Politics: Socialism - The Economy

-They argued that capitalism promoted 'exploitation', 'alienation' and the 'oppression' of one class by another and was therefore wholly at odds with key socialist principles such as fraternity, solidarity and equality.

Her socialism was defined by 4 principles:

1. Capitalism was the principal cause of 'crippling poverty and demeaning inequality' in society and a 'corrupting force' for humanity, fostering 'unnatural' levels of avarice and selfishness among men and women.

2. Neither paternalism nor philanthropy was a sustainable solution to the problems of poverty and inequality.

3. Poverty and inequality were most likely to be eliminated through vigorous trade unionism and extensive state intervention.

4. Effective reform tends to be gradual rather than revolutionary.

-Along with her husband Sidney, she became active in the Fabian Society, an organisation committed to evolutionary socialism via reforms made at Westminster.

-She was instrumental in the Fabians' decision to align with the emerging Labour Party and was involved in drafting Clause IV of Labour's 1918 constitution.

-Clause IV expressed the fundamentalist-socialist creed by aiming to 'secure for the producers by hand and by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof...upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production.'.

-Although this committed Labour to 'common ownership' of the British economy, she helped ensure that Labour would pursue this goal via the existing political system.

-This can be seen in practice through the 1945-1951 Labour government's nationalisation of industries such as coal, iron and steel.

-In a scenario she and other Fabians dubbed 'the inevitability of gradualism', democratically elected socialist governments would steadily transform society via the existing parliamentary system, gradually replacing a society based on private ownership with one based on common ownership and public control.

-Between 1905 and 1909, she served on a Royal Commission that examined the state's approach to poverty.

-Her celebrated Minority Report argued that the state should guarantee 'a sufficient nourishment and training when young, a living wage when able-bodied, treatment when sick, and modest but secure livelihood when disabled or aged'.

-Much of this anticipated the Beveridge Report of 1942, which was implemented by a Labour government after 1945.

-Her views on poverty and inequality therefore pre-dated both the agenda of a democratic socialist government and the emergence of a welfare state in the UK.

-She envisaged revolution arising 'spontaneously', after class consciousness had gradually been brought about through the proletariat's ongoing battle for progress in the workplace.

-Mass strike action would develop spontaneously from this and eventually ignite a much wider revolutionary movement that would overthrow the capitalist state.

-She then advocated for the immediate construction of a new democracy, underpinned by common ownership, open debate and elections.

-She claimed that Lenin overlooked the transnational character of both capitalism and proletarian interests.

-Socialist revolution, she contended, should be more than a form of national regime change; it should be a revolt against capitalism and nationalism globally - an argument which continues to be made today by groups like the International Socialist League.

-Like Lenin, she was concerned by Marx's insistence that revolution could occur only in societies where capitalism and the proletariat were well developed.

-The unacceptable implication was, that less developed countries would have to endure many more decades of oppressive rule, plus all the horrors of a developing capitalist economy, before the salvation of socialism could arrive.

-In 'Beyond Left and Right' (1994), Giddens first established his credentials as a socialist sympathiser, highlighting the 'corrosive' effects of capitalism and individualism upon community and fraternity.

-Yet, he also stressed that capitalism and individualism were irreversible and that any future project towards greater equality would have to take account of this.

-His political philosophy arose from a desire to 'triangulate' social democracy's wish for more equality with a capitalist economy that was now less Keynesian and more neo-liberal.

-In 'The Third Way: The Renewal of Social Democracy' (1998), he argued that the survival of social democracy required recognition that free-market capitalism had an unmatched capacity to empower individuals economically.

-He argued that the survival of social democracy required recognition that free-market capitalism had an unmatched capacity to empower individuals economically.

-However, he also argued that capitalism functioned best when there was a strong sense of social cohesion, which neo-liberalism seemed to overlook.

-So a triangulation - reconciling neo-liberalism's view of economics with social democracy's view of society - was required to make centre-left politics relevant in the 21st century.

-He claimed this triangulation was especially important given the emergence of 'post-Fordist' capitalist societies. During the mid 20th century, Fordist capitalism, based on huge industrial units of mass production, had spawned tightly knit urban communities, based on a uniformity of income and employment.

-These communities, he explained, complemented human nature's yearning for solidarity and fellowship by giving their members a strong sense of support and identity, which might then encourage them to challenge both economic and cultural elites (traditional trade unionism being one expression of this).

-He explained that the post-Fordist capitalism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, involving the decline of heavy industry, had fragmented such communities, 'atomised' the modern workforce and left individuals feeling alienated.

-He accepted that in many respects, post-Fordist capitalism was liberating for individuals - they were now freer than ever to 'self-actualise' and carve out individual identities.

-Yet, those individuals would also find it harder to develop, precisely because society was becoming increasingly amorphous and ill-defined.

-Stripped of the communities that once gave them confidence, human beings were likely to be less sure-footed and more likely to be influenced by both economic and cultural elites.

-So, for him, the great irony was that the 'individualisation' of society might actually result in less individualism.

-He therefore argued that if human nature were to flourish in the 21st century, the state - while retreating from economic management - would have to be more proactive, investing heavily in infrastructure (for example, better public transport and community services) and a modernised system of education, designed to prepare citizens for the knowledge economy (one which physical capacity was less important).

-He thus proved a key revisionist socialist in that he revitalised the case for further state action in an era of globalised capitalism.

-In doing so, he recognised that conventional Keynesian economics (which formed the basis of Crosland-style social democracy) was obsolete and that socialism needed to reconcile itself to a more free-market brand of capitalism.

-In the process, however, he was accepting that greater inequality of opportunity might have to be accompanied by greater inequality of outcome if the free market were to generate the sort of wealth needed to fund modern public services.

-He urged modern leftists to 'go with the flow' by encouraging further privatisation and further deregulation, arguing that as this was the best way to boost economic growth, it was also the best way to boost government tax revenues, and therefore boost government spending in the name of more equality.

-His arguments had a profound influence upon the New Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and the German social democratic government led by Gerhard Schröder.

-Under New Labour, the tax burden rose far more than it would have done under an average Conservative government.

-This, in turn, allowed them to finance a corresponding rise in public spending, from 39% of gross domestic product in 1997 to 47% in 2010.

-He believed New Labour's stewardship of the economy - involving deregulation of banks and financial services on the one hand, plus steep increases in public spending on the other - was a robust example of Third Way triangulation.

-He contested that public or common ownership had gone far enough, arguing that public ownership had never been the aim of socialism, merely a method for achieving it.

-The true objective, he insisted, was equality, which could now be achieved within a managed capitalist economy.

-He asserted that capitalism had been changed forever as a result of economist John Maynard Keynes, whose belief in state-managed capitalism became orthodox in western Europe after 1945.

-Thanks to Keynesian principles, which included the state actively seeking to 'manage' market forces, he argued that advanced societies could now enjoy permanent economic growth and full employment, without requiring any serious extension of public ownership.

-Thanks to constant growth, these societies could enjoy a steady expansion of the welfare state, which, in turn, would diminish inequality and advance socialism.

-Thanks to Keynesian economics, capitalism was no longer vulnerable to 'peaks and troughs' and could now be relied on to finance a richer, fairer and more classless society.

-He noted that the end of capitalism's cyclical character meant a constant expansion of public spending, a constant expansion of state welfare and constant progress towards the ultimate socialist goal of greater eqaulity.

-He argued that socialism now required a 'mixed' economy.

-This mixed economy would mainly comprise private enterprise and private ownership, alongside key services and a small number of industries owned by the state, a situation which, for him, had largely been achieved following the 1945-1951 Labour governments.

-The future task of socialist governments was not more public ownership but more public spending and better public services.

-For example, Keynesian economics allowed socialists to look at other methods whereby greater equality could be secured, such as ending the 'unequal' forms of secondary education created by the 11-plus examination.