The document provides an overview of different forms of socialism, including Marxism, democratic socialism, social democracy, and the Third Way approach of New Labour. It discusses the ideological evolution of the British Labour Party from its socialist roots to a more centrist social democratic platform under Tony Blair and outlines ongoing debates about the party's direction.
2. Marxism
• Critique of capitalism
• Working class are exploited and
become alienated
• Rejected notion that socialism
could be brought about
peacefully/democratically
• Belief in absolute equality
• Abolition of private property
• State would eventually „wither
away‟ - communism
• „Dictatorship of the proletariat‟
necessary in transition from
revolution to communism
• Marx saw this theory as scientific
rather than utopian
3. “The Labour Party has never
been a socialist party, but it
has always had socialists in it”
(Tony Benn)
4. Democratic Socialist beliefs
• Belief that socialism can be secured by
peaceful means through the ballot
box/parliamentary system
• Modify capitalism but stop short of abolition
• Belief in state ownership
• Extensive welfare state
• Support for state planning
• Strong emphasis on collective working-class
organisations such as the trade unions
• The desire to redistribute wealth and end the
class system and those institutions where
membership is linked to birth and privilege
• Class analysis still important – tilt society in
favour of working class
• Equality of outcome is more important than
individual liberty.
5. Democratic Socialism in Dominated
Labour Party 1900-1951
• Heavy reliance on trade unions for
philosophy and funding
• More „labourist‟ than „socialist‟?
• The most explicitly socialist section of the
party‟s 1918 constitution was Clause IV
• Traditional „Bennite‟ school dominated
party
• Abolish private education
• Abolish private healthcare
• Abolish House of Lords
• Pull out of EU bastion of capitalist fat
cats)
• Pull out of NATO (US imperialism)
• Large scale nationalisation
• Unilateral nuclear disarmament
6. Social Democracy beliefs
• Scepticism towards/rejection of
ideological blueprints
• „Capitalism with a human face‟
• Commitment to equality of
opportunity
• Freedom and fairness being seen
as more important than equality of
outcome
• Mild redistribution of wealth
• The acceptance of a mixed, largely
private economy with some state
intervention/and regulation
• Downplays the importance of class
7. Social Democracy in Dominated
Labour Party 1945-1994
• War and economic boom prompted
„revisionist‟ shift away from radical socialism
• More cautious, moderate way
• Anthony Crosland main theorist
• Rejected Clause IV (Gaitskell tried to abolish it
in „59)
• Mixed (predominately private) economy
• State intervention
• „Competition as far as is possible, planning as
far as it is necessary‟
• Never truly contemplated wholesale
collectivisation
• Keep private healthcare and education
• Improve public health, education and welfare
through moderate redistribution of wealth
• No radical final goal
• More „social‟ than „socialist‟?
8. Third Way
Having lost four successive general elections:
modernised party in response to declining
working class numbers and the discredited
socialist systems in Eastern Europe...
9. Third Way
• Term coined by Anthony Giddens
(1992)
• A path between socialism and neo-
liberalism
• Response to post-Thatcher consensus
• Social justice within a free market,
capitalist system
• Acceptance of privatisation and
relatively low tax levels
• Opportunity for all
• Self realisation
• Focus on social inclusion
• Rights and responsibilities
• Communitarianism
• Class analysis abandoned
10. Third Way - New Labour
• Abandoned old Clause IV
• Accepted privatisation, and encouraged
PFIs in schools and hospitals
• Distanced party from the trade unions
(„fairness, not favours‟) – focus on
individual rights
• Policies more suited to promoting a
meritocracy rather than a truly egalitarian
society (focus on opportunity rather than
redistribution of wealth – no new top rate
of tax)
• Policies deliberately intended to reduce
people‟s dependency on benefits (welfare to
work)
• Pursued authoritarian law and order
policies (ID cards, DNA, 90 day
terror, protests)
11. Though they did still achieve some
socialist goals…
• Minimum wage
• Adopted the European Social
Chapter
• Prior to the recent recession, it was
committed to spending record
sums of money on health (3x) and
education (2x)
• Freedom of Information Act
• Child Tax & Working Tax Credits
• Sure Start
• 600,000 children out of poverty
12. “The Third Way stands for a modernized social
democracy, passionate in its commitment to
social justice and the goals of the centre-
left…But it is a third way because it moves
decisively beyond an Old Left preoccupied by
state control, high taxation and producer
interests; and a New Right treating public
investment, and often the very notions of
„society‟ and collective endeavour, as evils to be
undone.” Tony Blair 1998
13. Battles raged through Ramsay
MacDonald‟s time as PM (1929-1935)
• Raised unemployment pay
• Passed an act increasing wages and
conditions in the mines
• Slum clearances
• However, he was no radical &
acquiesced to pressure from
Conservatives and Liberals to slash
spending during Great Depression and
was accused of betrayal by many in the
Labour Party for forming a National
Unity government with many Labour
ministers resigning
14. Attlee and the „Keep Left‟ group
• Attlee led the first majority
Labour government in 1945-1951
• He was no radical, but some
ministers were – Bevan (Health
Secretary)
• Nationalised key industries (coal,
steel, rail, gas, electricity)
• Central planning of economy –
including rationing to stop slumps
• Undertook a massive council
house building programme (more
than 1 million built)
• Created the NHS/welfare state
15. Attlee and the „Keep Left‟ group
• However, some in the party did not think
the government was socialist enough
• A group of MPs formed the „Keep Left‟
group, arguing the party was abandoning
its socialist roots
• In 1950, ministers Bevan & Wilson
resigned over NHS charges and swelled
the ranks of the group as it became the
Bevanites – challenging Gaitskell and the
moderates throughout the 50s
• However, even though Benn & Foot
became ministers under Wilson in the
60s & 70s, the right with Crossland &
Healey maintained the ascendancy
16. Militant Tendency
• A Trotskyist entryist group
founded in 1964
• Had some victories in 1970s at
Labour conferences – including
pledge to nationalise top 250
industries
• Controlled Liverpool council in
the early 80s and passed illegal
budgets – “Better to break the
law than break the poor"
• Kinnock eventually expelled the
members from the party
17. Foot and the „longest suicide note in
history‟ in 1983
• Benn very close to becoming leader or/deputy
leader of the party in 1981
• Dismayed at the apparent left wing turn, the „Gang
of Four‟ left to form SDP in the same year
• To try to unite the party Foot allowed all pledges
passed at conference to be part of the manifesto
• The New Hope for Britain called for unilateral
nuclear disarmament, withdrawal from the EEC, Interestingly also
included banning
abolition of the House of Lords, end council house
fox hunting, a
sales and the re-nationalisation of recently de- national
nationalised industries like BT & British Aerospace investment bank
• The Conservatives won a substantial election and a minimum
wage!
victory and the party has shifted rightwards ever
since…
18. Socialism in 2012
• Upon winning the leadership
election, Ed Miliband declared that
New Labour was “dead”
• Ideology of the party still „up for
grabs‟?
Social Democracy – Compass
Democratic Socialism – LRC
Return to New Labour – Progress &
the „Purple Book‟
And there‟s also „Blue Labour‟
• Where does Ed Miliband mean to
take the party?
