I don't see Labour splitting if Corbyn becomes leader.
1983 was different: back then Labour was a very different party: the hard left candidates were Benn and Heffer, and Michael Foot was actually seen as a middle ground candidate! Michael was a brilliant speaker and a great intellect, but a pretty hopeless party leader.
The problem Jeremy Corbyn would have is that there are very few credible figures in the parliamentary party who share his views. To be blunt, if he tried to form a shadow cabinet consisting of Dian Abbott, John McDonnell and co it would probably not last five minutes and I daresay his leadership would not last a lot longer.
The tragedy for me is that while this farce is enacting, the Tories are having a whale of a time, ditching policies from their manifesto they thought they would never have to implement as they didn't believe they would win, and doing immense damage with what they ARE doing: in short what any party with a wafer-thin majority would do in its early months, with opposition in disarray and their own loony right not yet properly in battle formation
And what does it say about our politics, that our youth are seemingly transfixed by a politican whose views are largely those of a dinosaur?