Your Party has a problem with left-wing bigots

Your Party has faced widespread criticism from its members for its dither and delay in the run up to the local elections on May 7. Meanwhile, Reform UK and the Green Party are set to make huge gains. This intense battle between the left and right comes as British voters increasingly abandon traditional establishment parties.

However, voters may find themselves confused about what they’re actually voting for if a Your Party candidate appears on the ballot. Your Party was originally billed to be a socialist party which champions socialist values. In light of that promise, members are rightfully concerned about the trend of endorsements for deselected Tories. They also worry that Corbyn is focusing on socially conservative groups while ignoring socialist grassroots organisations.

As a result, many are finding themselves feeling mis-sold and abandoned with little transparency on offer from the Your Party executive.

Your Party takes worrying direction

Furthermore, anger is growing as those given the seal of approval increasingly display bigoted views. Unsurprisingly, these endorsements have delivered a painful blow to the party’s progressive membership.

Over Easter weekend, Corbyn’s team clarified that he had not endorsed three deselected Tory candidates:

 a leaflet emerged featuring three ex-Tory councillors who claimed to be “endorsed” by Jeremy Corbyn. Since then, Your Party and Corbyn have denied endorsing these men. Instead, the situation seems to be that they recently joined the Walsall Community Independents group which Corbyn has voiced support for.

However, a Corbyn appeared on a leaflet with the three candidates in question. And, as the Canary’s Willem Moore reported:

When Your Party got going, it included Jeremy Corbyn and his Independent Alliance. Corbyn and the other independent MPs did good work opposing the government’s support of Israel’s genocide. At the same time, there were some pretty big gaps between the politics of some of these men and the YP membership.

The two big issues that came up were:

Transphobia and landlordism were big reasons why left-leaning voters abandoned Labour. As such, the presence of these issues in Your Party served to turn away potential members.

Advertisement

Following the backlash, people who criticised the independent MPs were accused of being intolerant or racist.

This lack of clarity over the party’s values emboldens bigoted views. Most concerningly, that bigotry is particularly apparent in some of those who claim full allegiance to Jeremy Corbyn. A growing number of so-called ‘socially conservative’ groups have garnered Corbyn’s attention. But let’s be clear. These views – transphobia, racism, sexism – are not merely ‘socially conservative’; they are bigoted.

Socialism further out of reach

As a result, socialism seems to be being pushed further out of reach for its grassroots activists.

With patriarchal tones, condescending put downs, and offensive trolling on social media, it is hard to see much ‘change’ in what this party actually has to offer under Jeremy Corbyn. This is only reinforced by his ongoing silence in defending these targeted groups.

Secondly, it’s not difficult to imagine where these socially conservative influences and values originate. In an apparent effort to consolidate power in Parliament, Corbyn brought together an alliance of independent MPs. While they initially united over their stance on the war in Gaza, they have since turned into a dominant clique within the party.

As this post highlights, they are not socialist:

One account on X powerfully pointed out why this direction of travel is so confronting to socialist members:

Socialist Muslim members in the party were so enraged by this dominance of conservative values, forming their own group entirely.

Important to note, though, is the fact that Corbyn appears to have shown no interest in this group:

Co-founder of Connections Anwarul Khan has been a formidable voice in challenging the decisions taken by leadership.

Questioning due diligence processes, Khan posted on X:

This lack of principled intervention from leadership has undoubtedly opened the door to bigoted, transphobic attacks.

The Many: Superiority, not solidarity

The bigotry doesn’t stop at transphobia. Racism appears to be taking root, also.

“A vocal minority of supporters of The Many” deployed racist tropes towards opposing Grassroots Left candidates, which led to a call for a unifying condemnation of hateful behaviour which can only intimidate and silence underrepresented members.

A call that Corbyn and The Many are yet to respond to:

The statement calls on The Many candidates to condemn perpetrators of racism and harassment in an effort to counter the “toxic atmosphere” they are creating.

This reality then begs the question: why is Jeremy Corbyn repeatedly allying himself with left-wing bigots under the guise of ‘social conservatism’?

A leader of a socialist party must act with conviction, not capitulation

Socialists have had enough of capitulating to harmful views. British society has long operated within a racist, sexist, and transphobic structure.

Time and again, this structure has created the conditions for bigotry to thrive. It isolates and marginalises vulnerable groups while fostering a toxic culture that diminishes those seen as “different.” To challenge this, we must dismantle that system and build one rooted in genuine solidarity. That can only begin by rejecting values which attack already marginalised communities.

Members joined Your Party on the promise of a socialist, grassroots movement. Yet top-down, opaque practices have repeatedly undermined that promise, ignoring the many socialist groups eager to contribute.

This raises a question we can no longer ignore: can Corbyn truly deliver socialism, or does he doubt it’s even possible?

After all, a meaningful transition to a socialist society can only begin with a leader who truly believes it can be achieved.

Featured image via the Canary