"I am a Socialist and have been for some 30 years. I became a Socialist quite candidly not so much because I was a passionate advocate of public ownership but because at a very early age I came to hate and loathe social injustice, because I disliked the class structure of our society, because I could not tolerate the indefensible differences of status and income which disfigure our society...because I hated poverty and squalor... Pay people more if they do harder, more dangerous, and even more responsible work; pay people more if they have larger families. But the rewards should not be, as they still are, dependent upon the accident of whether you happen to be born of wealthy parents or not... I am a Socialist because I want to see fellowship, or if you prefer it, fraternity...[while preserving] the liberties we cherish. I want to see all this not only in our country but over the world as a whole. These to me are the Socialist ideals. Nationalisation...is a vital means, but it is only one of the means by which we can achieve these objects."
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Anti-apartheid activistsMembers of the Parliament of the United KingdomActivists from EnglandLabour Party (UK) politiciansUniversity College London faculty
Original Language: English
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Speech to the Labour Party conference in Margate (October 1955), quoted in Philip Williams, Hugh Gaitskell: A Political Biography (1979), p. 357
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hugh_Gaitskell
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Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician and leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death.
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