Clause IV
When I was a member of the Labour Party the membership card (which was indeed made of card) had the text below, known as Clause IV emblazoned across it.
Sounded good in 1918, sounds good today. Unfortunately Blair came along and in 1995 managed to get it rewritten as the waffle below:
Now the new leader of the Labour Party comes along and in his maiden speech to conference says it was right to do away with the old Clause IV!!
FAIL
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.
Sounded good in 1918, sounds good today. Unfortunately Blair came along and in 1995 managed to get it rewritten as the waffle below:
The Labour Party is a democratic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many, not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.
Now the new leader of the Labour Party comes along and in his maiden speech to conference says it was right to do away with the old Clause IV!!
FAIL
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Keep it clean!