Yesterday, searching for my birth certificate in an ancient box file, I came across an old Labour Party membership card.
It's from the pre-Blair era, when Labour was Labour rather than New Labour. And it's notable for the paragraph on the reverse, the seminal Clause IV.
"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."
Can someone remind me of the problem with this?
It seems to me to be a wholly legitimate and laudable aspiration. Had we (Labour) practised what we no longer preach, we may have avoided - inter alia - the banking crisis, the deficit and Ant and Dec. We might even be a bigger and better society.
Today's listening: Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidanada. Sublime.
It's from the pre-Blair era, when Labour was Labour rather than New Labour. And it's notable for the paragraph on the reverse, the seminal Clause IV.
"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."
Can someone remind me of the problem with this?
It seems to me to be a wholly legitimate and laudable aspiration. Had we (Labour) practised what we no longer preach, we may have avoided - inter alia - the banking crisis, the deficit and Ant and Dec. We might even be a bigger and better society.
Today's listening: Alice Coltrane, Journey in Satchidanada. Sublime.
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