Tom Whyman is a contributing writer at the Outline. His book on hope is forthcoming from Repeater Books.
The German Ideology marked an essential turning point in Marx and Engels’s intellectual development. A major achievement in the tradition of idealist philosophy, it allowed them to get beyond philosophical systems and engage with the world to transform it.
There’s a void at the heart of English identity, with its reliance on empty clichés and old dreams of empire. But decentralizing power to the regions points to an alternative — replacing narrow nationalism with an inclusive community pride.
While Boris Johnson’s Conservatives rely on a narrative that nothing could possibly get better, the transformative project of Corbynism rebuffs this cynicism — and isn’t afraid to speak in terms of hope.