Jeremy Corbyn
For the many, not the few
The socialist revival in Labour.
Progressive Democratic SocialistOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Democratic Socialist hall →- Role
- Labour leader
- Era
- b. 1949
- Region
- United Kingdom
- Social band
- Progressive
- Placement
- −58 · +20 · +70
§ Where Jeremy Corbyn stands
3 axesCorbyn wants to reverse privatisation and enlarge the public sector. Labour's 2017 manifesto, For the Many, Not the Few, pledged to return the railways, Royal Mail, water and the energy networks to public ownership and to raise income tax on earnings above £80,000, and the 2019 manifesto added nationalising BT's broadband network to offer free full-fibre broadband. He nonetheless accepts a mixed economy with a large private sector.
Corbyn pursues socialism through elections and a mass-membership party: Labour's membership passed half a million under his leadership, and the grassroots group Momentum was founded in 2015 to support him. His 2017 programme would have enlarged the central state through a National Investment Bank and a National Education Service while lowering the voting age to 16, which places him only slightly toward the state end.
Corbyn is strongly progressive and internationalist. He was arrested in 1984 while protesting against apartheid outside South Africa House in London, voted against the invasion of Iraq in 2003, chaired the Stop the War Coalition from 2011 to 2015 and voted for same-sex marriage in 2013, and he has long backed the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Palestinian rights.
How close are you to Jeremy Corbyn?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
LivingJeremy Bernard Corbyn (b. 1949) is a British socialist who led the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020 and has represented Islington North in the House of Commons since 1983. Born in Chippenham, Wiltshire, and raised in rural Shropshire, he spent two years with Voluntary Service Overseas in Jamaica, worked as an organiser for trade unions including the National Union of Public Employees and sat on Haringey Council before entering Parliament. For three decades he was a backbench rebel of the Socialist Campaign Group, campaigning against apartheid, nuclear weapons and the Iraq War.
An outsider in the 2015 leadership contest, Corbyn won 59.5 per cent of the first-round vote. In 2017 his programme of public ownership and free tuition helped Labour gain 30 seats and cost Theresa May her majority, but in 2019 the party fell to 202 seats, its worst result since 1935. His leadership was dogged by rows over antisemitism; after the Equality and Human Rights Commission found the party responsible for unlawful harassment and discrimination in 2020, he said the problem's scale had been overstated for political reasons and was suspended. He held his seat as an independent in 2024.
Notable for
- 01Led the UK Labour Party
- 02Renationalisation platform
- 03Mass-membership surge
Key works & moments
- 1983Elected MP for Islington North, beginning three decades as a backbench rebel on Labour's left.
- 2015Wins the Labour leadership with 59.5 per cent of the first-round vote.
- 2017Labour gains 30 seats on his For the Many, Not the Few manifesto, costing Theresa May her majority.
- 2019Labour falls to 202 seats, its worst result since 1935; he announces he will stand down.
- 2024Re-elected for Islington North as an independent after Labour barred him from standing as its candidate.
- 2025Announces a new left-wing party with the MP Zarah Sultana.
§ Minds closest to Jeremy Corbyn
All minds →
§ Also in the Democratic Socialist hall
Enter the hall →§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Jeremy Corbyn's political ideology?
Jeremy Corbyn is a democratic socialist from the left of the British labour movement: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Progressive Democratic Socialist. Economically he sits clearly left of centre (−58), favouring public ownership of the railways, utilities and Royal Mail and higher taxes on top earners within a mixed economy. On governance he leans slightly toward the state (+20), seeking a larger public sector through elections and a mass-membership party. Socially he is strongly progressive (+70), with a long record of anti-apartheid, anti-war and LGBT-rights campaigning.
Is Jeremy Corbyn left-wing or right-wing?
Left-wing, from the socialist wing of the Labour Party. Corbyn spent three decades as a backbench rebel before winning the leadership in 2015 on a programme of public ownership, higher taxes on top earners and an anti-war foreign policy. He is a parliamentary socialist rather than a revolutionary, and commentators often compared his manifestos to Labour's post-war mixed economy rather than to state socialism. Many of his own MPs opposed his direction, passing a no-confidence motion against him by 172 votes to 40 in 2016.
Why was Jeremy Corbyn suspended from the Labour Party?
Because of his response to an official report on antisemitism in Labour. On 29 October 2020 the Equality and Human Rights Commission found the party responsible for unlawful harassment and discrimination during his leadership. Corbyn said the scale of the problem had been dramatically overstated for political reasons by opponents and much of the media, and he was suspended that day. His membership was restored weeks later, but Keir Starmer refused to return the parliamentary whip; in 2023 the party barred him from standing as its candidate, and he was expelled for standing as an independent in 2024.
Which minds are closest to Jeremy Corbyn?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Jeremy Corbyn are Michael Harrington (96% alike), V (for Vendetta) (95% alike) and Eugene V. Debs (94% alike). The furthest is Adam Sutler (9% alike).