Corbyn and Sultana have a half-formed party with huge potential. Don't write them off yet | Andy Beckett

"This is a conservative country, you probably believe, in its underlying political assumptions, electoral system and media biases. Any party that doesn't fit these is put under intolerable pressure. It always splinters, shrinks and collapses, sooner or later. If even the Labour party, in which radical leftwingers are only ever a minority, is still fundamentally unacceptable to many voters and powerful interests as the right's constant outrage at Keir Starmer's occasionally egalitarian government demonstrates then"

"A string of socialist parties have been formed, from Respect to Left Unity to the Socialist Labour party, their expectations sometimes sky high, but then rapidly scaled down. Factionalism, personality clashes and ideological differences often worsened by the claustrophobia of doing politics in siege conditions have further doomed these parties to frustrated termination, or the humiliation of lingering on, but on a tiny scale."

Britain's underlying political assumptions, electoral system and media biases create a hostile environment for parties outside the mainstream. Since Margaret Thatcher, socialism's legitimacy has contracted and the space for leftwing politics has narrowed. A succession of socialist parties—Respect, Left Unity, Socialist Labour—emerged with high expectations but quickly scaled down. Factionalism, personality clashes and ideological differences, intensified by the claustrophobia of politics in siege conditions, further undermined these formations, producing frustrated endings or lingering insignificance. The radical left is widely perceived as prone to self-sabotage and impotence, while the radical right has remained comparatively more electorally viable. Recent efforts led by Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn show familiar vulnerabilities.

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