Editing Socialism (section)

=== State-directed economy ===
{{main|State socialism}}
{{see also|Dirigisme|Nationalization|Public ownership|State capitalism|Steady-state economy}}
State socialism can be used to classify any variety of socialist philosophies that advocates the ownership of the [[means of production]] by the [[state apparatus]], either as a transitional stage between capitalism and socialism, or as an end-goal in itself. Typically, it refers to a form of technocratic management, whereby technical specialists administer or manage economic enterprises on behalf of society and the public interest instead of workers' councils or workplace democracy.

A state-directed economy may refer to a type of mixed economy consisting of public ownership over large industries, as promoted by various Social democratic political parties during the 20th century. This ideology influenced the policies of the British Labour Party during Clement Attlee's administration. In the biography of the 1945 United Kingdom Labour Party Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]], [[Francis Beckett]] states: "[T]he government ... wanted what would become known as a mixed economy."{{sfnp|Beckett|2007}}

Nationalisation in the United Kingdom was achieved through compulsory purchase of the industry (i.e. with compensation). [[British Aerospace]] was a combination of major aircraft companies [[British Aircraft Corporation]], [[Hawker Siddeley]] and others. [[British Shipbuilders]] was a combination of the major shipbuilding companies including [[Cammell Laird]], [[Govan Shipbuilders]], [[Swan Hunter]] and [[Yarrow Shipbuilders]], whereas the nationalisation of the coal mines in 1947 created a coal board charged with running the coal industry commercially so as to be able to meet the interest payable on the bonds which the former mine owners' shares had been converted into.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Strike Weapon: Lessons of the Miners' Strike |publisher=Socialist Party of Great Britain |location=London |year=1985 |url=http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pdf/ms.pdf |access-date=28 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614065637/http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pdf/ms.pdf |archive-date=14 June 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hardcastle |first=Edgar |author-link=Edgar Hardcastle |title=The Nationalisation of the Railways |journal=[[Socialist Standard]] |volume=43 |issue=1 |year=1947 |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/hardcastle/1947/02/railways.htm |access-date=28 April 2007 |via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>