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Jeremy Bernard Corbyn | |
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| Born | 26 May 1949 (aged 74) Chippenham, Wiltshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Political orientation | Social Democracy |
| Political party | Labour (1965-2022) |
Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2015 to 2020. Corbyn's views made him the target of sabotage by the neoliberals of the Labour Party, leading to him losing the 2019 general election to incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Corbyn is a social democrat, though has more Marxist-leaning views than is typical of a social democrat.[1] Corbyn campaigned against the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and typically supports a non-interventionist foreign policy.
Early Life
Corbyn was born on 26 May 1949 in Chippenham, Wiltshire, the youngest of four brothers. The second youngest brother, Piers Corbyn, would go on to be a climate change denying conspiracy theorist and affiliate himself with Trotskyist organisation, International Marxist Group (IMG).[2]
Political career
Member of Parliament
In 1983 Corbyn became Labour MP for Islington North, a seat which he has held ever since for the last forty years.[3]
In 1983 Corbyn defended the Trotskyist group Militant Tendency against Labour leader Neil Kinnock's efforts to expel them from the party. Then in 1988 he called for the Soviet Union to rehabilitate traitors to the revolution, Leon Trotsky and his son Leon Sedov.[4] In 1989 Corbyn supported the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe collaborating with Trotskyists hoping to install their own regime in the power vacuum.[5]
In parliament he served on the Social Security Committee (1992-2007), the London Regional Select Committee (2009-2010) and the Justice Committee (2011-2015).[3]
Leader of the Labour Party
Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour Party in 2015 where he contested a leadership challenge and two general elections. Corbyn's social democratic leadership is considered to be one of the most left wing periods of leadership the Labour Party has ever had, a distinction most likely drawn from the right wing period of Blair. Corbyn's lukewarm polices, which lead to his huge popularity among the youth, were seen as a threat to the Bourgeois who engaged on a relentless campaign to destroy his reputation.[6]
Corbyn's time as leader of the opposition was marred by constant accusations of antisemitism for Corbyn's unrepentant support of Palestine. The British establishment along with many in Corbyn's own party deemed that Anti-Zionism was antisemitic so used this as a weapon to bludgeon Corbyn with.[6] This smear campaign based on lies along with his position on Brexit were the main contributing factors for Corbyn's downfall as by the time the 2019 general election came, his reputation was in tatters, and the sitting Conservative Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, won in a landslide. Following the election, Corbyn was forced to resign as party leader, and in 2020 he was succeeded by Keir Starmer, who continued with the anti-Corbyn campaign.[1]
Independent
On 29 October 2020, Jeremy Corbyn was suspended from membership of the Labour party and had the whip withdrawn from him after being accused of allowing antisemitism in the party. Corbyn responded that the claims of antisemitism were overblown for political reasons and in response Starmer accused Corbyn of being a denier of antisemitism.[7] Since his removal Corbyn has sat in the house of commons as an independent.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 “There is nothing in Corbyn’s political and economic propositions, nothing in his foreign and internal policy stance, that could be described as truly socialistic, in the Marxist understanding of that term. Corbyn is not a Marxist.”
The Rise and Fall of Project Corbyn (2020). [PDF] CPGB-ML. ISBN 978-1-913286-01-9 - ↑ Tim Adams (2016-01-24). "Piers Corbyn: the other rebel in the family" The Guardian.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Jeremy Corbyn (2023). "About me" Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ↑ Kenneth D. Ackerman (2016-08-23). "Is UK's Jeremy Corbyn a Trotskyist? Seriously" Huffpost.
- ↑ James Ivens (2018-02-18). "Corbyn didn’t collaborate with Stalinism – but with Trotskyists against it" Socialist Party.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jonathan Cook (2019-04-05). "Antisemitism is cover for a much deeper divide in Britain’s Labour party" Proletarian. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
- ↑ Harpal Brar (2020-11-11). "Jeremy Corbyn suspended from the Labour party" Proletarian. Retrieved 2023-12-05.