James A. Smith is the author of Other People’s Politics: Populism to Corbynism and Work Want Work: Labour and Desire at the End of Capitalism (with Mareile Pfannebecker). He is cohost of The Popular Show podcast.
In the best moments of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, the Labour left captured an insurgent, democratizing spirit. Yet two years after the Left’s defeat, the top-down approach that led to the fatal “second referendum” policy continues to hamper its recovery.
Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders transformed their respective countries’ policy agendas. That’s exactly why they can’t step aside for other candidates.