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Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (1918–1977) was a leading British socialist intellectual in the mid-twentieth century whose theories had a major influence on the evolution of the Labour Party. He also occupied key cabinet positions in several Labour governments.

Under Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s first government in 1964, Crosland was deputy to George Brown, who had run against Wilson. In 1965, Crosland was appointed secretary of state for education and science and began a campaign for comprehensive education in England and Wales. In 1967, he moved to the Board of Trade as its president, remaining until 1969. He then became secretary of state for local government and regional planning until 1970.

In the 1970s, Crosland became the leader of the right wing of the Labour Party. After Roy Jenkins resigned, Crosland stood for the deputy leadership of the party but was eliminated in the first round. After Labour’s return to power in 1974, he became secretary of state for the Department of the Environment. Following Wilson’s retirement in 1976, Crosland contested the leadership but finished last in the poll. He then switched his support to the eventual winner, James Callaghan, who duly rewarded him by appointing him foreign secretary in 1976.

Crosland was an active member of the Fabian Society, an organization founded by Sidney and Beatrice Webb that sought the establishment of a democratic socialist state in the United Kingdom, and he contributed to their major publications.

Crosland expanded on his revisionism in The Future of Socialism (1956), in which he challenged the dominance of the Webbs in Fabian thinking and countered their ascetic top down Fabianism with a more liberal version. Crosland was a revisionist in the manner of German political theorist Eduard Bernstein, who rejected the Marxist analysis of modern societies and defined socialism in terms of ethical goals rather than class and the common ownership of means of production. Crosland argued that classical capitalism was dead in the sense that robber barons no longer controlled the means of production as they did in the nineteenth century. State regulations had dispersed and curtailed ownership, and decision making now resided with managers and technocrats rather than capitalists. Power relations had irrevocably changed in society, and Marxism had to change as well. Socialism had to be redefined in terms of greater social equality and greater social justice, encompassing not merely economics but also other areas such as gender, race, and politics. Public ownership, until then one of the cardinal tenets of socialism, had to be jettisoned because it was no longer the essential component of a socialist society, but only one of a number of means to achieve economic equality. The desirability of public ownership depended on its effectiveness in advancing social justice.

In Socialism Now (1974), Crosland advocated for a “democratic equality,” which he defined as a dynamic concept. He recognized that some inequality may be good for society or for an efficient economy because otherwise the have-nots might be worse off under equality of outcome. Incentives, Crosland asserted, are necessary to entice scarce talent and enlarge the common good. Equality is not a virtue in itself but only in relation to its efficacy as a means to social justice.

Crosland believed in leveling up rather than leveling down. Thus, without economic growth, everyone would be worse off than before and equally poor. Economic growth has fiscal dividends that enable governments to use public expenditure to redistribute or transfer wealth without impoverishing any sector of society. Growth in income ultimately equalized opportunity and access. It led to better lifestyles and improved efficiency. Crosland also placed emphasis on comprehensive education as a means to achieve greater social equality and reduce social disparities incrementally. He had little sympathy for the idealistic socialism that had dominated nineteenth century thinking.

Bibliography:

Crosland, Charles Anthony Raven. The Conservative Enemy: A Programme of Radical Reform for the 1960’s. London: Jonathan Cape, 1962.
The Future of Socialism. London: Jonathan Cape, 1956.
Socialism Now and Other Essays. London: Jonathan Cape, 1974.
Jefferys, Kevin. Anthony Crosland: A New Biography. London: John Blake, 1999.
Lipsey, David, and Dick Leonard, eds. The Socialist Agenda: Crosland’s Legacy. London: Jonathan Cape, 1981.