Remaking The Labour Party

The text discusses the development of revisionist thought in the Labour Party from the 1950s up to Tony Blair's successful attempt to rewrite Clause Four in April 1995. The main focus of the text is upon the most distinctive and controversial aspect of Labour revisionism - its attitude toward public ownership and socialism, private ownership and the mixed economy. The text explores the process of ideological conflict that began with the Labour Party's debate in the 1950s over the link between public ownership and socialism. The deepening confrontation that arose from the revisionist thinking of Crosland and Gaitskell is explored in the Clause Four controversy of 1959-60 and in the uneasy compromise forged in its aftermath. The period of ideological truce under Harold Wilson's leadership is examined, along with the bitter conflict that later resurfaced in the party during the 1970s and early 1980s. Finally, the text focuses on the second stage of Labour's policy and ideological rethinking which developed after 1983 under the leadership first of Neil Kinnock and then of Tony Blair.

Examines the development of revisionist thought in the Labour Party from the 1950s up to Tony Blair's successful attempt to rewrite Clause Four in April 1995. The main focus of the text is upon the most distinctive and controversial aspect of Labour revisionism - its attitude toward public ownership and socialism, private ownership and the mixed economy. The text comprises a detailed study of a process of ideological conflict which began with the Labour Party's debate in the 1950s over the link between public ownership and socialism. The deepening confrontation that arose from the revisionist thinking of Crosland and Gaitskell is explored in the Clause Four controversy of 1959-60 and in the uneasy compromise forged in its aftermath. The period of ideological truce under Harold Wilson's leadership is examined, together with the bitter conflict that later resurfaced in the party during the 1970s and early 80s. Finally, the study focuses on the second stage of Labour's policy and ideological rethinking which developed after 1983 under the leadership first of Neil Kinnock and then of Tony Blair.