Abstract
Writing in 1962, the former Labour MP and ex-cabinet minister, Hugh Dalton gave high praise to Tony Crosland’s The Future of Socialism: ‘This is a most important book, brilliant, original and brave. It has already had much clarifying influence on current thought, both inside and outside the Labour party. And its influence will grow.’1 Five years earlier when Labour had published Industry and Society, the New Statesman had reflected on Crosland’s influence on the party alongside that of Hugh Gaitskell and Socialist Union: ‘The policies bear the imprint of the “new thinkers” rather than of any other group within the movement.’2 The new document was hailed as a major development in socialist thinking. The Spectator commented, ‘Their intention is not to end capitalism but to become capitalists too.’3 One group of socialist MPs lamented it as a ‘policy of retreat’.4 During the 1950s Revisionism became firmly established as the basis of Labour’s social democracy.5
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Hugh Dalton, High Tide and After (Muller, London, 1962), p. 412.
New Statesman, 20 July 1957, p. 73. It noted that compromises had been made within the drafting committee.
The Spectator, 19 July 1957.
The Times, 29 July 1957.
See Vernon Bogdanor, ‘The Labour Party in Opposition 1951–1964’, in Vernon Bogdanor and Robert Skidelsky (eds), The Age of Affluence 1951–1964 (London, Macmillan, 1970), pp. 78–116;
David Coates, The Labour Party and the Struggle for Socialism (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. 75–96;
David Howell, British Social Democracy (London, Croom Helm, 1976), 174–244.
Samuel Beer, Modern British Politics (London, Faber and Faber, 1965), pp. 188–200;
David Butler, The British General Election of 1955 (London, Macmillan, 1955), pp. 13–15, 24–5;
Stephen Haseler, The Gaitskellites (London, Macmillan, 1969), pp. 48–67;
Ralph Miliband, Parliamentary Socialism (Merlin, London, 1972, originally 1962), pp. 315–36;
and Patricia Pugh, Educate, Agitate, Organise (London, Methuen, 1984), p. 232.
Denis Healey, Socialism with a Human Face (London, 1981), p. 6.
Robert Currie, Industrial Politics (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 179–90; S. Haseler, The Gaitskellites, pp. 99–107;
W. A. Robson, Nationalised Industry and Public Ownership (London, George Allen and Unwin, 1960), pp. 474–85;
and H. Weiner, British Labour and Public Ownership (London, Stevens, 1958), pp. 78–95.
Labour party, Industry and Society (1957), p. 16.
Industry and Society, pp. 16–17.
Industry and Society, p. 57.
Labour party, Labour Believes in Britain (1949), pp. 12–13.
LPACR (1949), p. 155.
‘Report to Policy Committee of Sub-Committee on Privately Owned Industry’, RD: 236/December 1948, p. 3.
Labour party, Challenge to Britain (1953), p. 11.
‘The Future of Private Industry’, RE: 113/November 1956, p. 4.
Labour party, Plan for Progress (1958), p. 12.
Industry and Society, p. 48.
Labour party, Signposts for the Sixties (1961), p. 10.
W. A. Robson, Nationalized Industry and Public Ownership, p. 478.
Labour party, Britain Belongs to You (1959).
Lewis Minkin, The Labour Party Conference (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1980), pp. 237–41 and 325–6.
See D. Howell, British Social Democracy, 186–90; David Howell, The Rise and Fall of Bevanism, (ILP, no date); Mark Jenkins, Bevanism Labour’s High Tide (Nottingham, Spokesman, 1979);
and Alan Warde, Consensus and Beyond (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1982), pp. 75–97.
S. Haseler, The Gaitskellites, p. 20; D. Howell, British Social Democracy, pp. 139–49.
Barbara Castle, ‘The Socialist Alternative’, Fabian Journal, 5 (1952), pp. 13–17, p. 15.
Quoted by M. Jenkins, Bevanism, p. 83.
Susan Crosland, Tony Crosland (London, Jonathan Cape, 1982), p. 68.
Petronius, Fabian Journal, 6 (1952), p. 27.
Richard Crossman, Planning for Progress (London, Hamish Hamilton, 1965).
As well as Contemporary Capitalism (London, Victor Gollancz, 1956), see Strachey’s review of Crosland’s The Future of Socialism, ‘The New Revisionist’, New Statesman, 6 October 1956.
Michael Newman, John Strachey (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 1989), p. 146.
See Lin Chun, The British New Left (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1993);
Michael Kenny, The First New Left (London, Lawrence and Wishart, 1995), pp. 119–67;
and David Widgery (ed.), The Left in Britain (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1976), pp. 509–14.
See John Hughes, ‘New Left Economic Policy’, in Robin Archer et al (eds), Out of Apathy (London, Verso, 1989), pp. 95–106.
The Insiders, in Universities and Left Review, 3 (1958), pp. 24–64, p. 31.
Michael Barratt Brown, ‘The Controllers’, parts I–III, Universities and Left Review, 5, 6, 7 (1958–9), pp. 53–61, 38–41, 43–9.
Michael Barratt Brown, ‘Plan for Progress’, Universities and Left Review, 6 (1959), pp. 12–18, p. 16.
John Hughes, ‘The Commanding Heights’, New Left Review, 4 (1960), pp. 11–19.
John Hughes, ‘The British Economy: Crisis and Structural Change’, New Left Review, 21 (1963), pp. 3–20.
John Hughes, ‘Steel Nationalisation and Political Power’, New Reasoner, 2 (1957), pp. 6–29;
and John Hughes, Plan for Steel Re-Nationalisation (Fabian Research Series 198, 1958).
Clive Jenkins, ‘Retreat: The Labour Party and the Public Corporations’, p. 58, The Insiders; and Clive Jenkins, Power at the Top (London, MacGibbon and Kee, 1959).
Michael Artis and Peter Sedgewick, ‘The Scope of Nationalisation’, in The Insiders, pp. 38–41, p. 39.
John Hughes, ‘An Economic Policy for Labour’, New Left Review, 24 (1964), pp. 5–32.
Ken Coates, ‘Workers’ Control’, New Left Review, 23 (1964), pp. 69–71, p. 70.
Ken Alexander and John Hughes, A Socialist Wages Plan (New Left discussion booklet, 1959), p. 7.
For a discussion see H. Turner et al, ‘A Polemic on the Wages Plan’, New Reasoner, 10 (1959), pp. 73–106.
See Ralph Miliband, ‘The Politics of Contemporary Capitalism’, New Reasoner, 5 (1958), pp. 39–52;
Ralph Miliband, ‘The Transition to the Transition’, New Reasoner, 6 (1958), pp. 35–48;
and John Saville, ‘The Welfare State’, New Reasoner, 2 (1957), pp. 5–25.
Notably John Hughes. See also Ken Alexander, ‘Premier Wilson’s Plan’, New Left Review, 9 (1961), pp. 53–6.
Quoted by Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell (London, Jonathan Cape, 1979), p. 389.
See Anthony Crosland, The Conservative Enemy (London, Jonathan Cape, 1962), pp. 68–96
and M. Barratt Brown, ‘Crosland’s Enemy’, New Left Review, 19 (1963), pp. 23–31. See also Michael Kenny, The First New Left, pp. 129–36.
Ralph Samuel, ‘Born Again Socialism’, in R. Archer et al, Out of Apathy, pp. 39–58, p. 49. John Hughes is dubious about the impact of these proposals on Labour; interview, February 1994.
New Reasoner, 3 (1957–58), p. 3.
Peter Sedgewick, ‘The Two New Lefts’, in D. Widgery (ed.), The Left in Britain, p. 135.
Anthony Crosland, The New Socialism (Dissent, Melbourne, 1963), p. 12.
An early critique of economic policy, which stressed the UK’s commitments abroad, was Andrew Shonfield, UK Economic Policy Since the War (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1958).
Following Alan Warde’s term ‘technocratic-socialism’, see A. Warde, Consensus and Beyond, pp. 94–109. See also Paul Foot, The Politics of Harold Wilson (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1967); S. Haseler, The Gaitskellites, pp. 243–9; D. Howell, British Social Democracy, pp. 236–40; and R. Miliband, Parliamentary Socialism, pp. 353–60.
Harold Wilson, The New Britain: Labour’s Plan (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1964), p. 14.
Harold Wilson, Purpose in Politics Selected Speeches (London, Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1964), pp. 14–28.
See also Tony Benn, Out of the Wilderness (London, Hutchinson, 1987), pp. 82–3;
and Labour party, Labour and the Scientific Revolution (1963).
A. Warde, Consensus and Beyond, p. 98.
See J. Sargent, Out of Stagnation (Fabian Tract 343, 1963), p. 29;
and M. Stewart and R. Winsbury, An Incomes Policy for Labour (Fabian Tract 350, 1963), pp. 22–3.
See, for example, the unabridged version of Crosland’s The Future of Socialism (London, Jonathan Cape, 1956), pp. 444–5.
H. Wilson, The New Britain: Labour’s Plan, p. 18.
M. Stewart and R. Winsbury, An Incomes Policy for Labour.
Contrast A. Crosland, Can Labour Win?, p. 19; and A. Crosland, The Conservative Enemy, pp. 158–159. See also David Butler and Anthony King, The British General Election of 1964 (London, Macmillan, 1965), p. 62.
A. Crosland, The Future of Socialism, preface.
See Harold Wilson, Post-War Economic Policies in Britain (Fabian Tract 309, 1957); and Harold Wilson, ‘A Four Year Plan for Britain’, New Statesman, 24 March 1961, pp. 462–8.
See also Ben Pimlott, Harold Wilson (London, Harper Collins, 1992), p. 227.
D. Butler and A. King, The British General Election of 1964, pp. 57–76.
Labour party, Labour in the Sixties (1960).
Signposts for the Sixties, pp. 12–14.
Labour party, Let’s Go with Labour for the New Britain (1964).
See Wilfred Beckerman (ed.), The Labour Government’s Economic Record 1964–1970 (London, Duckworth, 1972);
David Butler and Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, The British General Election of 1970 (London, Macmillan, 1971), pp. 1–46; P. Foot, The Politics of Harold Wilson;
Brian Lapping, The Labour Government 1964–70 (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1970);
Clive Ponting, Breach of Promise (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1989);
Michael Stewart, The Jekyll and Hyde Years (London, Dent, 1977), pp. 21–118;
and Phillip Whitehead, The Writing on the Wall (London, Michael Joseph, 1985) pp. 1–28.
Michael Artis, ‘Fiscal Policy for Stabilisation’, in W. Beckerman (ed.), The Labour Government’s Economic Record 1964–1970, pp. 262–99, p. 265.
D. Howell, British Social Democracy, p. 254.
See G. Dorfman, Government Versus Trade Unionism in British Politics Since 1968 (London, Macmillan, 1979), pp. 8–49;
W. Fishbein, Wage Pvestraint by Consensus (London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984), pp. 53–6;
and Leo Panitch, Social Democracy and Industrial Militancy, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 165–203;
The leftwing Tribune group tended towards negative criticisms of the Wilson government, with a few positive proposals added on briefly without any theoretical basis. See Tribune group, ‘Never Again’, Tribune, 20 July 1967; and Tribune group, ‘A New Economic Strategy for Labour’, Tribune, 12 January 1968.
Michael Foot, ‘Credo of the Labour Left’, New Left Review, 49 (1968), pp. 19–34, p. 25.
Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams, and E. P. Thompson, May Day Manifesto (May day pamphlet, 1967).
Raymond Williams (ed.), May Day Manifesto 1968 (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1968), pp. 41–4.
Another source of opposition to the Labour government was the Institute for Workers’ Control which had been founded in 1964 to lobby for industrial democracy.
Labour party, Labour’s Economic Strategy (1969).
The demands for industrial democracy had surfaced at Labour’s conference in 1967. Labour’s Economic Strategy, p. 59.
Labour party, Agenda for a Generation (1969).
Labour party, Now Britain’s Strong — Let’s Make It Great to Live in (1970).
See T. Burgess et al, Matters of Principle Labour’s Last Chance (Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1968);
and Peter Townsend and Nicholas Bosanquet (eds), Labour and Inequality (London, Fabian Society, 1972).
For a defence see A. Crosland, Socialism Now (London, Jonathan Cape, 1975);
R. Crossman, Socialism and Planning (Fabian Tract 375, 1967); and Wilson’s own mammoth volume, The Labour Government 1964–1970 (London, Weidenfield and Nicolson, 1971).
A. MacIntyre, ‘The Strange Death of Social Democratic England’, in D. Widgery (ed.), The Left in Britain, pp. 235–40.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1996 Mark Wickham-Jones
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Wickham-Jones, M. (1996). The Revisionist Ascendancy. In: Economic Strategy and the Labour Party. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373679_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230373679_3
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-69372-8
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-37367-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)