| 释义 |
Clause Four, n. Brit. Polit.
Brit. |ˌklɔːz ˈfɔː|, U.S. |ˈˌklɔz ˈfɔ(ə)r|, |ˈˌklɑz ˈfɔ(ə)r|
Forms: 19– Clause 4, 19– Clause IV, 19– Clause Four
[‹ clause n. + four adj.]
The fourth clause in the constitution of the British Labour Party; spec. the point of this clause which contained an affirmation of the Party's commitment to the state ownership of industry and services and was revised in 1995 to allow for the alternative of privately owned but publicly accountable utilities.
This specific point was introduced in 1918 as clause 3d and revised in 1929 under Clause 4, which thereafter dealt also with the Party's other aims.
1929Labour Party Draft Constitution & Standing Orders 3, Clause IV.—Party Objects... 4. To secure for the producers 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 and distribution, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service. 1959Economist 5 Dec. 945/1 The issue he [sc. Hugh Gaitskell] chose was to demand that..next year's conference must change clause four of the Labour Party's constitution—which..appears to pledge Labour to the eventual nationalisation of all the means of production, distribution and exchange. 1974Encycl. Brit. Micropædia V. 969/1 The Labour Party..avoided any specific affirmation of Socialism until 1918, when clause IV of its new constitution stated the party's aim to be ‘the common ownership of the means of production’. 2001Sunday Herald (Glasgow) (Electronic ed.) 8 July For a new Tory party under Portillo's leadership, coming out in favour of legalizing cannabis is the symbolic equivalent of Labour ditching Clause Four. |