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  • Britain's leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn

    Britain's leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 December 2015
Opinion
Wednesday's Syria vote should serve as a sobering reminder that Jeremy Corbyn is one man in a party of war and imperialism, in a nation built on war and imperialism.

Well before Wednesday's parliamentary vote on whether to bomb Syria, Corbyn had already delivered a major capitulation to the warmongers in Monday's shadow cabinet meeting.

“He had no choice,” one shadow cabinet minister was quoted by The Guardian newspaper as saying shortly after Jeremy Corbyn suffered his first major foreign policy setback as Labour leader.

OPINION: The Meaning of Corbynism

Since news broke that Corbyn would allow Labour MPs a free vote on whether to back Syrian airstrikes, it has appeared inevitable that Labour will once again assume its historic pro-interventionist mantle and back yet another war. While it's likely—but not certain—Prime Minister David Cameron can ram his war agenda through parliament during Wednesday's vote, it is clear that many Labour MPs are bound to vote against the interests of the majority of ordinary party members.

Indeed, shortly before Corbyn entered Monday's shadow cabinet meeting, a survey found that 75 percent of rank and file Labour members opposed airstrikes. This latest poll added to the already established fact that most British voters are sick of war. Fifty nine percent of voters believe British involvement in Syria's civil war will do nothing but exacerbate the risk of terrorism at home, according to a Daily Mirror/Survation poll. It is therefore simply indisputable that a vote by Labour MPs for airstrikes in Syria, led by hawks such as shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn, is not only against the interests of most ordinary Labour voters but also of the country in general.

Yet this shouldn't raise any eyebrows, as Labour has always been a party of war. This was true even before the Blairite New Labour capitulated the last remnants of independent British foreign policy in favor of simple deferral to Washington. While the U.K. hasn't always been an auxiliary appendage of U.S. imperialism, the heart of Labour has always been empire.

Even the Keynesian Attlee administration that led the U.K. in the aftermath of World War II reflected this tradition. This is despite the fact Prime Minister Clement Attlee is best remembered for building the welfare state at home, and dismantling much of the British Empire abroad, including granting independence to India. However, in much of Africa and Asia, Attlee's Britain remained an imperial force. For evidence of this, look no further than modern day Malaysia, where Attlee waged a decade-long war against independence fighters that left thousands dead. The Attlee administration was also a staunch supporter of nuclear armament and the Cold War, and led the U.K. into the Korean War. Further, Attlee's Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin is today recognized as one of the key architects of NATO, which is today arguably the world's most destabilizing force.

Nonetheless, the Attlee era is often viewed by many as a high point for the social-democratic left in the U.K., and something for modern leaders to aspire to. Corbyn's centrist predecessor Ed Miliband said his vision of the party was inspired by Attlee, while critics often compare Corbyn himself to the historic Labour leader.

Of course, this doesn't mean Corbyn's Labour is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past—it isn't.

Corbyn should be commended for his own long history of peace advocacy and anti-war activism, along with his personal, principled view on Syria. Yet Monday's shadow cabinet vote served as a timely reminder that Corbyn is one man in a party that has generally supported war and imperialism, in a state built on war and imperialism. The fact that Corbyn's very own shadow cabinet includes hawks such as Benn, who has voted in favor of aggression for well over a decade and was among those who supported Britain’s onslaught in Iraq, is a wake-up call. And while Corbyn is easily the best chance in decades for a pushback against Labour's warmongering from within the party, Benn and his ilk will fight tooth and nail to ensure the party remains an instrument of perpetual war, leaving it up to ordinary progressives and Corbyn’s grassroots support to fight back.

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