Is Jeremy Corbyn a marxist?

A nice interview by Andrew Marr with Jeremy Corbyn yesterday. How good to hear a non-confrontational interview, we get so much more information about what the subject believes than with those awful interrogations which only tell us how well a person reacts to pressure. The key moment came at the end when Marr asked Corbyn whether he was a marxist. The answer was, as you would expect, circumspect. Had he said yes it would have been curtains, but Corbyn did not wish to reject his marxist credentials altogether, thus suggesting a degree of honesty not often seen in modern mainstream politics. It was rather like asking a christian whether they are indeed a ‘christian’. Some will say ‘yes’ and then explain that they believe in the literal story of the resurrection and that Christ did die and rise again so that sinners may be saved if they except Christ as their saviour. That is the equivalent of being a pure marxist – that you believe in his historical analysis and the destiny of capitalism to be destroyed by its own creation, the socialist proletariat and that it has not yet occurred is simply a matter of timescale and converting the analysis to a global context. Corbyn did not say that but instead said that Marx had revealed many truths and that we can still learn a great deal from his teaching. This is the equivalent of a ‘christian’ saying they believe in the existence of Christ, that his teaching should be a guide for life but that the resurrection story is only a metaphor, that Christ rose again in the minds of his followers and that we can all be born again if we seek redemption. So I guess this means that Corbyn is not a marxist in the full sense of the word; rather he has received some of his inspiration from marxist analysis. Sadly for him the media and casual observers will not be capable of understanding this distinction. He does have one advantage over others of the left who have been accused of marxist sympathies, such as Ken Livingstone, Derek Hatton and Michael Foot, which is that he seems remarkably affable and accessible. The right no longer has the monopoly of ‘interesting ‘ characters, with Corbyn, Sturgeon and Mhairi Black now on the left scene. Such characters serve to emphasise how pale and uninspiring the other Labour leadership candidates appear.