From the Socialist Party website:
Earlier this year, the Socialist Party USA issued a statement of congratulations to the Greek working class on the occasion of electing what was at the time Europe’s only anti-austerity government. In that statement, we wrote that we looked forward to the energy that propelled SYRIZA into power spreading worldwide. With the landslide election of socialist Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the British Labour Party, it appears that energy has reached the shores of the United Kingdom.
Corbyn, who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983, entered the Labour leadership race with 200:1 odds and was up against three establishment candidates with shadow cabinet portfolios and greater support from the Labour MPs. Despite this, Corbyn received significant backing from the Labour-affiliated trade unions and Constituent Labour Parties, as well as from tens of thousands of people that registered as Labour supporters for the first time in support of his socialist message. With his anti-austerity message resonating across Great Britain, Corbyn was elected as Leader of the Labour Party and, in turn, Leader of the Opposition with almost 60% of the votes cast.
While we congratulate Mr. Corbyn on his election and express hope that his leadership will have a positive impact on the British working class, we hold no illusions that the party he is now at the helm of mirrors his radical beliefs. It was less than fifteen years ago that former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair joined President Bush in his War on Terror that has left over one million civilians dead in Iraq and Afghanistan. Though Prime Minister Blair is no longer in office, his allies and the allies of his successor and protégé Gordon Brown continue to represent a significant portion of the Parliamentary Labour Party. To say that Mr. Corbyn has a tough road ahead of him is a severe understatement.
Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Leader of the Labour Party, as well as the electoral success of SYRIZA in Greece and the rising support for Podemos in Spain, underscores the rapid growth of the anti-austerity movement in Europe. The working class is rejecting the lies of austerity, as well as the traditional, center-left parties that have proven to be paper-thin opposition and in many cases have supported austerity measures. Instead, they are moving towards radical options and recognition that the problems we face do not lie with one party or government, but with capitalism as a whole.
The Socialist Party USA congratulates Mr. Corbyn on his election as Labour Party leader, as well as the two hundred fifty thousand Britons that took action to empower socialist politics in the United Kingdom. It is difficult to say what comes next, but for now, we send our support to the British working class in hopes that they have dealt a blow to capitalist power that will resonate across the United Kingdom and throughout the world.