John McDonnell backs 'radical' Labour political education programme
2 min read
John McDonnell has thrown his weight behind a new education programme promising to keep the Labour party discussing "radical" political ideas.
The scheme, organised by the Momentum-aligned The World Transformed group, will aim to teach Labour supporters about "complex topics" including Brexit and British colonialism.
TWT - which runs its own festival alongside the Labour conference every year - said it wants to help Labour "focus on long term political objectives beyond electoral campaigning and day to day parliamentary politics".
The Shadow Chancellor has already heaped praise on the "vital, urgent initiative" and said he was "proud to be involved".
"When Labour goes into government, we all go into government and that means learning the difficult lessons of left wing governments in Greece and elsewhere," he said.
"We can’t just be a bunch of politicians who take ministerial positions, the beating heart of Labour in power will be a movement of ordinary people who understand our history as the working class and what socialism can achieve.
Mr McDonnell added: "The Labour movement has a rich history of working class self education and because of new platform technologies we’re able to revive and expand on that tradition like never before. This work is at the cutting edge of the movement, and I look forward to its radical expansion over the coming year."
The World Transformed said its initiative would allow Labour members to set up their own local events and join up with existing political education programmes while drawing on "historical examples of working class education".
The group is also planning to set up a new digital platform to help people access "left theory, history and current affairs" more easily.
TWT organiser Deborah Hermanns said that "hundreds of thousands" of people had been inspired to get involved in politics by Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.
And she added: "We want to equip them with the tools to analyse our political and economic system and to engage in all levels of the Labour party, as well as helping them to develop radical ideas on housing, education and social justice that will fundamentally transform society.
"We can’t just wait for politicians to hand prescriptions down from up high, these ideas must come from below."
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