Senior Labour figures and grassroots members have issued a stark warning that the party's own machinery is dangerously out of touch, undermining its ability to combat the rising threat of right-wing populism. The criticism follows a Guardian article by Chris Powell, which argued for a new local organising network to tackle populist sentiment.
A Grassroots Unit Dismantled
In a series of letters, readers highlighted that an organisation designed for the very community organising Powell advocates already existed within Labour. Under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, the party operated a Community Organising Unit, which was subsequently disbanded by Sir Keir Starmer's team. Julian Wells, a Unite community delegate in Eltham and Chislehurst, argues this move symbolises a wider problem where members are now valued merely as 'canvassing fodder'.
Wells cites a local example where a councillor faced disciplinary action for raising residents' concerns over council property sales. After the councillor resigned, the resulting byelection was lost to the Greens. He also claims local councillors are now threatened with deselection if they fail to meet door-knocking quotas, further illustrating a top-down, transactional approach.
Beyond 'Populism': A Call for Systemic Change
While agreeing that Labour must connect with voter anger, correspondent Eddie Playfair from Leytonstone contends that framing the issue as 'populism' is a mistake. He argues the core problem is a systemic failure to provide a decent quality of life, which the far right exploits. "Perhaps the most effective response to a popular programme of the right might actually be a popular programme of the left," Playfair writes, calling for policies grounded in radical equality and social justice.
Other critics point to Labour's own democratic deficits. Stephen Stone from Norwich accuses the party of eroding democracy through policies like detaining climate activists, failing to act on genocide, and proposing an end to jury trials, suggesting Labour is acting as a 'warm-up act for Reform UK'.
Losing the Social Media Battle
A further weakness identified is Labour's failure to match populists' savvy use of social media. Anthony Collard from Lincoln warns that while local parties are bogged down in internal reports, figures like Nigel Farage are dominating platforms like TikTok. He urges the leadership to recruit people skilled in antifascist campaigning and to devolve social media expertise locally to counter the stoked-up resentments peddled by the far right.
The collective message from the letters is clear: without re-engaging its grassroots, listening to the public on bread-and-butter issues, and offering a compelling, systemic alternative, Labour's institutional apparatus may remain its own biggest obstacle in the fight against populism.
