Jeremy Corbyn should prepare the Labour Party for a fierce battle with the neoliberal regime

globinfo freexchange

Jeremy Corbyn's speech at the end of the recent Labor Party conference was on the right direction. Corbyn mentioned all the necessary steps that need to be taken so that one of the motherlands of ruthless neoliberalism change course, away from the destructive policies dictated by the neoliberal doctrine.

Leo Panitch, scholar and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at York University spoke to Sharmini Peries and The Real News, pointing that Corbyn's speech was "full of confidence":

           It was a great speech. full of confidence. When he was first surprisingly elected leader just over two years ago, he wasn't used to being in the limelight in that way, and his speech was often halting. But he's a conviction politician and now that he has the wind behind him and he has strong evidence that his message is in fact shifting the ground of British politics, he is full of confidence. It was a brilliant speech. He made a number of speeches like that, which were televised, at the beginning of the election campaign and that had an electrifying effect on the campaign.

           He only mentioned in passing what had been stressed earlier in the week by other shadow ministers. But the most important of which is a public investment bank, a national one, supplemented by regional investment banks where the public sector, the government, would take the lead in investment. Addressing the fact that everywhere since the 2008 crisis, there's been a recovery of profits but not a recovery of investment. He says that a Labor government will take the lead in that. He also says that they will re-nationalize some key industries: railway, water. energy. Moreover, that many public services that were expanded through the public sector, through what is known as Private Finance Initiatives, the equivalent of PPPs in North America, will be clawed back. They've been inefficiently developed. This is hospitals, this is the NHS, this is schools, etc.

Yet, Panitch warned:

           That's the centerpiece of it, it's not socialism. Those of us who wish Corbyn the best should not put ourselves in the position of imagining it's going to be easy. The reaction, even though it's not socialism, from the Confederation of British Industry, from the City, from the banks, have already been, "Oh my god. This is going to undermine private enterprise," It's far from that, but they will face enormous opposition. We shouldn't put the kind of emphasis on what they can immediately achieve that would lead us to then be disappointed in a way we were when SYRIZA was elected in Greece. We need to realize their limitations, and when he says, "We're ready", you just had him quoted as saying, "We're ready for government", they're not ready. Who could be ready to take on the kind of powers that be? They haven't built yet, although they, as he said, massively shifted the center ground of British politics. That was the most important element of his speech. He isn't yet ready. They haven't built the base in the labor party, branches in the trade unions, to win the kind of support from people when, if I can use the expression,” the crap will hit the fan,” when all of the opposition to even these relatively moderate attempts to increase the state's public sector role in the economy, will be opposed by both foreign and domestic capital.

Indeed, Corbyn should take a lesson of what happened in Greece with Tsipras and SYRIZA. They went with good will to the negotiations with Greece's creditors and suffered a heavy defeat. Greece paid a huge price as became a debt colony in the hands of the corporate neo-colonialists.

For four decades, the neoliberal regime has taken over governments, institutions, minds. It is a powerful establishment that seeks to drive Europe into the new Feudalism. To overthrow such a powerful regime one needs a good strategy and determination.

Angela Merkel is now the main carrier of the neoliberal mission in Europe. Although she lost significant power in the latest elections, she has the opportunity to build the necessary coalitions in order to finish the job in her last term in power.

Corbyn should take advantage of Brexit to drive the UK to the opposite direction. While the Brussels-Berlin axis will seek to implement all the conditions of the Greek experiment inside the EU, the Labour party under Corbyn could become an example against this dark future. While Tsipras suffered a heavy defeat as went unprepared in the battle with the ruthless neoliberal priesthood, Corbyn should go to the battle with the neoliberal regime after a good preparation and a well-constructed plan.

This means that the Labour Party should build strong alliances inside the UK, especially with workers' unions and small-medium businesses. The Party should start a well-organized campaign across the country to make all the workers unite against the neoliberal agenda of the Tories. Corbyn should speak to the small-medium business owners to make them realize that the neoliberal model is their enemy as it only benefits the big multinational monsters against the small-medium sector.

However, one of the first and most important moves that Corbyn should do after his election is to nationalize central bank. The global financial mafia inside and outside the UK will find very difficult to fight any government that fully controls the central bank, and therefore, the money supply and circulation. A public investment bank that would lead public investments, as Corbyn mentioned, is very important, but not enough.

Of course, you never announce openly that you are planning to make such a crucial move because the criminal financial syndicate will finish you before you even start. In any case, Jeremy Corbyn should prepare the Labour Party for a fierce battle with the neoliberal regime.

Read also:

What Jeremy Corbyn should do to bring serious damage to the neoliberal regime