This is Only the Beginning

The inside story of the Corbyn/Momentum movements from someone who was in the room

Michael Chessum is a journalist and activist. He has written for the Guardian and Observer, the New Statesman, The Independent, Vice, Novara, The London Review of Books and many others. He co-founded the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, playing a prominent role in the student protests of 2010 and the anti-austerity movement that followed. In 2016-17, he was a member of Momentum's first Steering Committee, serving as its Treasurer, and worked as a press officer and speechwriter on Jeremy Corbyn's second leadership campaign. As National Organiser for the left wing anti-Brexit group Another Europe is Possible, he became a dissident within Corbynism and a prominent voice in the public debate on Brexit and migrants' rights.

Preface and AcknowledgementsIntroductionPART ONE: 2010-2015Chapter One: Students in a dream worldChapter Two: A generation without a historyChapter Three: The wave breaksPART TWO: 2015-2020Chapter Four: The riptideChapter Five: The movement versus the machineChapter Six: The machine strikes back: BrexitConclusion: What now? Further ReadingIndex

Pacey but sober, witty but often very stark - that nevertheless left me feeling so optimistic.
[Chessum] writes passionately and eloquently. Here he examines how the emergence of Corbynism and its mass mobilisation came about and what we can learn from its rise and demise taking us on a roller-coaster ride through the history of rebellion and opposition during recent decades, both in Britain and abroad, capturing the excitement, the passion and the disappointments . There is too much useful information and too many perceptive insights in this book to detail here. Read it yourself; I highly recommend it.
'If I had to stick a book in a time capsule to explain UK left movement politics to future generations, it'd be this one. Michael's insight is, to coin a phrase much in current use, "forensic".'
'Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, however impossible you thought the Corbyn project, here is a rivetingly well-written view from inside the left's capture of the Labour party.'
'Michael Chessum provides not just a necessary hard-nosed assessment of the Corbyn project from someone who was at the heart of its creation, he also poses the tough challenging questions that need to be addressed for the revival of the left.'
'This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand where the new left generation came from and where we go from here. Michael Chessum describes the mass movement that underpinned Corbyn's leadership so richly that from the demonstrations to the committee rooms, you'll feel like you're there.'
Eloquent . It is timely stuff.
Featuring "unparalleled access" and a range of interviews with left-wing figures including Owen Jones, Ash Sarkar and John McDonnell MP, this is the inside story of how the Left came back to life in the 2010s, and what it can (and should) do now.
A member of Momentum's first steering committee and general figure in the rooms where it happened, Chessum is an able guide through the tumultuous period covered by the book.
An essential read.
'A fascinating insider's assessment of the rise and impasse of the latest new left that gained political expression, but not realisation, through Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party. At once both controversial and sympathetic , it is essential reading for creative strategic thinking in the future.'
With a lively combination of vivid first-hand reportage, insightful interviews and original analysis, This is Only the Beginning offers the most compelling account to date of the movements and circumstances that made the Corbyn moment possible, and of what needs to happen for the radical left to thrive rather than slip back into irrelevance.
A clear-eyed and compelling contribution to the post-mortem of the Corbyn era, this is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the movement that provided so much of the energy behind Corbyn's rise.
Hugely impressive . full of depth . this is a read the left needs right now.
The story of the rise of a new left in British politics, from a leading figure in the anti-Brexit Another Europe is Possible (AEIP), is not a Court History of the Corbyn Project. It offers a picture of the movements and 'politics from below' that propelled the left to leadership of the Labour Party.
Packed full of detailed information . written in a pacy style . [and] something of a page turner . [It] is essential reading for anyone on the left who wants to understand why the Corbyn project failed and the lessons to be drawn so that the vital and urgently needed new movement does not repeat the errors made.