Few on the Left will relish being reminded of the anniversary, but today marks one year since Labour’s landslide general election defeat. It brought the final denouement of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, in which so many socialists had invested their hopes.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, thousands of left-wing activists had poured into constituencies across the country to campaign for a transformative Labour government, committed to reversing decades of damage to Britain’s social fabric. Back in the June 2017 election, a similar mass canvassing operation had seemed to do the trick. Defying predictions, the Labour vote had surged to 40 percent, forcing a hung parliament. But second time around, the task was simply too great — and the Tories returned with an eighty-seat majority.

With Labour now tacking sharply to the right under Corbyn’s successor Keir Starmer, many on the Left are wondering whether it was all worth it. To socialists on both sides of the Atlantic, it must feel as if normal service has been resumed after a turbulent and exhausting few years. Indeed, Joe Biden made this an explicit part of his appeal in the recent US presidential election — offering a tired electorate a degree of calm.