The British Left has to forgive to win

The only hearts and minds still to win for socialism will be of people who were not socialists at the time and so did not support Corbyn. So, to convince new people means accepting those who didn’t support Corbyn.

For there to be growth in the movement there has to be forgiveness and an embracing of those who discover socialism whenever that is, understanding that we all start from different places at different times - welcoming people as comrades, better late than never.

Skip this text if you like, it’s not needed to make the general point but it may help people remember that there are all sorts of reasons people may arrive at socialism later than you did. I also didn’t want to avoid the issue so, if you wondering, yes this applies to me (Rosa, Not Ellis - he’s been an anarchist for longer than I’ve been alive)

As for how my mind could change so much that despite not supporting Corbyn when he was leader of Labour I’m now far further left than Corbyn. It’s a bit of a long story and my hands aren’t great but so I may not explain well.

It’s all due to how ill I used to be and how ill I still am. And how that relates to the time I have to invest in politics. I had a treatment for the depression that atop my disability used to dominate my life entirely, I was so unwell I had no capacity for politics. (I say this as someone who still lives with depression and finds salvation in the pursuit of just politics, you’re just going to have to trust me, it’s possible to be far too depressed and fucked up for politics.) Once I had this treatment I could think clearer and engage in things further beyond my immediate struggle to tolerate life.

Crucially though, my life still fucking sucked, In many ways, it still does and this made me obsess about politics as only doing something as important as trying to change the world was enough to keep me here. (I have lived in chronic intractable pain for over a decade now and I will be in pain every second until I die) I dedicated all of my time in my isolated life, no co-workers, no friends, to learning as much as I could.

I became very informed about brexit but not enough else to see that Corbyn was indeed right. (wouold like to expand on this) I have continued to give everything I’ve got towards political change and that means I’ve condensed a lot of political learning in this short period of time resulting in this pretty rapid development of my political analysis that has lead me to this point working with Ellis, for Revolution.

The question is can you embrace me as a comrade, as Ellis has, and forgive me for not seeing that Corbyn was right when it counted?

Bear in mind that it’s not just shit for me if you’re answer is no, it also means the movement will never grow again. I really want the left in the U.K. to think about this.