Come clean, Comrade Corbyn: Socialism is always a disaster

Have you heard the good news?

Jeremy Corbyn loves you, and wants you to love him. He offers you peace and joy and a fulfilled life. So sayeth Monsieur Zen: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” And his disciples said unto him: “oooh, Jeremy Corbyn!”

The incredibly self-satisfied Labour leader now believes that he will be Prime Minister in six months. The far left is on the march and cannot be stopped, at least according to the narrative that the Corbyn movement is so adept at controlling.

Read more: Labour MPs are jumping on the Corbyn bandwagon

However, it seems clear to me that the foundations of this ascendancy are hollow and will crumble under scrutiny – much like the vapid speech Corbyn delivered this weekend.

The Conservatives ran a terrible campaign – but they still won

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s not difficult to see why a drab Conservative election campaign based on sloganeering failed. It was vacuous and insulting to the electorate.

The far left instigated a battle of ideas and Theresa May ducked the fight. She failed to defend the Conservatives’ governing record or champion any bold ideas to tackle Britain’s problems (except on social care, which she quickly retreated from). It was a dreadful campaign and a terrible manifesto that appealed to literally no one, void of any selling points.

And yet the Conservative still have 55 more seats than Labour.

Even with the total failure of leadership, policy and communication by a party that has been in power for seven years, the Labour party lost its third election in a row. Labour’s vote share surpassed expectations and did indeed prove many pundits wrong, but Corbyn supporters are setting themselves up for a fall by acting like they won.

Beware utopia peddlers

I can understand why so many people leant their vote to a man promising to turn the table over and change everything. When you want things to get better, “strong and stable” just isn’t going to cut it.

But, young Corbynistas, beware anyone who tries to sell you dreams and tells you, as Corbyn told the cheering crowds at Glastonbury this weekend, that “another world is possible”. Engage your sceptical mind, because utopianism is the most corrupt and dangerous element of political ideology.

It isn’t enough to attack the dubious personalities, rank hypocrisy and immoral affiliations of the people now in charge of the Labour party. Playing the man failed; we must now play the ball. Under Corbyn’s leadership, plain old socialism has been rebranded for a new generation, so it’s time to fight the battle of ideas.

Really, it should be a no contest.

The Corbynites believe that the power of the state can bring hope to the masses and solve our social ills. They are dogmatically devoted to the notion of the planned economy, where the state controls industry and alleviates poverty by issuing diktats and clamping down on wealth creators. Corbyn’s Labour isn’t offering anything new. It has all been tried before and the evidence is in: it does not work.

Socialism fails every time

At best, socialism leads to an economic disaster. Beyond that it’s a social catastrophe; at the end of line you’ll find oppression and labour camps every time.

Nobody believes Corbyn is going to impose a tyranny on Britain or commit mass murder, but nonetheless nowhere on the socialist spectrum is there prosperity, opportunity or happiness.

Socialist demagogues always promise to heal social ills and improve the fortunes of the poor. Every single time the opposite happens. Capitalism always wins. This is easily proven by observing where the dividing lines are clearest.

The socialist half of Germany was an oppressive and impoverished basket case, while the capitalist side prospered. Those claiming unemployment benefit in West Germany had a better income than the average wage in East Germany.

Socialist North Korea rapidly collapsed into abject poverty and mass starvation and has never recovered. The capitalist South is highly developed, wealthy and ranks as the 11th largest economy in the world.

Former Communist countries in Europe are still scarred socially and recovering economically. They still require aid from their wealthier European neighbours that thrived thanks to capitalism.

Venezuela was the latest beacon of hope for British socialists. The country is now a failing state.

Because the aims of socialism are never achieved, its advocates often point to this as evidence that “true” socialism has not yet been tried. Nonsense. It has been tried repeatedly. Its aims are never achieved because it is a failed ideology.

The far left is unflinching in defending its ideas and its foot soldiers may have economic liberals on the back foot; but their ideas are bad, demonstrably so.

Jeremy Corbyn is a true socialist snake oil salesman. Stop retreating and take the fight to him.

Read more: Corbyn’s beloved Venezuela is sinking further into the socialist abyss