socialism

   One of the major Western ideologies, socialism is a product of modern industrial capitalism. Under a socialist system, the means of production, distribution and exchange would be state owned and controlled on behalf of all of the people, so that the wealth could be distributed more fairly.

   Socialist theory argues for the collective ownership or control of key parts of the economy, state economic planning and state provision of basic services, but it opposes complete state control of the economy (the command economy) as is associated with communist regimes and favours the retention of large areas of economic, social and political and economic life beyond state interference. For socialists, the most important goal is to provide a high quality and relatively equal standard of living for all citizens. Each individual is encouraged to increase the collective good of all, in an environment that encourages cooperation and sharing. Government plays a crucial role as it attempts to use its allocation of values and control of resources to increase the material, social and political equality of all citizens.

   In Britain, a number of socialist parties were formed in the late nineteenth century, some of which combined with the trades unions in 1900 to form the Labour Representation Committee, later renamed as the Labour Party. Labour has always adopted a gradualist approach to socialism, those on the left associating the idea with public ownership, those on the right preferring to emphasise the commitment to a more equal and just society. New Labour describes itself as a democratic socialist party in the revised version of Clause IV of its constitution, although most writers would be wary of calling it socialist in any meaningful sense.