last general election. Scarcely an indicator of overall success in a year when Labour did unexpectedly well. Then there is the fact that Labour did not win the election despite being faced by the worst government record in office in living memory coupled with the most incompetent election campaign by a ruling party ever – it even moved my Tory MP to write to the local paper apologising for its sheer ineptitude. Then again, there is the outstanding question of what will happen when the pro-remain newcomers to the Labour cause realise that their man is wedded to leaving the EU at least as firmly as Theresa May. It might also help to not compound political myths about Labour’s “terrible defeat” in 2015. There was a swing to Labour then, obscured by the wipe-out in Scotland and the Lib Dem collapse to the Tories, but a swing nonetheless.

Messiahs don’t come easy on the left and, despite his clear skill at campaigning, it is far too early to start crowning Corbyn as the new Tony Blair. Corbynism may be a step back to office for Labour, but as yet it’s an unproven recipe for success.

Roy Boffy

Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands

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