The Union in British Socialist Thought

Abstract

It is well known that British socialist theory has undergone many changes since the publication in 1920 of A Consitution for the Socialist Commonwealth of Great Britain, by Sidney and Beatrice Webb. New looks at the capitalistic economy have led many socialist theorists to the conclusion that certain basic objectives which were formerly considered to be realistic only under socialism can in fact be achieved under capitalism; the earlier tendency to determine the goals of socialism via the application of Ricardian, Henry George rent theory has been virtually discarded; the error in expressing socialism essentially in terms of private versus public ownership of industry has been universally recognized.2 Developing ideas originated by R. H. Tawney, Hugh Dalton and others who broke away from the Ricardo-Georgian mold, leading British socialist intellectuals have come to place primary emphasis upon such things as manipulation of the tax system to promote equalization of income and ownership, public subsidization of education to equalize economic and social opportunity, and decentralization of industrial power via municipalization (as a partial substitute for nationalization of industry) and worker participation in the determination of industrial policy, in their search for the key to equality.3