James Gerald Hylton Schneider (born 17 June 1987)Winchester College: A Register. Edited by P.S.W.K. McClure and R.P. Stevens, on behalf of the Wardens and Fellows of Winchester College. 7th edition, 2014. pp. 905 (Common Time 2000 list heading) & 913 (entry for James Schneider). Published by

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

, Hampshire. is an English political organiser and writer currently serving as Communications Director for

Progressive International The Progressive International is an international organization uniting and mobilizing progressive left-wing activists and organizations. Origins It was launched after the Democracy in Europe Movement (DiEM25) and The Sanders Institute announ ...

. He co-founded the

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

grassroots movement

Momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass an ...

. In October 2016, he was appointed PR advisor to then leader of the Labour Party

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

as Director of Strategic Communications. In 2022, Schneider published ''Our Bloc: How We Win'', laying out a strategy for the British left in the 2020s, both within Labour and beyond. He is also an international chess player, representing

St Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

at the

44th Chess Olympiad The 44th Chess Olympiad (also known as the Indian Chess Olympiad), was organised by the FIDE, Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) in Chennai, the state capital of Tamil Nadu, India from 28 July to 9 August 2022. It consisted of open ...

in Chennai, India in 2022.

Early life

Schneider was born to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

parents in central London. His father Brian was a financier and CEO of Soho-based property company OEM plc and was accused of the theft of £5 million from the company. He died in 2004 at the age of 48, when James was a teenager. James' mother Tessa Lang is a property developer. Schneider and his brother Tim were brought up in

Primrose Hill Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of ...

in North London, with a second family home in

Glen Tanar Glen Tanar ( gd, Gleann Tanar) is a glen in Aberdeenshire, eastern Scotland, through which the Water of Tanar flows. Near the mouth of the glen, at Tower o' Ess, the Water of Tanar flows into the River Dee. This flows through Deeside into t ...

, Scotland. Schneider attended the

Dragon School ("Reach for the Sun") , established = 1877 , closed = , type = Preparatory day and boarding school and Pre-Prep school , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Emma Goldsm ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

for preparatory school. Then from 2000 to 2005, he boarded at

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

as a member of Chawker's (Hawkins'). He went on to study Theology at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. During his time at Oxford, Schneider was president of the

Oxford University Liberal Democrats The Oxford University Liberal Democrats is the student branch of the Liberal Democrats for students at the University of Oxford, with the purpose to support, develop, improve and promote the policies and candidates of the Liberal Democrats and ...

Career

Schneider joined Think Africa Press in 2010, a role he held until he became the senior correspondent at ''

New African ''New African'' is an English-language monthly news magazine based in London. Published since 1966, it is read by many people across the African continent and the African diaspora. It claims to be the oldest pan-African monthly in English, as well ...

''in 2014. He has described his work at Think Africa Press as formative, in which he began to look at local issues using ideas that were critical of capitalism and imperialism. Schneider joined the Labour Party in May 2015 after the defeat of

Ed Miliband Edward Samuel "Ed" Miliband (born 24 December 1969) is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband ...

and Labour in the 2015 general election. He was a key figure within the left-wing grassroots movement

, which was formed in October 2015 as a support group for

, who had been elected Labour leader the previous month. The group also played a significant role in the 2016 campaign to reelect Corbyn after a leadership challenge. Following their success in this campaign, Schneider was appointed as Director of Strategic Communications for the office of the

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in October 2016. Schneider has written articles for publications such as ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'',

Novara Media Novara Media (often shortened to Novara) is an independent,F. Mayhew,The Media Fund offers 'democratic' alternative to billionaire press owners and BBC' (11/10/17) in Press Gazette left-wing alternative media organisation based in the United King ...

, and ''

LabourList LabourList is a British news website supportive of, but independent of, the Labour Party, launched in 2009. Describing itself as Labour's "biggest independent grassroots e-network", the site's content includes news, commentary, interviews, campa ...

''. He states that he has read Marxist sociologist

Ralph Miliband Ralph Miliband (born Adolphe Miliband; 7 January 1924 – 21 May 1994) was a British sociologist. He has been described as "one of the best known academic Marxists of his generation", in this manner being compared with E. P. Thompson, Eric Ho ...

(father of Ed) and "learned from his critiques", but states that the academic was "writing in a different moment of history".

Personal life

Schneider was criticised after online comments bearing his name were uncovered, in which he expressed support for Conservative Party candidates and policies, including a post on the right-wing

ConservativeHome ConservativeHome is a British right-wing blog which supports, but is independent of, the Conservative Party. It was first established by Tim Montgomerie in 2005 with the aim of arguing for a broad conservative spectrum, which is serious about bot ...

website, urging a Conservative candidate to defeat a sitting Labour MP. Schneider says that his online comments do not reflect his current thinking, and that "People can and they do change their political views". Schneider describes himself as "culturally

Bibliography

* ''Our Bloc: How We Win'' (2022)

References

External links

James Schneider
at ''

openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage de ...

''
James Schneider
at ''

''
James Schneider
at '' Red Pepper''
James Schneider
at ''

Jacobin , logo = JacobinVignette03.jpg , logo_size = 180px , logo_caption = Seal of the Jacobin Club (1792–1794) , motto = "Live free or die"(french: Vivre libre ou mourir) , successor = Pa ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, James Living people 1987 births Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford English Jews English political writers Jewish British politicians Labour Party (UK) politicians People educated at St Paul's School, London People educated at The Dragon School People educated at Winchester College People from the London Borough of Camden Writers about activism and social change