I was sit in a police station after having been arrested during a protest, and also sat within earshot was a friend of mine who had also been arrested on the same protest.

Next to my friend was a copper who had just finished searching him. The copper was trying to engage my friend in conversation, a common tactic to loosen you up and get you to talk (remember, a copper is never your mate and never on your side). What did strike me was something the copper said, something I actually one hundred percent agree with. The copper turned to my mate and said, in a false but friendly tone, “all of these protests that you are all having will stop once the Labour Party gets into power, just you watch.” I sat there thinking “actually, you are on the money there.” I find it hard to say but for once, a copper was right.

What the copper meant was that should the Labour Party get back into Number 10, people will drop their guard and not say a peep to the Labour Party. Why would this be? Well because for one a lot of these protests against the government are organised by the ‘mainstream’ unions, and the bureaucracy of these unions (and sadly sections of their membership) are up the Labour Party’s arse! “Ooo the Labour Party are on our side” is often the mantra. All confrontational attitudes towards the state will be dropped, as will all agitation against austerity, community issues, workplace issues, and other bread and butter areas of activism. This will be dropped for a) to raise and run a campaign in order to get the Labour Party elected (thus neglecting grassroots campaigns), and b) because continuing agitation around the aforementioned areas of activism will inevitably run into confrontation with the Labour Party. It will run into confrontation not just on a local level (where Labour Party apologists and sycophants can blame rogue and unprincipled councillors, rather than the fundamental nature of the Labour Party itself), but on a central level. This will also mean further revealing the true nature of the Labour Party, something which the social democrats will fight tooth and nail to prevent from happening. Uncomfortable questions and conditions will arise for Labour Party members, supporters, and apologists alike.

I can already see this happening. Ever since Jeremy Corbyn entered the equation, I have seen far too many grassroots activists drop very decent, and increasingly effective, campaigns around bread and butter issues. These campaigns have been left dead and have gone to wrack and ruin, or have disappeared entirely. This is because most of those who ran these campaigns have jumped onto this new trendy and sexy fad, Jeremy Corbyn. Those issues no longer matter, it is all about “Jeremy” now (give it a rest, as if you know him personally). For a while a lot of these campaigns were combative and presenting a challenge to the status quo on a local level. Now there is no such challenge, and the state on a national and local level are free to carry out their attacks unhindered in any way, the Labour Party included.

Now there is nothing, and the copper was right, sadly.