Editing Clause IV (section)

==Hugh Gaitskell's fight==
After losing the [[1959 United Kingdom general election|1959 general election]], Labour Party leader [[Hugh Gaitskell]] came to believe that public opposition to [[Nationalization|nationalisation]] had led to the party's poor performance and proposed to amend Clause IV.<ref>{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Tudor |title=Remaking the Labour Party: From Gaitskell to Blair |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r8kmMWdl5uQC&pg=PR8 |publisher=Routledge |date=2005 |page=viii |isbn=978-1-134-80132-9}}</ref> The [[Left-wing politics|left wing]] of the party fought back and managed to defeat any change: symbolically, it was then agreed to include Clause IV, part 4, on Labour Party membership cards.<ref name=Guardian1>{{cite news |last1=Gani |first1=Aisha |title=Clause IV: a brief history |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/09/clause-iv-of-labour-party-constitution-what-is-all-the-fuss-about-reinstating-it |access-date=27 September 2015 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=9 August 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hill |first1=Alison |title=Axing Clause IV: Making Labour safe for capitalism |url=https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/20413/ |access-date=27 September 2015 |work=The Socialist |date=1 April 2015}}</ref>

The economic crisis of the 1970s, and the defeats suffered by the [[trade union]] movement, as well as the decline in influence of the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]], led to a strengthening of the position of Labour Party members who were opposed to [[Marxism]].<ref name=Guardian1 />