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#TheFutureOfSocialism

The Future of Socialism by Anthony Crosland, published in 1956, is regarded as one of the most influential books in post-war British Labour Party thinking and the seminal work of the 'revisionist' school of Labour politics.Crosland sought to revise Read More..

by Anthony Crosland

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Description	The Future of Socialism by Anthony Crosland, published in 1956, is regarded as one of the most influential books in post-war British Labour Party thinking and the seminal work of the 'revisionist' school of Labour politics.Crosland sought to revise the Labour Party's constitutional commitment to the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, (Aims, Clause four, party four): "If Socialism is defined as the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, we produce solutions which deny almost all the values that socialists have normally read into the word.” Quoted by Hattersley in Hattersley, Roy, To imagine Labour's future, rewind 50 years, The Times online, September 15, 2006, accessed 27 June 2007Crosland, an Oxford University academic before entering Parliament, had lost his seat in the United Kingdom general election, 1955, and so was able to finish the book he had been working on for several years, seeking to offer a new argument for social democracy in the context of the new political and economic consensus introduced by the 1945-1951 Clement Attlee governments.Some argue that no book of the stature of The Future of Socialism has been written since 1956, leaving Labour to live off its intellectual capital. However, The Future of Socialism has continued to be a reference point for intellectual debates within the Labour Party and the centre-left in succeeding generations - including the SDP-Labour split in 1981, the modernisation of Labour under Neil Kinnock and the rise of New Labour. The book's 50th anniversary in 2006 sparked a new debate with leading Labour figures including Gordon Brown, Jack Straw, Jack Straw, Socialism: the new divide, New Statesman, 18 September 2006, accessed 27 June 2007 Ed Miliband,, Google cached page accessed 27 June 2007 Roy Hattersley Hattersley, Roy, To imagine Labour's future, rewind 50 years, The Times online, September 15, 2006, accessed 27 June 2007 and others setting out views of its relevance to the next generation of 'post-New Labour' politics. The Fabian Society which co-published the new 2006 edition set out the argument about 'renewal' of Labour's thinking after a decade in power requires a further generation of 'revisionist' thinking which seeks to emulate Crosland's contribution in the 1950s.A central argument in the book is Crosland's distinction between 'means' and 'ends'. Crosland demonstrates the variety of socialist thought over time, and argues that a definition of socialism founded on nationalisation and public ownership is mistaken, since these are simply one possible means to an end. For Crosland, the defining goal of the left should be more social equality. Crosland argued thatCrosland also argued that an attack on unjustified inequalities would give any left party a political project to make the definition of the end point of 'how much equality' a secondary and more academic question.Crosland also developed his argument about the nature of capitalism (developing the argument in his contribution 'The Transition from Capitalism' in the 1952 New Fabian Essays volume). Asking, "is this still capitalism?", Crosland argued that post-war capitalism had fundamentally changed, meaning that the Marxist claim that it was not possible to pursue equality in a capitalist economy was no longer true. Crosland wrote that,Crosland argued that these features of a reformed managerial capitalism were irreversible. Others within the Labour Party argued that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan brought about its reversal.A third important argument was Crosland's liberal vision of the 'good society'. Here his target was the dominance in Labour and Fabian thinking of Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb, and a rather grey, top down bureaucratic vision of the socialist project. Following Tawney, Crosland stressed that equality would not mean uniformity:
Description	The Future of Socialism by Anthony Crosland, published in 1956, is regarded as one of the most influential books in post-war British Labour Party thinking and the seminal work of the 'revisionist' school of Labour politics.Crosland sought to revise the Labour Party's constitutional commitment to the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, (Aims, Clause four, party four): "If Socialism is defined as the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, we produce solutions which deny almost all the values that socialists have normally read into the word.” Quoted by Hattersley in Hattersley, Roy, To imagine Labour's future, rewind 50 years, The Times online, September 15, 2006, accessed 27 June 2007Crosland, an Oxford University academic before entering Parliament, had lost his seat in the United Kingdom general election, 1955, and so was able to finish the book he had been working on for several years, seeking to offer a new argument for social democracy in the context of the new political and economic consensus introduced by the 1945-1951 Clement Attlee governments.Some argue that no book of the stature of The Future of Socialism has been written since 1956, leaving Labour to live off its intellectual capital. However, The Future of Socialism has continued to be a reference point for intellectual debates within the Labour Party and the centre-left in succeeding generations - including the SDP-Labour split in 1981, the modernisation of Labour under Neil Kinnock and the rise of New Labour. The book's 50th anniversary in 2006 sparked a new debate with leading Labour figures including Gordon Brown, Jack Straw, Jack Straw, Socialism: the new divide, New Statesman, 18 September 2006, accessed 27 June 2007 Ed Miliband,, Google cached page accessed 27 June 2007 Roy Hattersley Hattersley, Roy, To imagine Labour's future, rewind 50 years, The Times online, September 15, 2006, accessed 27 June 2007 and others setting out views of its relevance to the next generation of 'post-New Labour' politics. The Fabian Society which co-published the new 2006 edition set out the argument about 'renewal' of Labour's thinking after a decade in power requires a further generation of 'revisionist' thinking which seeks to emulate Crosland's contribution in the 1950s.A central argument in the book is Crosland's distinction between 'means' and 'ends'. Crosland demonstrates the variety of socialist thought over time, and argues that a definition of socialism founded on nationalisation and public ownership is mistaken, since these are simply one possible means to an end. For Crosland, the defining goal of the left should be more social equality. Crosland argued thatCrosland also argued that an attack on unjustified inequalities would give any left party a political project to make the definition of the end point of 'how much equality' a secondary and more academic question.Crosland also developed his argument about the nature of capitalism (developing the argument in his contribution 'The Transition from Capitalism' in the 1952 New Fabian Essays volume). Asking, "is this still capitalism?", Crosland argued that post-war capitalism had fundamentally changed, meaning that the Marxist claim that it was not possible to pursue equality in a capitalist economy was no longer true. Crosland wrote that,Crosland argued that these features of a reformed managerial capitalism were irreversible. Others within the Labour Party argued that Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan brought about its reversal.A third important argument was Crosland's liberal vision of the 'good society'. Here his target was the dominance in Labour and Fabian thinking of Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb, and a rather grey, top down bureaucratic vision of the socialist project. Following Tawney, Crosland stressed that equality would not mean uniformity:

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Name	The Future of Socialism
Name
Authors	Anthony Crosland
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Language	English
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Country	United Kingdom
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Pages	540 pp. (first edition)
Pages
Media_type	Print (hardcover)
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Isbn
Oclc	2162209
Oclc
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
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Pub_date	1956
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