Sanders and Corbyn: The 21st Century International

It would be easy to dismiss the octogenarian, Bernie Sanders, and septuagenarian, Jeremy Corbyn, as yesterday’s men. Yet the report by our Benny Avni on the renewal of affections between the Socialist senator of Vermont and ex-leader of Labor in the British parliament certainly got our attention. Mr. Corbyn was at Washington to hawk for a new leftist organization, Progressive International, and the two leftists met.Mr. Corbyn calls his group “a coming together of progressive forces around the world.” Yet it’s not hard to guess where it’s going. Mr. Corbyn, who led Labor to electoral defeat and let antisemitism bloom in Labor’s ranks, explained that he and Mr. Sanders discussed “industrial issues and class politics,” with the Vermonter adding that he looks “forward to working together to build international solidarity toward a future that works for all people.”Progressive International’s signature initiative is a hard left program for the 21st century, called the Belmarsh Tribunal, which claims to be “inspired by the Russell-Sartre Tribunals of the Vietnam War.” The philosophers Bertrand Russell, a Nobel Prize winner, and Jean-Paul Sartre, the existentialist impresario, who refused a Nobel, organized the tribunal, which was largely financed by the North Vietnamese. It convicted America of “acts of aggression.” The meeting of Mr. Corbyn’s tribunal, which was also the occasion of his visit to America, purports to defend the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who has been indicted under the Espionage Act. Belmarsh is the name of the prison where Mr. Assange is being held, pending extradition. Progressive International lauds him for having “exposed crimes by the United States government.” The Belmarsh Tribunal is but a taste of what would be on the agenda should Messrs. Corbyn and Sanders, or their acolytes, come to power. The Vermonter has not disavowed a third presidential run and likely is hankering for a chance against the aged Mr. Biden. We imagine he is following the scandal over classified — and Corvette-adjacent — documents with not a little interest. If Mr. Biden does not run, Mr. Sanders is all too eager to do so.Meanwhile, in England, Labor is enjoying strong polling numbers, aided by Prime Minister Johnson’s ill-advised decision to let Partygate sink his premiership as well as the brief and the resignation of the ill-starred prime minister, Liz Truss. So far Labor’s leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has struck a distinctly unCorbynite course (he was at Davos, after all, hobnobbing with gazillionaires). It is not hard to imagine a revanchist left. Our sympathies are with the Tories, especially the ones whose commitment to Brexit has not wavered, but we recognize that Labor could do worse than Mr. Starmer, who admitted that he’d rather catch an Arsenal match with Piers Morgan than Mr. Corbyn. Well played. He also is on record that Mr. Corbyn will not be welcome on Labor’s ticket when he runs for reelection. The deposed Labor leader does retain grassroots support.The dangers posed by the Corbyn-Sanders faction surface most clearly not in the guises of the Old and New Lefts, but in the TikTok progressivism of Gen Z. Fivethirtyeight.com notes the consensus of the Gen Z cohort that “abortion should always be legal” and that “racism and racial inequality are big problems” in America. They go Democratic, overwhelmingly, and itch to deliver the kind of revolution of which their elders could only dream.

Sanders and Corbyn: The 21st Century International

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