Who are they? Lefties.
What are they? When Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party confounded expectations in the 2017 general election – essentially by not losing as badly as they were supposed to – the surprise result was largely credited to a surge in youth turnout. The numbers certainly made it look that way. Whereas in 2015 the 18-24 showing was around 43 percent, this year YouGov put it closer to 58 percent. Since then, it's been taken as read: Britain's young people are resolutely left-wing.
What are they? When Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party confounded expectations in the 2017 general election – essentially by not losing as badly as they were supposed to – the surprise result was largely credited to a surge in youth turnout. The numbers certainly made it look that way. Whereas in 2015 the 18-24 showing was around 43 percent, this year YouGov put it closer to 58 percent. Since then, it's been taken as read: Britain's young people are resolutely left-wing.
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Yet how meaningful this political identity is – or at least how it's realised – is a different matter. As widespread as left-leaning politics seem among people under 30 right now, that doesn't mean all young people are lefties.Because a lefty – an actual lefty – is something different. Sure, you voted Labour in the last election and you follow Owen Jones on Twitter. Friend, that doesn't make you a lefty. When did you last lose an hour to some dog-eared Marcuse? How many times have you had to narrowly evade arrest with a distress flare in your hand? How often do you catch yourself talking about inheritance tax at house parties? More than your average Canary reader, the UK's real dyed-in-the-wool lefties are a new school of engaged and outraged activists and thinkers. Away from the political and social mainstream are a group of young people who want the future to be very, very different.For this instalment of the VICE UK census, we spoke to a range of self-professed left-wingers, from up and down the UK. We asked them about their politics, their lives, who influenced them and what they hope to influence. Meet Britain's most angry and idealistic subculture.
Milly, 23 (Photographed)
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In academic terms I'd say I'm a poststructuralist feminist. For my PhD I'm looking at the ways in which the government portrays the obesity crisis and presents a concern for people's health, even though they are systematically dismantling our health system. If you're fat you're a "drain on the state"; it's your individual responsibility to be fit, and if you're not we can dehumanise you on television, strip you down to your underwear and tell you you're worthless. Then when we relate this to gender, what does that mean? What do new technologies like Instagram and tracking devices mean for women? There are quasi-religious undertones to how women diet. If you go to a slimming club you're supposed to sit around and confess. Clean eating infers that if you don't eat clean, you eat dirty, which means you're impure.I campaigned for Labour, did a lot around Birmingham. To be honest I was quite optimistic as the campaigning was going on, speaking to people who seemed disillusioned by the Tories. I stayed up on my own on election night, and when the exit polls came out I did a roly-poly across my room – I was so happy. For ages it had seemed like everything was shifting to the right so massively. Even though it wasn't a win as such, it pushed against everything that came before it.I've been a Labour Party member since 2012. I felt Ed Miliband was certainly a step in the right direction, but after attending a conference fringe event with the late Tony Benn and then-backbencher Jeremy Corbyn, I realised there were still many like-minded people in the party, so I signed up. I was asked by a friend to stand as a local council candidate in the 2015 elections for a ward in my hometown of Bideford, Devon. I relished the opportunity, which coincided with my final undergraduate exams, and received mixed results on both fronts – a 2:1 degree and getting elected onto the Town Council but not the District. Since being on that body, I've ensured the Town Council pays all its staff the real living wage of £8.45 an hour and successfully applied for a £20,000 grant from the Rural Community Energy Fund to help set up a renewable energy cooperative.
Joe, 23
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Jess, 30
John, 22
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I get judged every time I reveal my beliefs even slightly to anyone who thinks Peter Hitchens is an academic authority or buys trickle down economics as a social theory. I'm mixed race so I tend to get on poorly with proper racists, which is reciprocated. Also, I really dislike centrists. I can respect a Tory, as I know where they stand theoretically, but I ask you, why would you be a Liberal Democrat? I mean, come on, really, why? It just seems like a poor political choice indicative of wider failings on a human level.
Rachel, 29
James, 24
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Rhiannon, 21
Monty, 22
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