Clause IV
* * * * * CLAUSE IV PROFILE * * * * *
Here is Clause IV of the Labour Party Constitution in full, as
originally drafted in 1918 and subsequently amended.
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Clause IV. - Party Objects
National
(1) To organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a
political Labour Party.
(2) To co-operate with the General Council of the Trades Union
Congress, or other kindred organisations, in joint political or other
action in harmony with the party constitution and standing orders.
(3) To give effect as far as may be practicable to the principles
from time to time approved by the party conference.
(4) To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of
their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may
be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of
production, distribution, and exchange, and the best obtainable
system of popular administration and control of each industry or
service.
(5) Generally to promote the political, social and economic
emancipation of the people, and more particularly of those who depend
directly upon their own exertions by hand or by brain for the means
of life.
Inter-Commonwealth
(6) To co-operate with the labour and socialist organisations in the
Commonwealth overseas with a view to promoting the purposes of the
party, and to take common action for the promotion of a higher
standard of social and economic life for the working population of
the respective countries.
International
(7) To co-operate with the labour and socialist organisation in
other countries and to support the United Nations Organisation and
its various agencies and other international organisations for the
promotion of peace, the adjustment and settlement of international
disputes by conciliation of judicial arbitration, the establishment
and defence of human rights, and the improvement of the social and
economic standards and conditions of work of the people of the world.
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Hugh Gaitskell in his leader's speech in the 1959 Labour Conference
(again in Blackpool) said:
"I do think that we should clear our minds on these fundamental
issues and then try to express in the most simple and comprehensible
fashion what we stand for in the world today. The only official
document which embodies such an attempt is the Party Constitution
written over forty years ago. It seems to me that this needs to be
brought up to date.
For instance, can we really be satisfied today with a statement of
fundamentals which makes no mention at all of colonial freedom, race
relations, disarmament, full employment or planning? The only
specific reference to our objectives at home is the well-known
phrase:
'To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of
their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may
be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of
production, distribution, and exchange, and the best obtainable
system of popular administration and control of each industry or
service.'
Standing on its own, this cannot possibly be regarded as adequate.
It lays us open to continual misrepresentation. It implies that
common ownership is an end, whereas in fact it is a means. It implies
that the only precise object we have is nationalization, whereas we
have in fact many other Socialist objectives.
It implies that we propose to nationalize everything, but do we?
Everything? - the whole of light industry, the whole of agriculture,
all the shops - every little pub and garage? Of course not. We have
long ago come to accept, we know very well, for the forseeable
future, at least in some form, a mixed economy; in which case, if
this is our view - as I believe it to be of 90 per cent of the Labour
Party - had we not better say so instead of going out of our way to
court misrepresentation?"
Gaitskell made it quite clear that he felt Labour's commitment to
nationalization had lost the party votes in the 1959 General
Election. Until the first results were declared, Gaitskell believed
he had won. The Labour Manifesto in 1959 had been equivocal on the
subject, praising the role of nationalized industries and committing
the party to nationalize Steel and long-distance truck haulage, but
declaring "we have no other plans for further nationalisation" except
where an industry was shown to be "failing the nation".
However it soon became clear that the NEC was not prepared to accept
the dropping of Clause IV (4). At the March meeting, it agreed to
change the constitution by adding an amplification. But in July, the
NEC decided not to proceed with any addition.
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