Looking at the slow, steady, virtually unnoticed outside of Scotland rise of the - genuinely indy-focussed - Alba party… and recalling the astonishing ballooning of the (real) Labour membership during the brief period of hope ignited by JCorbyn, a thought occurs:
British politics, especially the Paedominster hot-house, has traditionally been the grave-yard of small radical start-up parties. Witness George Galloway’s series of failed launches of such. And there are many others littering the waste-bins of Brit-pol, right across the spectrum.
But…
There are also times when a new party thrives. The history of the (real) Labour party itself illustrates that vividly: about a hundred years of dedicated organising and activist grassroots politics, strikes, riots, police and military repression and all, lead eventually to the mass-support party which seized majority government finally in 1945.
So, two pointers to the immediate future:
One is that current politicians in the Western - that is Anglozionist-imperialist - ‘democracies’ are politically and morally bankrupt; completely - you could even say wilfully, obstinately - unaware of our true situation; right out of ideas; and simply flogging the same irrelevant, well-past-sell-by ideas which have crashed repeatedly so strikingly in recent times.
The other is the Long Descent, which I won’t bang on about here yet again; except to say that this is to my mind the absolute master process which is ruling human society right now, and that it’s now screwed down its pressure on us so far that - well - bills are now urgently due for priority attention.
Given these two background, scene-setting realities, now could well be a time when another grass-roots movement, led this time by someone a bit less other-worldly than good old JC, can try to take off again, just as Labour almost did during JC’s attempt.
The new leadership would need to have a completely clear-eyed grasp of just how dirty, vile, and often outright violent the struggle will be; and to be beefily equal to that prolonged fight: Dai Bando and Cyfartha Lewis, rather than soft power-obedient creatures, such as Der Schtarmer.
But this seems to me to be one of those turning points in history, when new conditions peremptorily force new attitudes and policies on people who have been avoiding them hitherto; as are the Brit grassroots right now: too comfy by half; too focussed on - above all - not upsetting the nice comfy little hammock they’re lolling in currently.
But fear not, the remorselessly-continuing screwing down of the bolts, by The Limits, will be tipping lots of us right out of that shiftlessness hammock from here on in. This Winter looks likely to make that a lot clearer…
So - time to launch the building of new grassroots-radical movements then; which have an increasing chance of success now, as the ever more Interesting Times demand it?