The Modernisation of Labour

Abstract

In the early years of the 1959 Parliament, few in the Labour party contemplated the future with confidence. Not only was the party divided internally; the conditions which had made possible the great Conservative victory of 1959 seemed likely to persist indefinitely. Lecturing to the Fabian Society within weeks of polling day, Mr. Richard Crossman argued that ultimately competition from the Communist bloc would cause capitalism to founder. In the meantime, Labour could do little but maintain itself in readiness to take advantage of the capitalist crisis when it came:

‘Those who assert that the sole object or even the main object of the Labour party today should be to regain office seem to me to misconceive not merely the nature of British socialism but the workings of British democracy.’¹