Whilst many Corbynistas want a purge of the Blairites and Brownites, Corbyn does not want such a split, even if some of his left allies do. He has been a loyal Labour MP for 30 years, staying within it through thick and thin, through the Iraq War to which he was opposed and after the majority of Labour MPS abstained on the Welfare Bill. He still faces the enmity of the party machine, peopled with Blairites , and the majority of Labour MPS, wedded to Blairite and Brownite ideas. The party machine was designed by Blair to control the Party, to decide lists of electoral candidates, both in local and national government and to stifle any opposition. A sign of his reluctance to bring about a split can be seen in his intention to include members of the Labour right in his shadow cabinet.

During the last Coalition government the union leaders did nothing to combat austerity, waiting for over a year before they even called an A-B demonstration. As a result hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost and billions of pounds of cuts were carried out. In this situation we saw the rise of the People’s Assembly (PA), backed by the Stalinists of the Communist Party and the Morning Star, by the Trotskyist outfit Counterfire, the Green Party, and the Labour Left. They were supported by leaders of Unite. The PA was intended to be a left cover for the union leaders sabotage and calling-off of every significant strike that could have challenged the Coalition. The PA leadership overwhelmingly supports Labour, although until recently it felt constrained to do so openly because of how discredited Labour was.

Now it can, and so can other left formations designed to attempt to replicate “old” Labour like Left Unity, which is supported by ex-members of the Labour left, and by many Trotskyists. From the Communist Party to the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, practically every leftist gang is now rooting for Corbyn. Where once some of them had plans to create a new Party similar to old Labour and hostile to the present Labour Party, now they are hypnotised by the seeming success of Labour. As a result their own formations may be passed by and indeed destroyed as thousands flood back into Labour. Why would working class people have any credibility in those who one minute say that Labour is a party of big business and the market and in a blinking of an eye decide that the election of a new Labour leader offers new hope???

We must as anarchists argue the case that the new grassroots groups and organisations emerging around housing and opposition to austerity must maintain that grassroots outlook and horizontal organisation and not be distracted by the Corbyn circus and its left cheerleaders.