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The Labour Party has suffered a historic defeat. Commentators state that the Labour Party must change or face oblivion. It is understandable that such views gain currency a few days after

the election. Are they right? Labour’s critics argue that the defeat is so devastating that even the hard left must realise that the party must move towards the centre. The optimists believe

“there will always be a Kinnock who will take on and defeat the Militants”. Well, this was done in 1985, but the chances now are quite remote. One of the major differences is that the

Militant tendency had only Liverpool under its thumb. Elsewhere, their influence was more limited. The landscape is considerably different now. The Labour Party has been properly hijacked.

The militants have grown roots, but there aren’t any Kinnock’s willing to cut those roots away. It is clear what happened in the last four years since the 2015 Labour leadership election.

Due to a number of lucky incidents (even the proposal of Corbyn’s candidacy by the Parliamentary Party was a fairly unlikely thing), and thanks to the _three quid rule_ introduced by a son

of an ex-Militant thinker, Corbyn and his close collaborators managed to mould the Labour Party in their own image. The party has now got half a million members, the large majority of them

supports the extreme left (83.8 per cent of the _three-quidders_ voted for Corbyn). Where will the moderate vote come from in the next Labour leadership election? Some from a minority of

trade unionists, some from card-carrying members and that’s about all. Why would there be any change whatsoever? Corbyn and his associates have complete control over the National Executive

Committee, which is essentially the governing body of the Labour Party. In addition, Momentum controls the whole party apparatus. Why would they want to move towards the centre? Why would

they give up their dominant position? One reason would be to jump before they are pushed. But who will do the pushing? The moderates still possessing some weight will be afraid of damaging

their careers. I conclude that nothing will change. The militants will be Militants, and Momentum will not lose its momentum. In fact, they will be better off due to the departure of many

Corbyn critics from the Parliamentary Labour Party. If nothing changes, what will keep the extremists’ spirits high? Could they endure years or possibly decades in the wilderness? Yes, they

could — they will not give up the hope. They will feed on the historical inevitability theory. Marx said that the working class will acquire power. Any movement aiming at such an outcome is

bound to triumph in the future. When? The timing is immaterial. The capitalist system, as Marx said, is bound to have recurrent economic crises. One of these will be so deep that the

downtrodden proletariat will rise all over the world and the socialist paradise will be established here on this Earth. To summarise the situation and proposing a slight generalisation, I

would coin the maxim: _once extremists acquire majority in a socialist party they can never be dislodged_. Well, _never_ might be too strong a word. I am basing it mostly on the Soviet

experience. Lenin managed to hijack the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1898 at the 2nd  Congress in London after the _Bund_ and two more delegates walked out. They acquired power in 1917

and never looked back. In this case, I must admit, my maxim did not work. The Bolsheviks turned out to be dislodgable although some delay did occur. It took 74 years to do so, a long stint

by any standards, and particularly in a field where a week is supposed to be a long time. Let’s look now at some other places where the hard left came to power. Eastern Europe between 1945

and 1989 would provide a good example but I am reluctant to use those People’s Republics to prove my point. Those Communist Parties could not be dislodged due to the presence of the Soviet

Army. But let us look at Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Bolivia. The hard left has been in power in Cuba since 1959, in Nicaragua since 1985, in Bolivia since 2005 and in Venezuela since

1999. There has been a recent hitch in Morales’s rule in Bolivia but that lasted a good 14 years and he might still make a comeback. In Asia, North Korea falls into the pattern but not

China. It is a country where the Communist Party builds diligently and successfully — but what it builds is the structure of Capitalism. Nonetheless the same maxim still applies but without

reference to socialism_. Once extremists acquire power they will never be dislodged_. I can think of one more country in which the Communist Party came to power and was brave enough to take

on the might of the US. And, incredibly, they won. They still have an undislodgable Communist Party that allows a fair amount of private property. An indication of the private property boom

is that Vietnam has five billionaires on the Forbes List. All right, these are all foreign countries with distinct national habits — but could this really happen in the UK? My response is:

how could it not happen? The hard left keeps all the levers of power in their hands and the present party members support them. Is there a glimmer of hope? I can see one, and only one

possibility. All of us who voted for Tony Blair should join the Labour Party.