Blairism won elections by sacrificing the party’s sense of purpose

Evidence

It seems that the very thing which gave us hope — the possibility of vacillating Labour being pulled to the left by an alliance with the SNP — might have been what motivated Tory voters to come out in such numbers in England. (Another echo of 92: fear as a hyperstitional force.) The truth is what many of us have long suspected: Labour lost this election five years ago, by failing to challenge the Tories’ narrative. Yet this failure wasn’t about the wrong leader, PR strategy or even policies; it is ultimately rooted in Labour’s disconnection from any wider movement, and this is in turn rooted in the wider emergence of capitalist realism. Blairism may have won Labour three elections, but the unfolding of its logic could well lead to the destruction, in the not so far distant future, of the party. As Paul Mason acidly summarises, “Labour no longer knows what it is for, nor how to win power”. With Blairism, Labour knew how to win power, but in acquiring this knowledge, it forgot what it was for. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1850

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the author’s capitalist realism thesis across this collection, and the hyperstition concept from chapter 92-era editorial commentary. — connects to: Blairism destroyed Labour’s grassroots along with its ideology. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1775; Blairism traded real power for perpetual centrist office-holding. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1774; Blairism internalized rather than overturned 1980s defeats. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1775 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Blairism won elections while forgetting the party’s political purpose #expands (0.97) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1850
• Blairism normalized the 1980s defeat rather than overcoming it #corroborates (0.72)
• Electoral success made party activists complacent about further transformation #corroborates (0.71) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 512