20 The Sunday Times October 1, 2017 COMMENT Dominic Lawson New and nice? Not these ESTABLISHED 1822 old and angry Marxists Grit, not frit, should be Mrs May’s watchword The young idealists joining Labour must learn about their militant comrades heresa May described the vote The first task of this week’s conference, eremy Corbyn wants the whole in anticipation of a flight of capital “when” on the backs of the workers. “Free market” will she called in June as “the most then, is that it does unite. The omens are country to be “infected” by the “unity, Labour wins the next general election. do on its own, as people like both freedom important election this country not good. Two weeks ago we praised Boris love and affection” that, he told his That would be the fastest way to convince and markets. has faced in my lifetime”. She Johnson for offering an optimistic vision ecstatic party members in Brighton investors that the UK would be as attractive a But if we must get involved with the must hope she got that wrong of Britain’s post-Brexit future. His latest last week, was what they were place for their money as Cuba or Venezuela. language of Marx, it is worth informing the demonstrating. Rather different sorts But that, too, is hardly surprising, since Corbyn younger admirers of Corbyn — assuming they too. For the prime minister is intervention, setting out his “red lines” of demonstration lie in wait for the and McDonnell have long regarded those two are interested — of the historical baggage that now diminished in authority for the EU negotiations, parked his tanks Conservatives as they assemble for nations (under the late Fidel Castro and Hugo comes with Marxism. It’s not just the matter of and leading a minority govern- on Mrs May’s lawn. The task of the govern- Jtheir conference in Manchester. Chavez) as models of socialist excellence, in the countless millions slaughtered in the name Tment. A hard-left opposition is looking ment, and its chief negotiator David Davis, The police are preparing for trouble, contrast to the shameful capitalist excesses of that doctrine by followers in the 20th forward to feasting on the carcass of the is to get into the meat of the negotiations. estimating that 50,000 people will be practised by their wicked neighbour, the US. century. It is the hatred at its heart, expressed Conservative Party. Noises off do not help. If this week’s con- descending on that great city with the aim of There is nothing wrong in the Labour top by the man himself in the 19th century. making it as uncomfortable as possible for the two having such views and promulgating them. Specifically, the hard-left anti-semitism that In Brighton last week Labour achieved ference looks like the first hustings in a delegates. A Conservative “gin-tasting evening” It’s the duty of politicians to preach what they now disfigures the Labour Party — emanations something once regarded as impossible. leadership contest, then the challengers has already been called off because the believe in and to attempt to persuade the of which on social media have been denounced The face it presented to the world was one should put up or shut up quickly. A war of organisers felt they couldn’t guarantee the public, via the ballot box, to endorse their by the Labour Party chairman John Cryer as of unity, even if this was achieved by attrition will play into Labour’s hands. safety of guests. opinions. Corbyn and McDonnell are also “redolent of the 1930s” — is all of a piece with sweeping the divisive issue of Brexit That is not just down to ministers, MPs If things do get a bit tasty, it won’t just be the right to sense a weakness of intellectual nerve the “anti-capitalist” agenda. It was from the mob who’ll feel exhilarated by the intimidation in their centre-right opponents: it is 10 years very beginning. under the carpet. That such unity was and party members. A year ago Mrs May of the “evil Tories”. I’m thinking of John since the credit crunch, but the political In Marx’s 1844 essay On the Jewish Question achieved under Jeremy Corbyn — initially read the mood of the conference exactly McDonnell, Labour’s shadow chancellor, a shockwaves from that massive market seizure he wrote: “What is the worldly religion of the seen as hopelessly unsuited for the leader- right. The country and the party had man who regards physical violence as an ripple as powerfully as ever through the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly god? ship by Labour moderates and most of its voted for Brexit and she, despite having essential element of the class struggle. During democracies of the western world. Money . Money is the jealous god of Israel . MPs — was even more remarkable. supported the “remain” side, was going to the Conservative and Liberal Democrat At the Bank of England last week, Theresa The bill of exchange is the real god of the Jew.” Labour could unite behind Mr deliver it efficiently. For six months all coalition, he described those trashing public May, provoked by Corbyn’s claim to be “now And 12 years later, in an article called “The property in protest against its policies as “the the political mainstream”, declared her desire Russian loan” for the New York Daily Tribune, Corbyn’s machinegun attack on the Tories went according to plan, with her Lan- best of our movement”. He praised students to defend the free-market economy against its Marx declared: “The real work is done by the — “the longest fall in people’s pay since caster House speech in January and over- who resorted to this form of violence for socialist enemies. But she did so with such a Jews, and can only be done by them, as they records began; homelessness doubled; coming legal challenges to meet her self- “kicking the shit out of” the Tory party lack of passion — reading somewhat haltingly monopolise the machinery of the loan- NHS waiting lists lengthening; school imposed deadline for invoking article 50 headquarters and insisted that an from a script — that it would not have mongering mysteries . Thus do these loans, class sizes growing and teachers leaving; in March. Now there is drift. undergraduate who hurled a fire extinguisher convinced anyone whose opinion was open to which are a curse to the people, a ruin to the over 4m children now in poverty; Mrs May’s Florence speech last month from a roof — a potentially lethal act — was change. Indeed, given that her manifesto in holders and a danger to the governments, “not the criminal”, but “victimised”. June had nothing good to say about what May become a blessing to the houses of the 20,000 police officers and 11,000 fire- was conciliatory but also hinted at a loss of None of this should be a surprise from a man now extols as “free-market capitalism”, I even children of Judah.” fighters cut; more people in work and in faith in her original aims. One thing the who lists as his hobby in Who’s Who fomenting wondered if she herself, who has never worked The “newer, nicer” Labour took a swipe poverty than ever before”. He also offered Tories do not want to see is a prime minis- “the overthrow of capitalism” and cites not just in a profit-making business, was convinced by at another stereotypical Marxist foe, the his followers hope. ter pushed around by Brussels. She needs Marx but also Lenin and Trotsky — for whom what she was reading out. aristocracy, last week. The MP for Kensington, While Labour’s economic programme to regain her earlier confidence and make the slaughter of unrepentant bourgeoisie was I would also advise her speechwriters — and Emma Dent Coad, launched an attack on the not a hobby but a vocation — as his inspiration. all who want to win the battle of ideas against Duchess of Cambridge for her “disgusting” would set this country back for decades, clear that this is the time for give and take Equally unsurprisingly, many of those socialism — to stop defending “capitalism”. The behaviour in buying jumpers that cost — many of its supporters are too young to on the other side, too. associated with the Militant tendency — the word itself is derived from Marx’s Das Kapital allegedly — £150 each. Dent Coad told her remember the damage inflicted by the More than that, Mrs May needs to give far-left group excised from the Labour Party and conjures up images of men in pinstriped audience in Brighton that this was “absolutely party’s past disasters. Labour presents an the Conservatives something to lift their more than a generation ago — have now suits smoking fat cigars and resting their feet outrageous”, because each jumper cost the alternative to the never-ending “auster- spirits. The current narrative is that after returned. But they make odd brothers-in-arms equivalent of “a food bill for a family of four”. ity” bequeathed by George Osborne’s this year’s failed election gamble, one for the young men and women with no record There are many, many members of the of political activism who have flocked to the Labour Party whose motivation is only to snail-like pace of deficit reduction to his more heave will see Mr Corbyn in No 10. party because they believe Jeremy Corbyn improve the lot of the least favoured. But there successor. While the former chancellor Mrs May has to pledge to challenge represents a “new, nicer politics”.