Editing Clause IV (section)

==Text==
[[File:Sidney Webb.jpg|thumb|[[Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield|Sidney Webb]], a socialist economist and early member of the [[Fabian Society]] who drafted the original Clause IV in 1917.]]
The original version of Clause IV was drafted by [[Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield|Sidney]] and [[Beatrice Webb]] in November 1917,<ref name=Guardian1 /> and adopted by the party in 1918.<ref name=Guardian2>{{cite news |author1=<!-- None specified --> |title=The Birth of a Socialist Party |url=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/4/27/1430160778154/Manchester-Guardian-27-Fe-001.jpg |access-date=27 September 2015 |work=[[Manchester Guardian]] |date=27 February 1918 |location=London}}</ref> It read, in part 4:

{{quote|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 (economics)|distribution]] and [[Currency|exchange]], and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.<ref name=IanAdams1>{{cite book |last1=Adams |first1=Ian |title=Ideology and Politics in Britain Today |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_7t714alm68C&pg=PA144 |access-date=21 March 2015 |publisher=[[Manchester University Press]] |date=1998 |edition=illustrated, reprint |pages=144–145 |isbn=9780719050565}}</ref>}}

This section was widely seen as the Labour Party's commitment to [[socialism]], even though the word "socialism" is not explicitly mentioned.<ref name=IanAdams1/> ''[[The Manchester Guardian]]'' heralded it as showing "the Birth of a Socialist Party", stating that:
{{quote|The changes of machinery are not revolutionary, but they are significant. There is now for the first time embodied in the constitution of the party a declaration of political principles, and these principles are definitely Socialistic. ... In other words, the Labour party becomes a Socialist party (the decisive phrase is "the common ownership of the means of production") ... Platonic resolutions have been passed before now, both by the Labour party and by the Trade Unions Congress in favour of the Socialistic organisation of society, but they are now for the first time made an integral part of the party constitution.<ref name=Guardian2 />}}

In 1918, [[Nationalization|nationalisation]] was seen by many voters as akin to modernisation – the nationalisation of the railways was a widely supported policy, for instance, as it would reduce the plethora of uncoordinated and competing companies. This text is usually assumed to involve nationalisation of the whole economy, but close reading of the text shows that there are many other possible interpretations. [[Common ownership]], though later given a technical definition in the Industrial Common Ownership Act 1976, could mean [[municipal ownership]], [[worker cooperative]]s or [[Consumers' co-operative|consumer cooperatives]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Industrial Common Ownership Bill (Hansard, 12 March 1976)|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1976/mar/12/industrial-common-ownership-bill|access-date=2020-11-22|website=api.parliament.uk}}</ref>

In December 1944, the Labour Party adopted a policy of "public ownership"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1945/1945-labour-manifesto.shtml |access-date=2007-08-21 |title=1945 Labour Party Election Manifesto |year=1945 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315015558/http://www.labour-party.org.uk/manifestos/1945/1945-labour-manifesto.shtml |archive-date=2013-03-15 |quote=There are basic industries ripe and over-ripe for public ownership and management in the direct service of the nation. |url-status=dead}}</ref> and won a clear endorsement for its policies – the destruction of the "evil giants" of want, ignorance, squalour, disease and idleness (identified by [[William Beveridge]] in the [[Beveridge Report]])<ref>{{cite book |last=Timmins |first=Nicholas |title=The Five Giants: A Biography of the Welfare State |year=2001 |page=23 |publisher=HarperCollins |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0007102648}}</ref>– in the post-war election victory of 1945 which brought [[Clement Attlee]] to power. However, the party had no clear plan as to how public ownership would shape their reforms, and much debate ensued.

The nationalization was led by [[Herbert Morrison]], who had had the experience of uniting London's buses and underground train system into a centralized system in the 1930s. He started with the [[Bank of England]] in April 1946, whereby stockholders received compensation and the governor and deputy governor were both re-appointed. Further industries swiftly followed: civil aviation in 1946, and railways and telecommunications in 1947, along with the creation of the [[National Coal Board]], which was responsible for supplying 90% of the UK's energy needs. 1946 also saw the establishment of the [[National Health Service]], which came into force in July 1948; railways, canals, road haulage and electricity were all also nationalised in 1948. By 1951, the iron, steel and gas industries had also been brought into public ownership.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Chester|first=Daniel|title=The Nationalisation of British industry 1945–1950|publisher=Her Majesty's Stationery Office|date=January 1975|isbn=9780116301895|location=|pages=38}}</ref>