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This Land: The Struggle for the Left
Owen Jones
3.95
1,059 ratings137 reviews
A GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR 'A whodunnit political page-turner' Melissa Benn, New Statesman 'The best political book I have read for a long while' Rod Liddle, The Spectator From the No.1 bestselling author of The Establishment, an urgent analysis of where the Left - and Britain - goes nextWe live in an age of upheaval. The global crisis of Covid-19 has laid bare the deep social and economic inequalities which were the toxic legacy of austerity. These revolutionary times are an opportunity for a radical rethink of Britain as we know it, as the politically impossible suddenly becomes imaginable. And yet, the Left's last attempt to upend the established order and transform millions of lives came to a crashing halt on 12th December 2019, when Jeremy Corbyn led the Labour party to its worst electoral defeat since 1935. In This Land, Owen Jones provides an insider's honest and unflinching appraisal of a how it promised to change everything, why it went so badly wrong, where this failure leaves its values and ideas, and where the Left goes next in the new world we find ourselves in.He takes us on a compelling, page-turning journey through a tumultuous decade in British politics, gaining unprecedented access to key figures across the political spectrum. It is a tale of high hopes and hubris, dysfunction and disillusionment. There is, Jones urges, no future for any progressive project that does not face up to and learn from its errors. We have the opportunity to build a fairer country and a more equal world, but if our time is to come, then we must learn from our past.'An absorbing, nuanced account of the making of electoral disaster' Gaby Hinsliff, Guardian
GenresPoliticsNonfictionHistoryAudiobookJournalism21st CenturyEbooks
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350 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 24, 2020
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Paul
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June 2, 2021
3.5 stars
An honest and illuminating account of the British left since 2015 and the entirely accidental election of Jeremy Corbyn as the leader of the Labour Party. Probably the most reluctant leader of any party we have had and certainly the most unprepared. Jones is a left wing journalist who is very much a part of the left of the Labour party, so he is not neutral, but his analysis is mostly spot on. There are exceptions to that and this is a contentious book.
There is a clear analysis of the inner workings of the Labour Party and the irreparable divisions within it. I had not realised how comprehensively the party organisation worked against Corbyn. Corbyn did not expect to be elected, He stood because it was felt that someone on the left ought to. He could not even get enough MPs to support him to get on the ballot paper and a few MPs who did not support him lent him their votes. He wasn’t a conventional seeker after the leadership and as the contest went on it became apparent that members liked what he was saying. He was a principled politician and his views on most subjects were well known as were the causes he espoused: he always gave direct answers. He also disliked conflict, not usually a desirable quality in a leader. He won the contest and came close in the next general election in 2017.
There is a fair amount of uncomfortable stuff about some of the main players, much of which is arguable, Jones provide good accounts and analysis of the issues surrounding Brexit and Anti-Semitism. Labour was all over the place on Brexit. Its Northern working class voters were strongly pro-Brexit. Meanwhile in the South its more middle class and younger supporters were very pro Remain. That’s a crude generalisation, but there’s an element of truth there. Then there’s Corbyn who comes from the part of the left which has always opposed the EU. He voted to leave the EU in 1975 and has consistently voted against giving more power to the EU ever since. Corbyn was passionate about international affairs, poverty, housing etc., but not about Brexit. As one of his aides Andrew Fisher says:
“Jeremy always spoke on the issue with the enthusiasm of someone reading a photocopying manual”
And he was leading a party of Remainers. The problem with leadership is sometimes you have to be passionate about things you don’t feel passionate about. Corbyn couldn’t really do that.
There is also a lengthy analysis of Labour’s problems with Anti-Semitism, set in a historical context, which is helpful, showing how the far right and far left have both had significant problems with Anti-Semitism. It is clear that Labour Party structures were totally unfit and unable to cope with the allegations.
There is much that is contentious here, but it is very readable and if the left is to have any future there are lessons to be learnt.
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Lena , süße Maus
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ReadOctober 14, 2020
can't stop thinking about the fact that Jeremy Corbyn would wear a green suit (which his staff told him he's not allowed to wear) when he was having a bad day to let everyone know that he's upset
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Emily Davies (libraryofcalliope)
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March 9, 2024
Owen Jones' new book, This Land: The Story of a Movement, is an overview of the events of the last decade in the left political landscape with a particular focus on the Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party. I joined the Labour Party in 2015, part of the huge amount of members who joined after being inspired by Jeremy Corbyn and his vision, and as of 2020, I have since left. My decision to leave was due to several factors all of which I won't detail here. I was generally quite well versed in the events Jones covers in this book and it is definitely a good overview of the major events that took place over the last few years. His analysis of things like Momentum's social media campaign was excellent and provided worthwhile insight into their successes and how that played into overall the successes in the 2017 General Election. He interviews and talks to several key people which is interesting and focuses on a kind of behind the scenes' depiction of events.
Unfortunately, I felt that his analysis was not consistent. He was pushing a particular angle; that John McDonnell would have done a better job; and that coloured the whole book, "it is a tragedy for the left that John McDonnell, long the Labour left's natural figurehead, never assumed the leadership". While everything that went wrong for 'the Corbyn project' was directly Corbyn's fault, everything that went right was attributed to somebody else. The book feels like a long-form justification for Owen Jones' own flip-flopping in regards to his support of the Labour leader. Jones couldn't remove himself from the narrative. While I understand that he was present for a lot of the things he discusses and disclosing that involvement is important, it felt more like he was trying to portray himself as a Cassandra type. It's useful having insight from those in the room when it happened but at times it felt more like he was trying to brag about how important he is rather than providing any real insight.
Regarding critical analysis, Jones provided a rather inconsistent narrative. For example, he would discuss the various studies that demonstrated that media coverage of Corbyn was overwhelmingly misrepresentative and negative but then wouldn't use this to create any sort of analysis of what impact this may have had. He talks to people who complain that "'He refused to play the game, he refused to do media trainings. He just felt it'd be selling out, that he wanted to be himself."' but in another section, he discusses Corbyn's "affable, zen-like demeanour on television. [Which allowed] Viewers [to] see the contrast between his media image- dangerous terrorist-loving extremist- and a reality which seemed poles apart". By having this in different parts, the overall cohesion comes across as inconsistent and incoherent. Which is he? Is he a zen-like figure who can win people over by being himself or is it a bad thing that he wouldn't 'play the game'? This happens with many things. One minute Jones is discussing how Corbyn couldn't commit to anything out of worry of upsetting people then he's being resolutely dogmatic about his principles. He discusses how Corbyn's policies inspired people and then claims "nobody in the office seemed to understand what policy was for". As an analysis, it didn't make sense and seemed like a series of different newspaper articles copied and pasted together. This could have been fixed if he responded to his sources. He presents them all unchallenged, meaning he doesn't question what they say when they contradict each other which if he had would have vastly improved the book.
Considering the subtitle of the book, The Story of a Movement, it is much more focused on the parliamentary Labour party and the Labour Party establishment rather than the members. He, of course, mentions the huge numbers of people who joined the party and Corbyn's incredible mandates in both leadership elections, but his interviewees are generally those working in Labour HQ or members of the press. In a topic such as this, the people outside of HQ need to be considered as well, rather than as an afterthought or as a statistic to prove a point.
I wanted to like this book and as an overview of the events, it is a good starting point. It just wasn't as good as some of his other works.
anti-capitalist-or-political non-fiction
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Kate Vane
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May 5, 2021
I always enjoy Owen Jones' journalism, even if I don't agree with him. This is a very readable account of the Corbyn project. Jones is both observer and participant, as someone in sympathy with Jeremy Corbyn's aims and a former worker in John McDonnell's office. However, while writing from that perspective, he gives a balanced account of the strengths and weaknesses of the Corbyn operation and the people and groups that both supported and attempted to sabotage the project.
The book is organised thematically rather than chronologically, which can make for repetition, and there are some gaps - there's very little about Diane Abbott or Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Jones is very pro-McDonnell. I was quite familiar with the big events in the story but it's the behind-the-scenes insights that are interesting - the hostility of party staff and MPs, the poor organisation by Corbyn's team, the odd, amusing insights into Corbyn's character (there's an amusing story regarding his home-made jam and a gift to the Queen).
Corbyn was an accidental leader and was in many ways unsuited to the role. He made mistakes, and could be peevish or passive when confronted with difficult issues. He did, however, enable the party to regain its confidence and to offer hope and a vision.
Starmer appeared to promise to adopt that policy platform but offer a more organised approach and a more traditional leader's persona. Sadly, he hasn't lived up to that promise, and without him offering any clear vision of his own, it's hard to be optimistic about the Labour Party at this time.
*
I received a copy of This Land from the publisher via NetGalley.
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8stitches 9lives
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September 30, 2020
The number one best-selling author of Chavs and The Establishment returns with an urgent, revelatory account of where the left - and Britain - goes next. On 12th December 2019, the left died. That at least was the view of much of Britain's media and political establishment, who saw the electoral defeat of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party as the damning repudiation of everything it stood for. Yet, just over four years previously, the election of Corbyn as Labour leader seemed like a sea-change in politics: reanimating not just a party in apparently terminal decline but a country adrift, with a transformative vision based on a more just, more equal society and economy. In this revelatory new book, Owen Jones explores how these ideas took hold, how they promised to change the nature of British politics - and how everything then went profoundly, catastrophically wrong. Why did the left fail so badly? Where, in this most critical of times, does that failure leave its values and ideas? Where does it leave Britain itself?
In This Land, Jones interviews approximately 170 Labour members at the very top of the party right down to grassroots activists to gain a flavour and real understanding of what went wrong in the 2019 election. The devastation of the left has sadly led to rising incidences of fatalism - where people believe they can no longer make a substantial contribution to politics and society through movements aimed at creating equality and promoting egalitarianism and can only merely tweak things here and there. He speaks the parties decision-makers during that time and together they try to come to a consensus of how it all went so badly wrong. It is effectively about the last five years of Corbyn's Labour, what it was up against and what it got wrong, both based on the inside accounts of those at the top and those looking in externally. An accessible, informative, fascinating and well written political piece. Many thanks to Allen Lane for an ARC.
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