There is no 'Cult of Corbyn' -- This is a Movement Preparing for Power
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A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1492 .... October 4, 2017
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There is no 'Cult of Corbyn' -- This is a Movement Preparing for Power
Hilary Wainwright
Everyone sensed the new energy at Labour Party conference this year. More cynical pundits referred to it as "giddy with optimism" (the Guardian’s editorial), or "support bordering on hysteria" (Simon Jenkins), conveying the idea of something irrational. Others referred to it as Corbyn’s "evangelical church" (Philip Collins) or even ‘the cult of Corbyn’ (the Times, Spectator and Observer all used this phrase).
The reality of the conference was something not seen in the UK for a long time: thousands of determined and self-confident members of a Labour Party that boldly stands for what they believe in. Their self-confidence stemmed not from some kind of Corbyn cult, but from... the fact that they could now stand on the doorstep, or talk to their friends and family, arguing honestly and hence persuasively about why they should support a Labour government.
This self-confidence, with the political and personal energy released by working to support a party you believe in, was my experience of both the Labour conference itself and The World Transformed fringe festival (and the two cross-fertilised creatively). It was combined with the steely determination to win that is evident in, for example, the massive support for the constituency-by-constituency Unseat a Tory campaigns initiated by Owen Jones, and attendance at panels such as "How to win a marginal" being as high as for "Acid Corbynism."
