WE HAVE seen a wave of attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and his leadership team in recent weeks, ranging from Blairite elements within the Labour Party such as Peter Mandelson, through to the Tory media, through to leaks from civil servants and even attacks from Mike Pompeo of the Trump administration.

As I have written in the Morning Star before, the simple reason for this is that the political and economic Establishment know that, with the Tories in crisis, the possibility of a Jeremy Corbyn-led, genuinely transformation government is a real possibility.

As Richard Burgon has said: “The recent smear against Corbyn in the Times is an important reminder of what we are up against — and why we must remain united as we approach power.”

And as Diane Abbott has put it, “it is becoming clearer that the Tories are in crisis and unfit to govern,” and “because of the desperate state the Tories are in, we have also seen a further escalation in attacks from the political and economic Establishment on Jeremy Corbyn and Labour, with last weekend’s Times front page representing a further upping of the ante.”

Abbott was also right to point out that “a situation that civil servants should be briefing a newspaper against an elected politician, and against a prospective government, is something that should be very concerning to all of us and shows how frightened some are about our transformative programme, for the many not the few.”

At the same time as we read smear after smear and misrepresentation after misrepresentation in the Tory press (not least on Jeremy Corbyn’s position on Brexit), polls with Labour in the lead receive little or no media coverage.

Now, then, is the time for a unified fight back from the left, and we must all resist the attempts of our enemies to divide us.

It is also the time to organise to get on the front foot again with our radical and popular policies to end austerity and invest in our future.

With attacks from the Establishment on Corbyn and his radical anti-austerity, anti-war and anti-racist programme stepping up, and with more to come this week and beyond, please join over 6,000 Labour members from over 500 constituencies in signing the “Stand with Corbyn — Unite to end Tory Austerity” statement.

Please also find details of the upcoming accompanying meetings in the national tour of the same name below — please note the tour is run on an entirely voluntary basis, and we are therefore trying as hard as we can to ensure all local requests for meetings are acted upon.

To this end, we are currently working on events in Oxford, Sheffield, Brent, Wolverhampton, Wimbledon, Chingford, Oldham, Camden, Portsmouth, Plymouth and elsewhere between now and the end of October — more details to come in your Morning Star!

As Jeremy Corbyn said this week, “We need a general election. After nine years of austerity, too many people in this country cannot find decent secure well-paid work and have to rely on public services that have been severely cut back [and] that is why we need a Labour government to end austerity and rebuild our country for the many, not the few.”

Let’s unite and make it happen.

Matt Willgress is the National Co-ordinator of the Labour Assembly Against Austerity.

You can sign the ‘Stand with Corbyn — unite to end Tory austerity’ statement at bit.ly/standwithcorbynstatement

Forthcoming events in the tour of the same name are as follows:

Hackney Stands with Corbyn — Unite to End Tory Austerity July 17, 7pm (BSix | Sixth Form College, Hackney, Kenninghall Rd, E5 8BP) With: Diane Abbott MP // Murad Qureshi // Claudia Webbe (Labour NEC) & more local speakers plus special guests to be announced. Tickets at http://bit.ly/hackneystandswithcorbyn

Croydon Stands with Corbyn — Unite to End Tory Austerity.  July 24 — 7.30pm (7pm registration), Ruskin House, Croydon, CR0 1BD. With: Richard Burgon MP // Murad Qureshi // Liam Young, writer // Myriam Kane, Stand up to Racism student officer (pc) // Sian Errington, Labour Assembly Against Austerity. Tickets at bit.ly/croydonstandswithcorbyn

Enfield — Stands with Corbyn — Unite to End Tory Austerity.  August 1 — 7.30pm (7pm registration), St Andrew’s Parish Centre, 8 Silver Street, EN1 3EG With: Murad Qureshi // Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Streatham Labour Left // Matt Willgress, Labour Assembly Against Austerity // Liam Young // Chair: Calvin Tucker, Vice-Chair Enfield Southgate CLP. Tickets at bit.ly/enfieldstandswithcorbyn