Crossland as a Political Figure

Political Ideas – Anthony Crosland

In this course, Dr Patrick Diamond (Queen Mary, University of London) explores the thinking and ideas of the post-war revisionist intellectual Anthony Crossland (1918-77). In the first lecture, we provide an introduction to Crosland as a political figure, before turning in the second lecture to some of Crosland’s key ideas. In the third, fourth and fifth lectures, we focus on three central ideas of Crosland’s political philosophy: his critique of Marxist ideas about capitalism and Labour’s policy of nationalisation; his advocacy for the enlargement of the welfare state; and his belief in human freedom and liberty. In the sixth lecture, we explore Crosland’s legacy, particularly his failure to appreciate the strength of criticisms of his ideas from the New Right.

Crossland as a Political Figure

In this lecture we provide an introduction to the figure of Anthony Crosland, focusing in particular on: (i) his family background and early life; (ii) his time at Oxford University, first as an undergraduate, and then as a tutor; (iii) his service in the Second World War (1939-45); (iv) the extent to which the Labour Party was a ‘coalition’ between trade unionists (industrial, working class) and intellectuals (university-educated, middle class and higher); (v) his election as an MP in 1950; (vi) his election loss in 1955; and (vii) the development of his political ideas following his election loss, and the publication of The Future of Socialism (1956) the following year.