This Land: The Struggle for the Left Paperback – 29 April 2021

Owen Jones' third book is an excellent overview of the Corbynist project, and pulls no punches!I was somewhat surprised, and pleased, at how one of the leading exponents of Corbynism was able to be so honest in his critique of what went so wrong in late 2019.Quite rightly, he highlights the intrinsic bias that the right wing media has against anything that is leftwards from the centre, and his (always compelling) sociological account of present day Britain puts Labour's failure in December 2019 in a wider context.The two points that he makes that need highlighting are his critique are Corbyn's lack of leadership competencies, and aligned to this his inability to deal with the scourge of anti-semitism within the Labour Party. Those issues, along with the fiasco of Brexit, and the total lack of a coherent plan or united party policies are also covered in exceptional detail.Owen has used his own beliefs and values, his in depth knowlege of the Labour Party and his wide number of "contacts" to produce a compelling, and in my view, totally accurate analysis of why Labour did so badly last year.At the same time, I share his optimism that all is not lost, and that the left still has all to play for, especially that it is apparant that the young will form the next vanguard for Socialism.

Found the book informative, interesting and very accessible. An honest look at the history of the Corbyn project. It provides some balance to the media picture that was rolled out. The book is well written and referenced. The story is sad, if you are longing for change. But as the book highlights Corbyn did finally break the narrative of entrenched austerity. Despite the failure of the project, the Tories , even under Boris , were pushed by the threat of Corbynism to change direction. That is something that remains to be built on.

Owen Jones's tale of Jeremy Corbyn's rise and fall is top class journalism by an insightful and industrious writer, revealing the private machinations of Labour Party politics. There are lots of things I didn't know; some things that I did know were confirmed; some things I only thought I knew were confounded. It's made poignant that (unlike me) Jones is a supporter of Corbynism, though his final view of Jezza himself is somewhat jaded. This gives the book the poignancy of a failed love affair. Well recommended.

This is a brilliant, smart and timely look at what can only be described as some of the most hopeful, promising and catastrophic years for the left in Britain in my lifetime. For someone so intimately involved with the Corbyn project, Jones must be commended for this frank and honest assessment of its many successes and failures. It is brutal where it needs to be. The many varying voices that Jones has solicited for this study give vivid colour to the subject that has been sorely missing in previous assessments. The sheer volume of people who have contributed make it a rich, thick and live endeavour. Ultimately, this is a pick-me-up book; one that finds hope and direction from defeat. For that, and for the joyous humour so deftly threaded through this work, Jones will always have my gratitude.

I was very impressed with this book.I followed the whole Brexit affair closely for four years and found the Labour position very frustrating, especially towards the end. Jones explains exactly how Labour lost their way. All the newspaper criticism about how Labour had no real position were if anything an understatement if Jones is correct.The underlying problem seems to have been that a lot of Islington lefties had no interest or understanding of the traditional trade union base. A lot of working class people had been betrayed by the financial crash, were taking it out on the EU and voted to leave. Labour needed to respect their choice and respect the result of the referendum.As Jones points out it would have been difficult to marry such a decision with its left wing policies in other areas, but it had to be done. Labour was never going to win an election if it could not unite its followers.Corbyn for all his qualities was no leader, and no organiser. He depended on others to give the Labour Party cohesion but according to Jones he was never able to stop the Blairites from trying to derail his leadership even at the risk of making the party lose an election it could have won. He was never able to unite the more sympathetic factions either partly because he was unable to criticise his followers. Ultimately he was far more committed to his principles than to running a political party.The row about antisemitism was another nail in his coffin. According to Jones he would literally go AWOL whenever there was a decision to make which he didn’t want to deal with.These were, to be fair, very tricky problems, and credit to Jones to presenting them I think with fairness and empathy for most of those involved and in great but readable detail. But politics is all about dealing with fiendishly difficult problems.

As a Guardian columnist, Jones must either overtly or implicitly feel pressure to reiterate its standard views. Jones often evades or misrepresents the facts on the McCarthyite campaign against Corbyn and soft-pedals on right-wing Laborites. As a concise review puts it, Jones frequently seeks "their counsel on how to combat elite interests and self-serving politicians." And he is, notes the same review, worse on the former issue: "Corbyn is a lifelong campaigner against antisemitism, yet he has a ‘blind spot’ on the issue. Only 0.3 per cent of Labour members were accused of antisemitism, yet it is a ‘crisis’ within the party." Jones's last book suggested that this one would be much better.