Means of Production Poster (Photo credit: oliverk)

To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service.

Clause IV, part four of the Labour Party Constitution from 1918 to 1995

In 1995, He Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken succeeded in replacing Clause IV of the Labour Party constitution, which had previously been printed on every party membership card, with a piece of meaningless PR speak. I remember that at a fringe meeting to debate the proposal, Peter Hain – who was then something of a left-winger rather than the self-satisfied careerist he later morphed into – went to the microphone, read out Clause IV, paused, looked up and said simply ‘What’s wrong with that?’

Not a thing, Peter, not a thing.