'In a fascinating critique from the anti-capitalist left, Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts argue that Corbynism’s big move is away from seeing capitalism as a system with its own unalterable dynamics, compelling all within it to operate according to its own logic, to seeing its cruelties instead as the work of malign individuals.'
'In a recent book ostensibly focused on Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party, but partly about recent British political history, the academics Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts explain the last decade in terms of “austerity populism”. Cuts, welfare crackdowns and the case for leave, they explain, were all sold to the public via the exclusion of supposedly unproductive undesirables: “scroungers” in the austerity narrative; “migrants” in the stories that swirled around the 2016 referendum.'
'Jeremy Corbyn…He really means it. His position is ideological and you have to understand his ideology. A recent book, Corbynism: A Critical Approach by Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts, makes this effort. The authors are two Marxist academics who argue that Mr Corbyn’s view of the single market is an expression of his particular brand of socialism…It is not, however, necessary to have an opinion on this to grasp the authors’ central and powerful point. Corbynism, they suggest, is a version of socialism derived from one understanding of Marx in which the role of class is replaced by “the elite” and “the people.'
"This book is much needed . . . it cuts through the fog of uncritical adulation and unthinking hostility toward Jeremy Corbyn to shine a light on the origins and dynamics of this often misunderstood part of modern British politics."
'Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts’ Corbynism: A Critical Approach is a rare left-wing critique by authors who are virtual Marxists. Inevitably, it has been all but ignored, which is a fault that needs remedying as this rich and urgent work deserves better than that…Bolton and Pitts’ are worth reading because theirs is an explanation not just of the Corbyn Labour party but of the post-crash West.'
'Anyone who wants to understand what a Corbyn government would be like might be better off studying the movement, rather than the man. Corbynism: A Critical Approach, a recent study by Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts, both former Corbynistas steeped in leftwing thought, provides several interesting insights. The authors argue convincingly that the Labour leader’s image as a moral paragon has been crucial to his rise — as has the argument that “Jeremy” has always been on the right side of history.'
'A fascinating new book, Corbynism: A Critical Approach, by two Marxist academics, Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts, argues that Mr Corbyn’s brand of socialism is a breeding ground for conspiracy theories. The essence of Corbynism is the belief that a “cosy cartel” of capitalists have constructed a “rigged system” for their own benefit.'
'In Corbynism: A Critical Approach Bolton and Pitts have produced the most thorough and alarming overview of the Corbyn worldview to date….Corbynism: A Critical Approach, is the best book on the phenomenon of Corbynism by some distance because it slots the movement firmly within this camp of moralising and intolerant populism. In doing so it ought to free up space on the broader Left for a more critical approach to the Corbyn project, not least because it is written by two activists who have by their own admission long-yearned for “the Left to take the reins.'
Bolton and Pitts offer a more conceptual, analytical, and abstract account than the many other books on the political thought of Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of Britain's Labour Party. Their goal is to provide a critical orientation towards the foundations and implications of the rapidly germinating but theoretically deep-rooted intellectual world they call Corbynism. They discuss taking Corbynism seriously; explaining 2017: the rise and fall of austerity populism; the preconditions of Corbynism: on two-campism; on the right side of history: the moral mythology of Corbynism; taking back control: Corbynism in one country; and things can and they will change: class, post-capitalism, and left populism.
"Using Marxist critical theory, this timely and courageous book analyses Corbyn's left populism as significantly diverging from the key traditions of the class struggle and democratic left."
Dr David Hirsh, Goldsmiths, University of London
"This book is much needed . . . it cuts through the fog of uncritical adulation and unthinking hostility toward Jeremy Corbyn to shine a light on the origins and dynamics of this often misunderstood part of modern British politics."
Professor Paul Thompson, University of Stirling
You may not agree with every argument, but Bolton and Pitts' book is a much needed, well researched and wide-ranging interrogation of Corbynism. Drawing on a distinctive left perspective, it cuts through the fog of uncritical adulation and unthinking hostility to shine a light on the origins and dynamics of this often misunderstood part of modern British politics.
Using Marxist critical theory, this timely and courageous book analyses Corbyn's left populism as significantly diverging from the key traditions of the class struggle and democratic left.
