LABOUR PARTY : First of all , the founding of the party: The Labour Party was founded in 19th century, around which time it became apparent that there was a need for a new political party to represent the interests and needs of the urban proletariat, a group which had increased in number and had recently been given franchise. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, with the intention of linking the movement to political policies. Among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. Then the ideology of the party : During its history, the Labour Party has usually been thought of as being left wing or centre-left in its politics. Officially, it has maintained the stance of being a socialist party ever since its inception, currently describing itself as a "democratic socialist party". Nonetheless, it has been criticised by other leftist commentators and historians for not being truly socialist in its policies, instead supporting anti-socialist stances such as capitalism and neo-colonialism. Historically the party was broadly in favour of socialism, and advocated socialist policies such as public ownership of key industries, government intervention in the economy, redistribution of wealth, increased rights for workers, the welfare state, publicly-funded healthcare and education. Beginning in the late-1980s under the leadership of Neil Kinnock, and subsequently under John Smith and Tony Blair, the party moved away from socialist positions and adopted free market policies, leading many observers to describe the Labour Party as Social Democratic or Third Way, rather than democratic socialist. Party constitution and structure: As a party founded by the unions to represent the interests of working-class people, Labour's link with the unions has always been a defining characteristic of the party. Internationally,