Is Labour's Brexit position unclear?

It's easy to find people, even Labour supporters, who think so. But is there much point internalizing and repeating this accusation?

The position is perfectly understandable : Labour doesn't want to give up freedom of movement and it wants to stay in the single market; but it won’t try to prevent or undo Brexit itself. There’s nothing woolly or confused or nefarious about this. It’s really the only sensible position to take, given that : a) there’s a clear democratic mandate for Brexit b) leaving the single-market is going to do a lot of economic harm to the country c) Labour is instinctively liberal on immigration That is NOT an "unclear" position. It’s a nuanced one. The only problem with it is that it’s not a simplistic gung-ho Brexitism or intransigent Remainia that everyone wants to hear. But wouldn't it better for Labour to try to take a more positive stand, one way or the other? Sadly. Brexit really is a no-win situation for Labour. There is no stance that Corbyn can take on it that will win him significant new support. And anything he says will drive away some faction of existing support. If he’s stronger for Brexit, he’ll alienate even more of his metropolitan Remainers. If he’s stronger for Remain he’ll lose even more of the pro-Brexit ex-industrial north. If he tries to find a nuanced position in the middle he’ll lose some of both of these groups. And he'll open himself to the complaint that he’s weak and confusing. Even so, I think that’s still the least worst option. The wider picture here is that the alliance that underpins Labour - between an industrial working class organized through unions and the liberal middle / professional class - is breaking apart. This is clearly a world-wide phenomenon, rather than specifically about the UK or Corbyn. The US Democrats and various Euro-Socialist parties represented the same coalition. And they're all in trouble. As an aside here, we should emphasize that terms like “white working class” and the implication that the working class are socially conservative or racist etc. are an ugly libel. The industrial working class has a proud and admirable history of anti-racism, strong women and socially progressive sympathies. There would never have been an alliance in the first place if that wasn’t the case. What is true, though, is that the centre-left parties, in accepting the neoliberal consensus formed in the 1980s, really did give up any kind of strategic answer to the problems facing the industrial working class in the age of globalization. The working class have a genuine grievance that the Labour party doesn’t do much for them. Which expresses itself as saying “the politicians are all the same”. Which, for many working people is close to being true. Now it turns out that Brexit was a massive hammer blow to crack the UK Labour coalition into its two parts. The ex industrial working class and the metropolitan professionals may agree on the NHS and even many socially liberal issues. But they really disagree on Brexit and Europe. And they really want to go in their own separate directions. But Corbyn … Corbyn actually is that coalition in person : he's considered “far left” for being a critic of the EU and its trade agreements, but he represents the most metropolitan lefty liberal borough in London. He wants to nationalize the railways and tax the rich because "economic justice" instincts. But he has a history of activism in more culturally liberal causes like peace and nuclear disarmament. Historic forces are tearing the centre-left coalition apart, and everyone else seems to want to go with the flow. But Corbyn is basically in the position of this guy :

Except, of course, Corbyn is no superhero. (“Boom! Boom!”, sneer his critics.) So yeah. Corbyn isn’t a superhero. He’s not even a particularly good politician. He’s just a guy with a conscience who’s found himself in a role that’s perhaps beyond his political skills. And, realistically, in the up-coming election? He may well get ripped apart by those historical forces. Along with the centre-left coalition that makes up the Labour Party. (And then everyone will crow about useless he was.) But at least he’s trying to keep the coalition together. And the Labour ship afloat. And he's presenting policies that are intended to address the economic reality of the working class that voted for Brexit. Without selling out to the fascists. That’s where we are. And that's who we've got. Right now, though it seems that far too many people, who are allegedly on the left, would rather tear Corbyn down for failing to be a superhero who can single-handedly pull the Labour ship back together, than actually pitch in and try to help him keep Labour afloat. That’s the really sad thing. Seeing the left hung up on the idea of miracle “leaders”, who will solve all their problems; rather than believing in and practicing communal action.