Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Socialist party in Britain, is like a man returned from the dead. Everything he says and does has a Soviet ghostliness. A run-of-the-mill fellow-traveler and agitator from the past, he’s always against the national interest of Britain in whatever form it takes. He declares proudly that he would never resort to the nuclear weapon, and that the way to deal with terrorists is to negotiate, not fight. He has expressed solidarity with Irish republican terrorists, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas. In his view, Hugo Chavez should be praised for “showing that the poor matter and wealth can be shared. He made massive contributions to Venezuela.” “Showing that the poor matter” is a typical Left euphemism for class war, and “wealth can be shared” is a typical Left euphemism for expropriating other peoples’ property.
Extreme dearth of talent led the Socialists to turn to Corbyn as a last chance. A series of accidents then made him party leader. He appeared unelectable, which no doubt was one factor which induced Prime Minister May to call an election. The Conservatives then fought such a misconceived and uninspiring campaign that against all odds Corbyn gained enough seats to bring about a hung parliament. A frail Mrs. May holds off the prospect of another election, even more disastrous.
A television program put forward the view that Corbyn’s promise to make tuition free had given him the vote of a million or two students, all first-time voters clinching his success. Every university town went Socialist, confirming this thesis. Lots of young people interviewed on this program said they had indeed voted for Corbyn. None of them seemed to realize that they were being roped in as foot soldiers in renewed class warfare or that somebody else would have to pay for their free tuition. Their innocence would have been touching if it were not evidence that experience isn’t remembered from one generation to the next.