Clause IV is part of the Labour Party Rule Book which sets out the aims and values of the British Labour Party. The original clause, adopted in 1918, called for common ownership of industry, and proved controversial in later years; Hugh Gaitskell attempted to remove the clause following Labour's loss in the 1959 general election.
In 1995, under the leadership of Tony Blair, a new Clause IV was adopted. This was seen as a significant moment in Blair's redefinition of the party as New Labour, but has in the years since survived beyond the New Labour branding.
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thumb|[[Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield|Sidney Webb, a socialist economist and early member of the Fabian Society who drafted the original Clause IV in 1917.]]
The original version of Clause IV was drafted by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in November 1917, It read, in part 4:
This section was widely seen as the Labour Party's commitment to socialism, even though the word "socialism" is not explicitly mentioned.
In December 1944, the Labour Party adopted a policy of "public ownership" and won a clear endorsement for its policies – the destruction of the "evil giants" of want, ignorance, squalour, disease and idleness (identified by William Beveridge in the Beveridge Report)– in the post-war election victory of 1945 which brought Clement Attlee to power. However, the party had no clear plan as to how public ownership would shape their reforms, and much debate ensued.
The nationalization was led by Herbert Morrison, who had had the experience of uniting London's buses and underground train system into a centralized system in the 1930s. He started with the Bank of England in April 1946, whereby stockholders received compensation and the governor and deputy governor were both re-appointed. Further industries swiftly followed: civil aviation in 1946, and railways and telecommunications in 1947, along with the creation of the National Coal Board, which was responsible for supplying 90% of the UK's energy needs. 1946 also saw the establishment of the National Health Service, which came into force in July 1948; railways, canals, road haulage and electricity were all also nationalised in 1948. By 1951, the iron, steel and gas industries had also been brought into public ownership.
Hugh Gaitskell's fight
After losing the 1959 general election, Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell came to believe that public opposition to nationalisation had led to the party's poor performance and proposed to amend Clause IV. The left wing of the party fought back and managed to defeat any change: symbolically, it was then agreed to include Clause IV, part 4, on Labour Party membership cards.
The economic crisis of the 1970s, and the defeats suffered by the trade union movement, as well as the decline in influence of the Communist Party of Great Britain, led to a strengthening of the position of Labour Party members who were opposed to Marxism. Blair put forward a case for re-defining socialism in terms of a set of values which were constant, while the policies needed to achieve them would have to account for a changing society. At the conclusion of the 1994 conference, after becoming Leader, Blair proposed that the Labour Party needed a new statement of aims and values and stated that he would draw one up and present it to the party. This astonished many people, as the last time such a move had been taken in the late 1950s, it had been a failure. in which greater state ownership was proposed.
Jeremy Corbyn's leadership
The , Jeremy Corbyn, was a consistent supporter of renationalising public utilities, such as British Rail and energy companies, to bring them back into public ownership.
Corbyn ignited controversy within his party in an interview with The Independent on Sunday: