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THE LABOUR PARTY CONSTITUTION

       OUR
LABOUR
By Hand or by Brain
LABOUR HANDSHAKE


Labourcounts and What Counts Is What Works.

Working for the UK Labour Party in the 21st Century.

 

Texts of Labour's key "birth" records during the 20th Century.

Documents from which it is legally constituted today:


1. Original text of Labour's 1918 Constitution and Clause IV

2. The first Gaitskill amendment to Clause IV in 1960

3. The current Clause Four Comparison of 1995 (still binding)

These pages draw together the key documents that record the evolution of the British Labour Party which - after its inception in 1900 as an ad hoc political movement - was formally constituted as a UK parliamentary political party in 1918.

In particular it presents - for closer observation and reconsideration - the key document published and circulated by the Labour Party in 1918, which set down in some detail the historical context of the then Party Objects. Most important, though, it offers a clear insight into the recognised uncertainties of future aspirations. And an explicit reliance on the power of democracy and pragmatism in delivering inclusive social justice.

The collation of these documents attempts to systematically disambiguate the narrow 50-word text of CLAUSE FOUR within the much broader 1918 Party Constitution. A single clause which has since become inflated by its narrow and selective conflation.

   

ABOUT LABOURCOUNTS AND ITS CONTENT

The Labourcounts website was first developed by activists twenty years ago as part of a suite of websites supporting the Labour party's then embryonic entry into the Internet, before social media, and before there was any great impetus of interest for on-line activism.

This website still uses the basic web-building package available at that time. It is a non-commercial, non-partisan site. It does not use cookies. There are no privacy issues as the site is non-interactive. It's purpose then, as now, is to collate documents of interest to existing Labour party members, and researchers, and to transcribe them to make them more accessible and readable.

The documents focus then and now on the issues surrounding Labour's Constitution, and the development of that Constitution, and seeks to disambiguate the conflated subject of "Clause IV".

It is still a work in progress...........

Contents 7 pages

1. Homepage (in this page)

Summary bookmarked page to show full contemporaneous text of Labours original Constitution announced in 1918, and to outline the scope of this website.

2. Old Clause IV and the 1918 Constitution

Full text of the official announcement of the Labour's 1918 Constitution as a constituency based parliamentary political party.

3. Gaitskell Amendment in 1960 (explanatory text)

The contemporaneous formal resolution agreed by the Leadership of the Labour Party and the National Executive Commitee.

4. Full text of Labours Constitution first Amendment in 1960

The precise text of the amended and updated Labour Party Constitution agreed and published by the Party Conference in 1960 showing the additional paragraphs added to "Clause IV".

5. Expression of the second Amendment in 1995

A focussed document on the re-writing of "Clause IV" in 1995 to compare with the original expression of 1918

6. Summary of the ten Constitutional Rules 2000-2020

A precis list of the 10 constitutional clauses of the 21st Century Constitution for the UK Labour party, followed by the text of those 10 constitutional rules

7. A suggested Credo for Labour Party members

A personal and individual "Credo" for party members that seeks to rely on the written texts embodied in the current Labour Party Constitution.

8.[oldclausefour.htm] original Labourcounts page now diverts to this page

What counts is what works.

 Author Mike Allott from the log of work at @

http://www.mikeallott.com

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LABOUR HANDSHAKE

 

oldclausefour.htm (original page: now diverts to this page)