Morning Star editor BEN CHACKO says assessing a Labour leader whose mission was to smash the left must involve addressing the delusions that fuelled his rise
THE results of the European and local elections have been presented by the media as an unquestioning triumph for Ukip and the right.
Throughout Saturday all the media were leading with the allegedly huge Ukip gains in the council elections — completely ignoring that Labour had already won 2,000 council seats in total.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that in the European elections — albeit on a 34 per cent turnout — Ukip managed 4.3 million votes to Labour’s 4 million, with the Conservatives being down to 3.7 million.
The sheer number present on the day, estimated at half a million, points to organisational acumen and bodes well for developing the movement, says DIANE ABBOTT
On the 121st anniversary of communist Claudia Jones’s birth ROGER McKENZIE looks at political events that shaped her, and those she helped shape
BEN CHACKO says in different ways, the centenary of the General Strike and that of Fidel Castro’s birth point to priority tasks for the British left in the coming year
CLAUDIA WEBBE argues that Labour gains nothing from its adoption of right-wing stances on immigration, and seems instead to be deliberately paving the way for the far right to become an established force in British politics, as it has already in Europe


