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Social democracy is officially a reformist democratic socialist political ideology.^[1] Social democracy supports legal entitlements in social rights for citizens. These are made up of universal access to public services such as: education, health care, workers' compensation, and other services such as child care and care for the elderly.^[2] Social democracy is connected with the trade union labour movement and supports collective bargaining rights for workers.^[3] Contemporary social democracy advocates freedom from discrimination based on differences of: ability/disability, age, class, ethnicity, gender, language, race, religion, and sexual orientation.^[4] Most social democratic parties are affiliated with the Socialist International.^[5]

Social democracy in its current form was originally developed by revisionist Marxist Eduard Bernstein who criticized orthodox Marxism's emphasis on revolution and class conflict, claiming that socialism could be achieved through evolutionary means through representative democracy and through cooperation between people regardless of class. Bernstein claimed that a mixed economy of public, cooperative and private enterprise would be necessary for a long period of time before private enterprises would evolve of their own accord into cooperative enterprise.^[6][7] Bernstein supported state ownership only for certain parts of the economy that could be best managed by the state, he rejected a mass scale of state ownership as being too burdensome to be manageable.^[6]

Contemporary social democracy since the 1930s has diminished its differences with non-socialist parties.^[8] By the post-World War II period, most social democrats in Europe had abandoned all remaining ideological connection to Marxism.^[9] The development of liberal socialism that began in the 1920s by figures such as G. D. H. Cole, R. H. Tawney, and Carlo Rosselli that fused liberal and socialist ideals while rejecting both Marxism and state socialism, has influenced social democracy including social democrats in favour of the Third Way.^[10]

Critics of contemporary social democracy such as Jonas Hinnfors claim that when social democracy abandoned Marxism it also abandoned socialism and has become in effect a liberal movement and claim that "socialism" only remains a rhetorical term used by contemporary social democrats and that they do not genuinely intend to replace capitalism with a socialist economic system.^[11] Those that believe that social democracy abandoned socialism note the beginning of its support for Keynesian economics in the 1930s and claim that since then it has supported welfare capitalism.^[12][13]

History[link]

19th Century usage[link]

In the 19th Century, the term "Social Democrat" was used as a broad catch-all for international socialists owing their basic ideological allegiance to Karl Marx or Ferdinand Lassalle, in contrast to those advocating various forms of utopian socialism. In one of the first scholarly works on European socialism written for an American audience, Richard T. Ely's 1883 book, French and German Socialism in Modern Times, Social Democrats were characterized as "the extreme wing of the socialists" who were "inclined to lay so much stress on equality of enjoyment, regardless of the value of one's labor, that they might, perhaps, more properly be called communists."^[14] Ely continued:

"They have two distinguishing characteristics. The vast majority of them are laborers, and, as a rule, they expect the violent overthrow of existing institutions by revolution to precede the introduction of the socialistic state. I would not, by any means, say that they are all revolutionists, but the most of them undoubtedly are. * * *

"The most general demands of the social democrats are the following: The state should exist exclusively for the laborers; land and capital must become collective property, and production be carried on unitedly. Private competition, in the ordinary sense of the term, is to cease."^[15]

Many parties in this era described themselves as "social democratic," including the General German Workers' Association and the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (which merged to form the Social Democratic Party of Germany), the British Social Democratic Federation, and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. The term "social democracy" continued to be used in this context up to the time of the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917, at which time the term "communist" came into vogue for individuals and organizations espousing a revolutionary road to socialism.

Early 20th Century[link]

Eduard Bernstein, 1895.

The modern social democratic movement came into being through a break within the socialist movement^{[dubious – discuss]} in the early years of the 20th century. Speaking broadly, this break can be described as a parting of ways between those who insisted upon political revolution as a precondition for the achievement of socialist goals and those who maintained that a gradual or evolutionary path to socialism was both possible and desirable.^[16] Many related movements, including pacifism, anarchism, and syndicalism, arose at the same time; these ideologies were often promulgated by individuals who split from the preexisting socialist movement, and held a variety of quite different objections to Marxism.

One of the key founders of contemporary social democracy was Eduard Bernstein, a proponent of reformist socialism and a revisionist of Marxism. Bernstein had originally been a Marxist and had held close association to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, but he saw flaws in Marxian thinking and began such criticism when he investigated and challenged the Marxian materialist theory of history.^[17] Bernstein criticized Marxism's concept of "irreconciliable class conflicts" and Marxism's hostility to liberalism.^[18] Bernstein challenged Marx's position on liberalism by claiming that liberal democrats and social democrats held common grounds that he claimed could be utilized to create a "socialist republic".^[18]

On the issue of class conflict, Bernstein believed that economic class disparities between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat would gradually be eliminated through legal reforms and economic redistribution programs.^[18] Bernstein rejected the Marxian principle of dictatorship of the proletariat, claiming that gradualist democratic reforms will improve the rights of the working class.^[19] According to Bernstein, unlike orthodox Marxism, social democracy did not seek to create a socialism separate from bourgeois society but instead sought to create a common development based on Western humanism.^[20] The development of socialism under social democracy does not seek to rupture existing society and its cultural traditions but to act as an enterprise of extension and growth.^[21] Furthermore, he believed that class cooperation was a preferable course to achieve socialism, rather than class conflict.^[22] On the issue of class conflict and responding to the Marxian principle of dictatorship of the proletariat, Bernstein said:

"No one thinks of destroying civil society as a community ordered in a civilized war. Quite to the contrary, Social Democracy does not want to break up civil society and make all its members proletarians together; rather, it ceaselessly labors to raise the worker from the social position of a proletarian to that of a citizen and thus make citizenship universal. It does not want to replace civil society with a proletarian society but a capitalist order of society with a socialist one." Eduard Bernstein^[23]

Bernstein urged social democrats to be committed to a long-term agenda of transforming the capitalist economy to a socialist economy rather than a sudden upheaval of capitalism, saying:

"Social democracy should neither expect nor desire the imminent collapse of the existing economic system … What social democracy should be doing, and doing for a long time to come, is organize the working class politically, train it for democracy, and fight for any and all reforms in the state which are designed to raise the working class and make the state more democratic." Eduard Bernstein^[24]

Bernstein accepted a mixed economy for an unspecified amount of time:^[25]

"It [socialism] would be completely mad to burden itself with the additional tasks of so complex a nature as the setting up and controlling of comprehensive state production centers on a mass scale – quite apart from the fact that only certain specific branches of production can be run on a national basis…Competition would have to be reckoned with, at least in the transitional period." Eduard Bernstein.^[25]

"[...] in addition to public enterprises and cooperative enterprises, there are enterprises run by private individuals for their own gain. In time, they will of their own accord acquire a cooperative character." Eduard Bernstein.^[26]

The social democrats, who had created the largest socialist organizations of that era, did not reject Marxism (and in fact claimed to uphold it), but a number of key individuals wanted to reform Marx's arguments in order to promulgate a less hostile criticism of capitalism. They argued that socialism should be achieved through evolution of society rather than revolution. Such views were strongly opposed by the revolutionary socialists, who argued that any attempt to reform capitalism was doomed to fail, for the reformers would be gradually corrupted and eventually turn into capitalists themselves.

Despite their differences, the reformist and revolutionary branches of socialism remained united through the Second International until the outbreak of World War I. A differing view on the legitimacy of the war proved to be the final straw for this tenuous union. The reformist socialists supported their respective national governments in the war, a fact that was seen by the revolutionary socialists as outright treason against the working class; in other words, the revolutionary socialists believed that this stance betrayed the principle that the workers of all nations should unite in overthrowing capitalism, and decried the fact that usually the lowest classes are the ones sent into the war to fight and die.

Bitter arguments ensued within socialist parties, as for example between Eduard Bernstein, the leading reformist socialist, and Rosa Luxemburg, one of the leading revolutionary socialists within the SPD in Germany. Eventually, after the Russian Revolution of 1917, most of the world's socialist parties fractured. The reformist socialists kept the name social democrats, while many revolutionary socialists began calling themselves communists, and they soon formed the modern Communist movement. These communist parties soon formed an exclusive Third Internationale known globally as the Comintern.

In 1920, the Social Democratic Party of Sweden was elected to a minority government. It created a Socialization Committee that declared support for a mixed economy that combined the best of private initiative with social ownership or control, it supported substantial socialization "of all necessary natural resources, industrial enterprises, credit institutions, transportation and communication routes" that would be gradually transferred to the state.^[27] It permitted private ownership outside of these areas.^[27] However in the 1930s several Swedish social democratic leadership figures, including Nils Karleby and Rickard Sandler - the secretary and chairman of the Socialization Committee, considered these policies to be too extreme.^[27] Karlby and Sanders developed a new conception of social democratic socialism: the social market economy that called for gradual socialization and redistribution of purchasing power, provision of educational opportunity, support of property rights, permitting private enterprise on the condition that it adheres to the principle that the resources of which it disposes are in reality public means, and the creation of a broad category of social welfare rights.^[28]

By the 1920s, the doctrinal differences between social democrats and communists of all factions (be they Orthodox Marxists, Bolsheviks, or Mensheviks) had solidified.

Post–World War II[link]

A red rose is often used as a symbol of social democracy, mostly adopted in the period after WW2.^[29]

Social democracy, as practiced in Europe in 1951, was a socialist movement supporting gradualism; the belief that gradual democratic reforms to capitalist economies will eventually succeed in creating a socialist economy,^[30] rejecting forcible imposition of socialism through revolutionary means.^[30] This gradualism has resulted in various far left groups, including communists, of accusing social democracy of accepting the values of capitalist society and therefore not being a genuine form of socialism.^[30] Social democracy rejects the Marxian principle of dictatorship of the proletariat, claiming that gradualist democratic reforms will improve the rights of the working class.^[19]

After World War II, a new international organization to represent social democracy and democratic socialism, the Socialist International in 1951. In the founding Frankfurt Declaration, the Socialist International denounced both capitalism and Bolshevik communism. As for Bolshevik communism, the Declaration denounced it in articles 7, 8, and 9, saying:

• 7. Meanwhile, as Socialism advances throughout the world, new forces have arisen to threaten the movement towards freedom and social justice. Since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, Communism has split the International Labour Movement and has set back the realisation of Socialism in many countries for decades.^[31]

• 8. Communism falsely claims a share in the Socialist tradition. In fact it has distorted that tradition beyond recognition. It has built up a rigid theology which is incompatible with the critical spirit of Marxism.^[31]

• 9. Where Socialists aim to achieve freedom and justice by removing the exploitation which divides men under capitalism, Communists seek to sharpen those class divisions only in order to establish the dictatorship of a single party.^[31]

• 10. International Communism is the instrument of a new imperialism. Wherever it has achieved power it has destroyed freedom or the chance of gaining freedom. It is based on a militarist bureaucracy and a terrorist police. By producing glaring contrasts of wealth and privilege it has created a new class society. Forced labour plays an important part in its economic organisation."^[31]

Following the split between social democrats and communists, another split developed within social democracy, between those who still believed it was necessary to abolish capitalism (without revolution) and replace it with a socialist system through democratic parliamentary means, and those who believed that the capitalist system could be retained but needed dramatic reform, such as the nationalization of large businesses, the implementation of social programs (public education, universal health care, and the like) and the partial redistribution of wealth through the permanent establishment of a welfare state based on progressive taxation.

Eventually, most social democratic parties have come to be dominated by the latter position and, in the post–World War II era, have abandoned any commitment to abolish capitalism.^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]} For instance, in 1959, the Social Democratic Party of Germany adopted the Godesberg Program, which rejected class struggle and Marxism. While "social democrat" and "democratic socialist" continued to be used interchangeably, by the 1990s in the English-speaking world at least, the two terms had generally come to signify respectively the latter and former positions.

In Italy, the Italian Democratic Socialist Party was founded in 1947, and from 1948 on supported the idea of a centrist alliance.^{[citation needed]} Since the late 1980s, many other social democratic parties have adopted the "Third Way", either formally or in practice.^{[citation needed]} Modern social democrats are generally in favor of a mixed economy, which is in many ways capitalistic, but explicitly defend governmental provision of certain social services.^{[citation needed]}

In 1982, the social democratic government of Sweden adopted the Meidner Plan of Rudolf Meidner to pursue a gradualist socialist agenda to achieve in order: first, pursue the enhancement of political democracy and citizenship; second, pursue entrenching social rights; third, and lastly it would be then be able to implement economic democracy and social ownership.^[32] The Plan focused on a 20 percent annual taxation of private enterprise to be used to create investment funds that were to be owned collectively by employees.^[33] Rudolf Meidner stated that his plan was a gradualist "creeping socialism" that through its annual 20 percent taxation on private enterprise and transferring of the money gained to socially-owned investment funds would result in wage-earners gaining a controlling share in their enterprises within twenty-five to fifty years.^[33] The Meidner Plan was cancelled in 1990 after the Swedish Social Democrats were defeated in Sweden's election to a new conservative government that scrapped the plan.

Many social democratic parties have shifted emphasis from their traditional goals of social justice to human rights and environmental issues. In this, they are facing an increasing challenge from Greens, who view ecology as fundamental to peace, require reform of money supply, and promote safe trade measures to ensure ecological integrity. In Germany in particular, Greens and Social Democrats have cooperated in so-called red–green alliances. The present government in Norway is known as the Red-Green Coalition, whilst the opposition bloc in Sweden is the similarly titled Red-Greens, with social democratic parties forming the largest components of both alliances.

Present[link]

In the 2000s (decade) and 2010s, several major European social democratic parties lost support, such as the defeat of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the 2005 German election, and the defeat of the British Labour Party in the 2010 British election, and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party in the 2011 Spanish election. However there have been major increases in support for social democratic parties elsewhere. In North America there was a massive surge in support for Canada's New Democratic Party in the 2011 Canadian election allowing the party for its first time in Canadian history became the second largest political party in the Canadian Parliament. The New Democratic Party is the second strongest social democratic party of a sovereign state in North America. The Institutional Revolutionary Party is one of two parties in Mexico affiliated with the Socialist International (the Party of the Democratic Revolution is the other), and has formed a government at the federal level in Mexico, unlike the New Democratic Party, which has only formed a government in Canada at the provincial level.

Social democracy advocates the creation of legal reforms and economic redistribution programs to eliminate economic class disparities between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.^[18] It advocates the development of an economic democracy and the development of cooperative business organizations as an alternative to private enterprise.^[34][35] One example of a modern social democratic economic plan was the Meidner Plan in Sweden which was enacted in 1982 and promoted a gradualist market socialist achievement of social ownership through taxation on private enterprise and transferring of the money gained to socially-owned investment funds that gradually will result in wage-earners gaining a controlling share in their enterprises;^[33] although by the early 1990s the Social Democrats had lost their enthusiasm for it.^[36] Practical modern social democratic policies include the promotion of a welfare state, and the creation of economic democracy as a means to secure workers' rights.^[37] The Frankfurt Declaration of the Socialist International in 1951, attended by many social democratic parties from across the world, committed adherents to oppose Bolshevik communism—especially Stalinism, and to promote a gradual transformation of capitalism into socialism.^[31]

Many of the policies espoused by social democrats in the first half of the 20th century have since been put into practice by social democratic governments throughout the industrialized world. Industries have been nationalized, public spending has seen a large long-term rise, and the role of the state in providing free-to-user or subsidized health care and education has increased greatly. Many of the reforms made by social democrats in Europe, such as the establishment of national health care services, have been embraced by liberals and conservatives, and there is no support outside of a radical fringe for a return to 19th-century levels of public spending and economic regulation. Even in the United States, where no major social democratic party exists, there are regulatory programmes (such as public health and environmental protection) and welfare programmes (such as Medicare^[38] and Medicaid^[39]) which enjoy bipartisan support.

In recent years, several^{[citation needed]} social democratic parties (in particular, the British Labour Party) have embraced more centrist, Third Way policy positions, and thus supported both the privatization of certain state-controlled industries and services and the reduction of certain forms of regulation of the market. Since the 1980s, there has been a perception that social democracy has been on the retreat in the Western world, particularly in English-speaking countries, where social democratic values are arguably not as firmly rooted in local law and culture as elsewhere. Traditional social democrats argue that Third Way ideology has caused the movement to become too centrist, and even that the movement may be becoming centre-right. In general, apparent reversals in policy have encountered significant opposition among party members and core voters; many of the latter have claimed that their leaders have betrayed the principles of social democracy.^[40] The development of Third Way social democracy has resulted in the rise of democratic socialism as a distinct break away ideology from social democracy. In many countries, social democrats continue to exist alongside democratic socialists, who stand to the left of them on the political spectrum. The two movements sometimes operate within the same political party, such as the Brazilian Workers' Party^[41] and the Socialist Party of France.

Supporters of Third Way ideals argue that they merely represent a necessary or pragmatic adaptation of social democracy to the realities of the modern world: traditional social democracy thrived during the prevailing international climate of the post-war Bretton Woods consensus, which collapsed in the 1970s. In Britain, where the electorate rejected the Labour Party four times consecutively between 1979 and 1997, Third Way politician Tony Blair and his colleagues in the New Labour movement took the strategic decision to disassociate themselves publicly from the previous, explicitly democratic socialist incarnations of their party. The Labour Government that came to power in 1997 continued the tradition that Margaret Thatcher started in the 1980s of selling out nationalized industries, and the income gap between the rich and the poor grew. This challenge to traditional social democractic ideals alienated many backbenchers, including some who advocated a less militant ideology of social democracy.^[42]

The development of new social democratic policies in this environment is the subject of wide-ranging debate within the left and centre-left. A number of political think-tanks, such as Policy Network and Wiardi Beckman Stichting, have been active in facilitating and promoting this debate.

Since the rise in popularity of the New Right and neoliberalism, a number of prominent modern social democratic parties have abandoned the goal of the gradual evolution of capitalism to socialism and instead support welfare state capitalism.^[43]

Political parties[link]

Social democratic political parties, which sometimes also include a democratic socialist element, operate in many developed and developing countries, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Australia, Israel and Brazil. Most European social democratic parties are members of the Party of European Socialists,^[44] which is one of the main political parties at the European level,^[45] and its parliamentary group the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. Globally, most social democratic parties worldwide are members of the Socialist International.^[46]

In many cases, social democratic parties are the dominant (India, Portugal, Australia) or second-placed (Canada, Italy, Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom)^[47] players within their respective political systems, though in some cases they are minor parties in federal politics (Ireland, Russia). The United States is the only industrial nation that does not currently have an official major social democratic party, although many consider large portions of the Green Party and some liberal factions of the Democratic Party to be social democratic. Some conservatives in the U.S. have accused President Barack Obama of being either a "Democratic Socialist" or "Social Democrat", but Obama and the mainstream of the Democratic Party reject these accusations. Obama identifies with contemporary American Progressivism. Critics of Obama on the left identify him as generally holding centrist views.^[48][49][50]

Since the 1960s, many social democrats have broadened their objectives beyond the field of economic policy to include aspects of environmentalism, feminism, racial equality and multiculturalism. Another notable development is the tendency since the 1980s for social democratic parties to distance themselves from distinctively left-wing economic policies such as public ownership and dirigisme, adopting instead policies that support a relatively lightly regulated economy and emphasize equality of opportunity.

This trend, known as the Third Way, is controversial among some of the left, many of whom argue that Third Way politicians (such as Tony Blair and Bill Clinton)^[40] have moved too far to the centre, or even the centre-right. Others, such as the leadership of the UK Labour Party, reject this critique.^[51]

Criticisms[link]

Socialist critics of contemporary social democracy include Democratic socialists, Marxian socialists, revolutionary socialists, Syndicalists and anarchists. The most common criticism leveled against social democracy by socialists is that social democratic programs maintain the capitalist system (and therefore retains its fundamental issues, such as cyclical fluctuations and social contradictions) and as a result, the social democratic reformist policies are used to legitimize capitalism and economic exploitation by making it appear more equitable, thereby becoming an impediment to fundamental restructuring of the social and economic systems.^[52]

Marxists further argue that social democratic and welfare state policies limit the incentive system of the market by providing things such as minimum wages, unemployment insurance, taxing profits and reducing the reserve army of labor, resulting in reduced incentives for capitalists to invest in more production. In essence, social welfare policies cripple the capitalism and its incentive system and are thus unsustainable in the long-run.^[52] Marxists argue that the establishment of a socialist mode of production is the only way to overcome these deficiencies.

Democratic socialists and libertarian socialists contend that social democracy has degenerated into pragmatic opportunism; rather than changing the world, social democracy merely changed itself to accommodate its tactics.^[53] These groups regard social democracy as an elitist and unrealistic movement for relying on electoral changes to reform capitalism, relying solely on liberal parliamentary (representation from above) rather than popular representation and spontaneous organization from the grassroots-level.^[53]

Notable social democrats[link]

This is an abbreviated list of well-known social democrats. For a comprehensive list, see List of social democrats

See also[link]

	Socialism portal
	Social movements portal

• History of socialism
• List of social democratic parties
• List of social democrats
• Democratic socialism

Political theory[link]

• Dirigisme
• Constitutional economics
• Political economy
• Rule according to higher law
• Left-wing politics
• Progressivism
• Liberalism
• Reformism
• Mixed Economy
• The Third Way

Social democracy as viewed by critics[link]

• Managerial state
• Social fascism
• State capitalism

Social democracy in practice[link]

• Flexicurity
• Scandinavian welfare model
• Social corporatism
• Social welfare in Sweden
• Social market economy
• Rhine Capitalism
• Welfare state

References[link]

External links[link]

Look up social democracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Social Democratic Parties, a comprehensive list of social democratic parties until 2005. The listing needs an update.

International organizations[link]

• The Party of European Socialists
• The Socialist International
• Policy Network, a social democratic think-tank

Social democratic literature[link]

• Political + Social + Economic democracies <=> socialism
• Papers on the Future of Social Democracy in Canada
• Beyond Ideology, The Social Welfare State by Jeffrey D. Sachs
• Social Democracy in the unfinished global revolution by Martin Shaw
• Global Social Democracy

Criticism of social democracy[link]

• The Crisis of Social Democracy by Rosa Luxemburg
• "What remains of Socialism" by Emile Perreau-Saussine

Links to related articles v t e Social Democracy Precursors Humanism · Age of Enlightenment · French Revolution · Utopian socialism · Trade unionism · Revolutions of 1848 · Orthodox Marxism Development Revisionism · Reformism · Gradualism · Frankfurt Declaration Policies Representative democracy · Civil liberties · Labor rights · Mixed economy · Nationalization · Welfare state · Fair trade · Environmental protection · Secularism Organizations Social democratic parties · Socialist International · Party of European Socialists · International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Leaders Clement Attlee  · Obafemi Awolowo  · Eduard Bernstein  · Zulfikar Ali Bhutto  · Hjalmar Branting · Ignacy Daszyński  · Tommy Douglas  · Willem Drees  · Friedrich Ebert  · Bülent Ecevit  · Jean Jaurès  · Zhang Junmai  · Tetsu Katayama  · Ferdinand Lassalle  · René Lévesque  · Ramsay MacDonald  · Nelson Mandela  · Jawaharlal Nehru  · José Batlle y Ordóñez  · Bob Hawke Anthem The Internationale Politics portal · Socialism portal v t e Political ideologies Anarchism Capitalism Christian democracy Communism Communitarianism Conservatism Fascism Feminism Green politics Islamism Liberalism Libertarianism Militarism Nationalism Progressivism Social democracy Socialism Toryism Utilitarianism Whiggism List of political ideologies Politics portal

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2011)

James Laxer (born December 22, 1941) is a Canadian political economist, professor^[1] and author.^[2]

In 1969, Laxer, along with his father Robert Laxer and Mel Watkins, founded the Waffle,^[3] a radical left wing group influenced by the New Left, the anti-Vietnam War movement and Canadian economic nationalism, that tried to win control of the New Democratic Party (NDP).

In 1971, Laxer ran for the leadership of the federal NDP, and shocked the convention by winning one-third of the vote against party stalwert David Lewis. The Waffle was ultimately forced out of the NDP and briefly became an independent political party under the name "Movement for an Independent Socialist Canada". Laxer and other Wafflers unsuccessfully ran for Parliament in 1974. This electoral failure led to the Waffle's dissolution, and Laxer concentrated on his work as an academic at York University and in broadcasting.

In 1981, he was hired as director of research for the federal NDP, but left in controversy in 1983 when he published a report critiquing the party's economic policies as being "out of date".

Laxer remains prominent as an author, columnist and commentator.

Laxer has four children: Michael, Kate, Emily and Jonathan.

Publications[link]

• James Laxer (1993). False god: how the globalization myth has impoverished Canada. Lester Pub.. ISBN 978-1-895555-09-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=BjqwAAAAIAAJ. 
• James Laxer (1996). In search of a new left: Canadian politics after the neoconservative assault. Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-85901-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=g9YLAAAAYAAJ. 
• James Laxer (1998). The undeclared war: class conflict in the age of cyber capitalism. Viking. http://books.google.com/books?id=IJgbAQAAMAAJ. 
• James Laxer (2000). Stalking the elephant: my discovery of America. Viking. http://books.google.com/books?id=YmwaAQAAIAAJ. 
• James Laxer (2003). The border: Canada, the U.S. and dispatches from the 49th parallel. Doubleday Canada. http://books.google.com/books?id=eaURAQAAIAAJ. 
• James Laxer (2005). Red Diaper Baby: A Boyhood in the Age of McCarthyism. Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 978-1-55365-150-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=I_QfDpJ-ymsC. 
• James Laxer (2007). The Acadians: In Search of a Homeland. Doubleday Canada. ISBN 978-0-385-66109-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=ij_-LlhmRfAC. 
• James Laxer (2008). Mission of Folly: Canada and Afghanistan. Between the Lines Books. ISBN 978-1-897071-37-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=6vwVAQAAMAAJ. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website

Henning Meyer, born in 1978, is a German political scientist, analyst and commentator currently based at the Government Department of the London School of Economics and Political Science [1]. Meyer was previously head of the European programme at the Global Policy Institute [2] at London Metropolitan University. He is an expert on social democracy, European economic and social policy, Globalization, transatlantic economic relations and British and German politics.

Meyer holds an MA in British and European Politics and Government (London Guildhall University) as well as a PhD in Comparative Politics and an Executive MBA from London Metropolitan University. He is co-founder and editor of Social Europe Journal and a frequent contributor to academic and mainstream publications such as The Guardian Comment is Free [3] and DIE ZEIT online.

Meyer is also a regular TV commentator on political and economic issues on news channels such as BBC News, Al Jazeera International, France 24 and SBS Broadcasting Group Australia.

References[link]

Henning Meyer's LSE expert page [4]

Social Europe Journal [5]

Henning Meyer's personal homepage [6]

This article about a German scientist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Sir Alfred Hitchcock
Studio publicity photo
Born	Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (1899-08-13)13 August 1899 Leytonstone, London, England, UK
Died	29 April 1980(1980-04-29) (aged 80) Bel Air, California, US
Other names	Hitch The Master of Suspense
Occupation	Film director, film producer
Years active	1921–76
Influenced by	D. W. Griffith, Fritz Lang, Sergei Eisenstein,[1] F.W. Murnau[2]
Influenced	Brian De Palma, François Truffaut, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Claude Chabrol, Robert Zemeckis, M. Night Shyamalan, David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, Dario Argento, John Carpenter, Jonathan Demme, Tim Burton, Mel Brooks, David Fincher
Religion	Roman Catholic[3]
Spouse	Alma Reville (m.1926-80; his death)
Children	Patricia Hitchcock
Parents	William Hitchcock (father) Emma Jane Whelan (mother)

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980)^[4] was an English film director and producer.^[5] He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. On 19 April 1955, he became an American citizen while remaining a British subject.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style.^[6] He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism.^[7] He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing.^[7] His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside "icy blonde" female characters.^[8] Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys or "MacGuffins" meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents, he became a cultural icon. Hitchocks reputation as a filmmaker is offset by claims that he engaged in obsessive and controlling behaviour towards many of his leading ladies, and that in some cases this extended to physical abuse and sexual harrassment.^[9]

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades. Often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker, he came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else."^[10][11] The magazine MovieMaker has described him as the most influential filmmaker of all time,^[12] and he is widely regarded as one of cinema's most significant artists.^[13]

Early life[link]

Hitchcock mosaic at Leytonstone Station

Hitchcock was born on 13 August 1899 in Leytonstone, London, England, the second son and youngest of three children of William Hitchcock (1862–1914), a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane Hitchcock (née Whelan; 1863–1942). Named Alfred after his father's brother, Hitchcock was raised Catholic and was sent to Salesian College (London)^[14] and the Jesuit Classic school St Ignatius' College in Stamford Hill, London.^[15][16] His mother and paternal grandmother were of Irish extraction.^[17][18] He often described his childhood as being very lonely and sheltered, a situation compounded by his obesity.^[19]

Around the age of 5, according to Hitchcock, he was sent by his father to the local police station with a note asking the officer to lock him away for ten minutes as punishment for behaving badly.^[20] This idea of being harshly treated or wrongfully accused is frequently reflected in Hitchcock's films.^[21]

Hitchcock's father died when he was 14. In the same year, Hitchcock left St. Ignatius to study at the London County Council School of Engineering and Navigation in Poplar, London.^[22] After leaving, he became a draftsman and advertising designer with a cable company called Henley's.^[23]

It was while working at Henley's that he first started to dabble creatively. Upon the formation of the company's in-house publication The Henley Telegraph in 1919, Hitchcock started to submit short articles, eventually becoming one of its most prolific contributors. His first piece was Gas (1919), published in the very first issue, in which a young woman imagines that she is being assaulted one night in Paris – only for the twist to reveal that it was all just a hallucination in the dentist's chair, induced by the anaesthetic. His second piece was The Woman's Part (1919), which involves the conflicted emotions a husband feels as he watches his wife, an actress, perform onstage.^[24] Sordid (1920) surrounds an attempt to buy a sword from an antiques dealer, with another twist ending. The short story And There Was No Rainbow (1920) was Hitchcock's first brush with possibly censurable material. A young man goes out looking for a brothel, only to stumble into the house of his best friend's girl. What's Who? (1920), while being very funny, was also a precursor to the famous Abbott and Costello "Who's on First?" routine. The History of Pea Eating (1920) was a satirical disquisition on the various attempts mankind has made over the centuries to eat peas successfully. His final piece, Fedora (1921), was his shortest and most enigmatic contribution. It also gave a strikingly accurate description of his future wife, Alma (whom he had not yet met).^[25]

During this period, Hitchcock became intrigued by photography and started working in film production in London, working as a title-card designer for the London branch of what would become Paramount Pictures.^[26] In 1920, he received a full-time position at Islington Studios with its American owner, Famous Players-Lasky, and their British successor, Gainsborough Pictures,^[27] designing the titles for silent movies.^[28] His rise from title designer to film director took five years.

Inter-war British career[link]

Hitchcock's last collaboration with Graham Cutts led him to Germany in 1924. The film Die Prinzessin und der Geiger (UK title The Blackguard, 1925), directed by Cutts and co-written by Hitchcock, was produced in the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam near Berlin. Hitchcock also observed part of the making of F. W. Murnau's film Der letzte Mann (1924).^[29] He was very impressed with Murnau's work and later used many techniques for the set design in his own productions. In his book-length interview with François Truffaut, Hitchcock/Truffaut (Simon and Schuster, 1967), Hitchcock also said he was influenced by Fritz Lang's film Destiny (1921).

Hitchcock's first few films faced a string of bad luck. His first directing project came in 1922 with the aptly titled Number 13.^[30] The production was cancelled due to financial problems^[30] and the few scenes that were finished at that point were apparently lost. In 1925, Michael Balcon^[31] of Gainsborough Pictures gave Hitchcock another opportunity for a directing credit with The Pleasure Garden made at UFA Studios^[32] in Germany; the film was a commercial flop.^[33] Next, Hitchcock directed a drama called The Mountain Eagle (possibly released under the title Fear o' God in the United States). This film was also eventually lost.^[34] In 1926, Hitchcock's luck changed with his first thriller, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog. The film, released in January 1927, was a major commercial and critical success in the United Kingdom.^[35] As with many of his earlier works, this film was influenced by Expressionist techniques Hitchcock had witnessed first-hand in Germany.^[36] Some commentators regard this piece as the first truly "Hitchcockian"^[37][38] film, incorporating such themes as the "wrong man".^[39]

Following the success of The Lodger, Hitchcock hired a publicist to help enhance his growing reputation. On 2 December 1926, Hitchcock married his assistant director, Alma Reville, at the Brompton Oratory in South Kensington. Their only child, daughter Patricia, was born on 7 July 1928. Alma was to become Hitchcock's closest collaborator, but her contributions to his films (some of which were credited on screen) Hitchcock would discuss only in private, as she was keen to avoid public attention.^[40]

In 1929, Hitchcock began work on his tenth film Blackmail. While the film was still in production, the studio, British International Pictures (BIP), decided to convert it to sound. As an early 'talkie', the film is frequently cited by film historians as a landmark film,^[41] and is often considered to be the first British sound feature film.^[42][43] With the climax of the film taking place on the dome of the British Museum, Blackmail began the Hitchcock tradition of using famous landmarks as a backdrop for suspense sequences. It also features one of his longest cameo appearances, which shows him being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book on the London Underground.^[44] In the PBS series The Men Who Made The Movies,^[45] Hitchcock explained how he used early sound recording as a special element of the film, emphasising the word "knife" in a conversation with the woman suspected of murder.^[46] During this period, Hitchcock directed segments for a BIP musical film revue Elstree Calling (1930) and directed a short film featuring two Film Weekly scholarship winners, An Elastic Affair (1930). Another BIP musical revue, Harmony Heaven (1929), reportedly had minor input from Hitchcock, but his name does not appear in the credits.

In 1933, Hitchcock was once again working for Michael Balcon^[31] at Gaumont-British Picture Corporation.^[47] His first film for the company, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), was a success and his second, The 39 Steps (1935), is often considered one of the best films from his early period.^[48] This film was also one of the first to introduce the concept of the "MacGuffin", a plot device around which a whole story seems to revolve, but ultimately has nothing to do with the true meaning or ending of the story. In The 39 Steps, the MacGuffin is a stolen set of design plans. Hitchcock told French director François Truffaut:

There are two men sitting in a train going to Scotland and one man says to the other, "Excuse me, sir, but what is that strange parcel you have on the luggage rack above you?", "Oh", says the other, "that's a Macguffin.", "Well", says the first man, "what's a Macguffin?", The other answers, "It's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.", "But", says the first man, "there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands.", "Well", says the other, "then that's no Macguffin."^[49]

Hitchcock's next major success was his 1938 film The Lady Vanishes, a fast-paced film about the search for a kindly old Englishwoman Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty), who disappears while on board a train in the fictional country of Bandrika.^[50]

By 1938, Hitchcock had become known for his alleged observation, "Actors are cattle". He once said that he first made this remark as early as the late 1920s, in connection to stage actors who were snobbish about motion pictures. However, Michael Redgrave said that Hitchcock had made the statement during the filming of The Lady Vanishes. The phrase would haunt Hitchcock for years to come and would result in an incident during the filming of his 1941 production of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, where Carole Lombard brought some heifers onto the set with name tags of Lombard, Robert Montgomery, and Gene Raymond, the stars of the film, to surprise the director. Hitchcock said he was misquoted: "I said 'Actors should be treated like cattle'."^[51]

At the end of the 1930s, David O. Selznick signed Hitchcock to a seven-year contract beginning in March 1939, when the Hitchcocks moved to the United States.

Hollywood[link]

In Hollywood, the suspense and the gallows humour that had become Hitchcock's trademark in film continued to appear in his productions. The working arrangements with Selznick were less than optimal. Selznick suffered from perennial money problems, and Hitchcock was often displeased with Selznick's creative control over his films. In a later interview, Hitchcock summarised the working relationship thus:

[Selznick] was the Big Producer. [...] Producer was king, The most flattering thing Mr. Selznick ever said about me—and it shows you the amount of control—he said I was the "only director" he'd "trust with a film".^[52]

Selznick loaned Hitchcock to the larger studios more often than producing Hitchcock's films himself. In addition, Selznick, as well as fellow independent producer Samuel Goldwyn, made only a few films each year, so he did not always have projects for Hitchcock to direct. Goldwyn had also negotiated with Hitchcock on a possible contract, only to be outbid by Selznick. Hitchcock was quickly impressed with the superior resources of the American studios compared to the financial restrictions he had frequently encountered in England.^{[citation needed]}

Hitchcock's fondness for his homeland resulted in numerous American films set in, or filmed in, the United Kingdom,^[53] including his penultimate film, Frenzy.

With the prestigious Selznick picture Rebecca in 1940, Hitchcock made his first American movie, set in England and based on a novel by English author Daphne du Maurier. The film starred Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. This Gothic melodrama explores the fears of a naïve young bride who enters a great English country home and must adapt to the extreme formality and coldness she finds there. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1940.^[54] The statuette was given to Selznick, as the film's producer.^[54] The film did not win the Best Director award for Hitchcock.

There were additional problems between Selznick and Hitchcock. Selznick was known to impose very restrictive rules upon Hitchcock, forcing him to shoot the film as Selznick wanted.^{[citation needed]} At the same time, Selznick complained about Hitchcock's "goddamn jigsaw cutting", which meant that the producer did not have nearly the leeway to create his own film as he liked, but had to follow Hitchcock's vision of the finished product.^[55] Rebecca was the fourth longest of Hitchcock's films, at 130 minutes, exceeded only by The Paradine Case (132 minutes), North by Northwest (136 minutes), and Topaz (142 minutes).^[56]

Hitchcock's second American film, the European-set thriller Foreign Correspondent (1940), based on Vincent Sheean's Personal History and produced by Walter Wanger, was nominated for Best Picture that year. Hitchcock and many other English nationals felt uneasy living and working in Hollywood while their home country was at war, so his concern resulted in the making of the film that supported the British war effort.^[57] The movie was filmed in the first year of World War II and was inspired by the rapidly changing events in Europe, as fictionally covered by an American newspaper reporter portrayed by Joel McCrea. The film mixed actual footage of European scenes and scenes filmed on a Hollywood back lot. In compliance with Hollywood's Production Code censorship, the film avoided direct references to Germany and Germans.^[58]

1940s films[link]

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in Notorious (1946)

Hitchcock's films during the 1940s were diverse, ranging from the romantic comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) to the courtroom drama The Paradine Case (1947) to the dark and disturbing film noir Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

In September 1940, the Hitchcocks purchased the 200-acre (0.81 km²) Cornwall Ranch, located near Scotts Valley in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The ranch became the primary residence of the Hitchcocks for the rest of their lives, although they kept their Bel Air home. Suspicion (1941) marked Hitchcock's first film as a producer as well as director. Hitchcock used the north coast of Santa Cruz, California, for the English coastline sequence.^[26] This film was to be actor Cary Grant's first time working with Hitchcock, and it was one of the few times that Grant would be cast in a sinister role.^[26] Joan Fontaine^[59] won Best Actress Oscar^[26] and the New York Film Critics Circle Award^[60] for her "outstanding performance in Suspicion". "Grant plays an irresponsible husband whose actions raise suspicion and anxiety in his wife (Fontaine)".^{[citation needed]} In what critics regard as a classic scene^{[citation needed]}, Hitchcock uses a light bulb to illuminate what might be a fatal glass of milk that Grant is bringing to his wife. In the book the movie is based on (Before the Fact by Francis Iles), the Grant character is a killer, but Hitchcock and the studio felt Grant's image would be tarnished by that ending. Though a homicide would have suited him better, as he stated to François Truffaut, Hitchcock settled for an ambiguous finale.^[61]

Saboteur (1942) was the first of two films that Hitchcock made for Universal, a studio where he would continue his career during his later years. Hitchcock was forced^{[citation needed]} to use Universal contract players Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane, both known for their work in comedies and light dramas. Breaking with Hollywood conventions of the time, Hitchcock did extensive location filming, especially in New York City, and depicted a confrontation between a suspected saboteur (Cummings) and a real saboteur (Norman Lloyd) atop the Statue of Liberty. That year he also directed Have You Heard?, a photographic dramatisation of the dangers of rumours during wartime, for Life magazine.^[62]

Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Hitchcock's personal favourite of all his films and the second of the early Universal films,^[63] was about young Charlotte "Charlie" Newton (Teresa Wright), who suspects her beloved uncle Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotten) of being a serial murderer. Critics have said that in its use of overlapping characters, dialogue, and closeups it has provided a generation of film theorists with psychoanalytic potential^{[citation needed]}, including Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek. Hitchcock again filmed extensively on location, this time in the Northern California city of Santa Rosa, California, during the summer of 1942. The director showcased his own personal fascination with crime and criminals when he had two of his characters discuss various ways of killing people, to the obvious annoyance of Charlotte.

Working at 20th Century Fox, Hitchcock adapted a script of John Steinbeck's that chronicled the experiences of the survivors of a German U-boat attack in the film Lifeboat (1944). The action sequences were shot in a small boat in the studio water tank. The locale also posed problems for Hitchcock's traditional cameo appearance. That was solved by having Hitchcock's image appear in a newspaper that William Bendix is reading in the boat, showing the director in a before-and-after advertisement for "Reduco-Obesity Slayer".^[64]

While at Fox, Hitchcock seriously considered directing the film version of A.J. Cronin's novel about a Catholic priest in China^{[citation needed]}, The Keys of the Kingdom, but the plans for this fell through. John M. Stahl ended up directing the 1944 film, which was produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starred Gregory Peck, among other luminaries.^[65]

Returning to England for an extended visit in late 1943 and early 1944, Hitchcock made two short films for the Ministry of Information, Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache. Made for the Free French, these were the only films Hitchcock made in the French language, and "feature typical Hitchcockian touches".^[66] In the 1990s, the two films were shown by Turner Classic Movies and released on home video.

In 1945, Hitchcock served as "treatment advisor" (in effect, a film editor) for a Holocaust documentary produced by the British Army. The film, which recorded the liberation of Nazi concentration camps, remained unreleased until 1985, when it was completed by PBS Frontline and distributed under the title Memory of the Camps.^[67][68]

Hitchcock worked for Selznick again when he directed Spellbound (1945), which explored psychoanalysis^[69] and featured a dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí. Gregory Peck plays amnesiac Dr. Anthony Edwardes under the treatment of analyst Dr. Peterson (Ingrid Bergman), who falls in love with him while trying to unlock his repressed past.^[70] The dream sequence as it actually appears in the film is considerably shorter than was originally envisioned, which was to be several minutes long,^{[citation needed]} because it proved to be too disturbing for the audience. Two point-of-view shots were achieved by constructing a large wooden hand (which would appear to belong to the character whose point of view the camera took) and out-sized props for it to hold: a bucket-sized glass of milk and a large wooden gun. For added novelty and impact, the climactic gunshot was hand-coloured red on (some copies of) the black-and-white film. Some of the original musical score by Miklós Rózsa (which makes use of the theremin) was later adapted by the composer into a concert piano concerto.

Grant and Bergman in Notorious (1946)

Notorious (1946) followed Spellbound. According to Hitchcock, in his book-length interview with François Truffaut, Selznick sold the director, the two stars (Grant and Bergman) and the screenplay (by Ben Hecht) to RKO Radio Pictures as a "package" for $500,000 due to cost overruns on Selznick's Duel in the Sun (1946). Notorious starred Hitchcock regulars Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, and features a plot about Nazis, uranium, and South America. It was a huge box office success and has remained one of Hitchcock's most acclaimed films^{[citation needed]}. His use of uranium as a plot device led to Hitchcock's being briefly under FBI surveillance. McGilligan writes that Hitchcock consulted Dr. Robert Millikan of Caltech about the development of an atomic bomb. Selznick complained that the notion was "science fiction", only to be confronted by the news stories of the detonation of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945.^[71]

After completing his final film for Selznick, The Paradine Case (a courtroom drama that critics found lost momentum because it apparently ran too long and exhausted its resource of ideas), Hitchcock filmed his first colour film, Rope (1948). Here Hitchcock experimented with marshaling suspense in a confined environment, as he had done earlier with Lifeboat (1943). Appeaering to have been shot entirely in a single take, Rope (1948) was actually shot in 10 takes ranging from four and a half to 10 minutes each; a 10-minute length of film being the maximum a camera's film magazine could hold. Some transitions between reels were hidden by having a dark object fill the entire screen for a moment. Hitchcock used those points to hide the cut, and began the next take with the camera in the same place. Featuring James Stewart in the leading role, Rope was the first of four films Stewart would make with Hitchcock. It was based on the Leopold and Loeb case of the 1920s. Somehow Hitchcock's cameraman managed to move the bulky, heavy Technicolor camera quickly around the set as it followed the continuous action of the long takes.

Under Capricorn (1949), set in nineteenth-century Australia, also used the short-lived technique of long takes, but to a more limited extent. He again used Technicolor in this production, then returned to black-and-white films for several years. For Rope and Under Capricorn, Hitchcock formed a production company with Sidney Bernstein called Transatlantic Pictures, which became inactive after these two unsuccessful pictures. Hitchcock continued to produce his own films for the rest of his life.

1950s: Peak years[link]

James Stewart and Grace Kelly in Rear Window (1954)

Hitchcock filmed Stage Fright (1950) in the UK. For the first time, he matched one of Warner Bros.'^[72] biggest stars, Jane Wyman, with the sultry German actress Marlene Dietrich. Hitchcock used a number of prominent British actors, including Michael Wilding, Richard Todd, and Alastair Sim. This was Hitchcock's first production for Warner Bros., which had distributed Rope and Under Capricorn, because Transatlantic Pictures was experiencing financial difficulties.^[73]

With the film Strangers on a Train (1951), based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, Hitchcock combined many elements from his preceding films. He approached Dashiell Hammett to write the dialogue but Raymond Chandler took over, then left over disagreements with the director.^[74] Two men casually meet, one of whom speculates on a foolproof murder technique. He suggests that two people, each wishing to do away with someone, should each perform the other's murder. Farley Granger's role was as the innocent victim of the scheme, while Robert Walker, previously known for "boy-next-door" roles, played the villain.^[75]

MCA head Lew Wasserman, whose client list included James Stewart, Janet Leigh and other actors who would appear in Hitchcock's films, had a significant impact in packaging and marketing Hitchcock's films beginning in the 1950s.

After I Confess (1953) with Montgomery Clift, three popular films starring Grace Kelly followed. Dial M for Murder (1954) was adapted from the stage play by Frederick Knott. Ray Milland plays the scheming villain, an ex-tennis pro who tries to murder his unfaithful wife Grace Kelly for her money. When she kills the hired assassin in self-defense, Milland manipulates the evidence to pin the death on his wife. Her lover, Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), and Police Inspector Hubbard (John Williams), work urgently to save her from execution.^[76] Hitchcock experimented with 3D cinematography. The depth effect was utilised in a major way only in one key scene. The public was growing weary of 3D by the time of the film's release, however, and it was shown in 3D only in a few first-run engagements. The 3D version has been revived from time to time, including a brief reissue in some major US cities in the 1980s. The film marked a return to color productions for Hitchcock.

Hitchcock then moved to Paramount Pictures and filmed Rear Window (1954), starring James Stewart and Kelly again, as well as Thelma Ritter and Raymond Burr. Stewart's character, a photographer based on Robert Capa, must temporarily use a wheelchair; out of boredom he begins observing his neighbours across the courtyard, and becomes convinced one of them (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. Stewart tries to sway both his glamorous model-girlfriend (Kelly), which screenwriter John Michael Hayes based on his own wife, and his policeman buddy (Wendell Corey) to his theory, and eventually succeeds.^[77] As with Lifeboat and Rope, the principal characters were almost entirely confined to a small space, in this case Stewart's tiny studio apartment overlooking a massive courtyard. Hitchcock used closeups of Stewart's face to show his character's reactions to all he sees, "from the comic voyeurism directed at his neighbours to his helpless terror watching Kelly and Burr in the villain's apartment".^[77]

The third Kelly film, To Catch a Thief (1955), set in the French Riviera, paired her with Cary Grant. He plays retired thief John Robie, who becomes the prime suspect for a spate of robberies in the Riviera. An American heiress played by Kelly surmises his true identity, attempts to seduce him. "Despite the obvious age disparity between Grant and Kelly and a lightweight plot, the witty script (loaded with double-entendres) and the good-natured acting proved a commercial success."^[78] It was Hitchcock's last film with Kelly. She married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, and the residents of her new land were against her making any more films.

Hitchcock successfully remade his own 1934 film The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956, this time starring Stewart and Doris Day, who sang the theme song, "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", which won the Oscar for Best Original Song and became a big hit for her. They play a couple whose son is kidnapped to prevent them from interfering with an assassination.

James Stewart and Kim Novak in Vertigo (1958)

The Wrong Man (1957), Hitchcock's final film for Warner Brothers, was a low-key black-and-white production based on a real-life case of mistaken identity reported in Life Magazine in 1953. This was the only film of Hitchcock's to star Henry Fonda. Fonda plays a Stork Club musician mistaken for a liquor store thief who is arrested and tried for robbery while his wife (newcomer Vera Miles) emotionally collapses under the strain. Hitchcock told Truffaut that his lifelong fear of the police attracted him to the subject and was embedded in many scenes.^[79]

Vertigo (1958) again starred Stewart, this time with Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes. Stewart plays "Scottie", a former police investigator suffering from acrophobia, who develops an obsession with a woman he is shadowing (Novak). Scottie's obsession leads to tragedy, and this time Hitchcock does not opt for a happy ending. The film contains a camera technique developed by Irmin Roberts that has been copied many times by filmmakers, wherein the image appears to "stretch". This is achieved by moving the camera in the opposite direction of the camera's zoom. It has become known by many nicknames, including Dolly zoom, "Zolly," "Hitchcock Zoom," and "Vertigo Effect."

Although the film is widely considered a classic today, Vertigo met with negative reviews and poor box office receipts upon its release, and was the last collaboration between Stewart and Hitchcock.^[80] The film is ranked second (behind Citizen Kane) in the 2002 Sight & Sound decade poll. It was premiered in the San Sebastián International Film Festival,^[81] where Hitchcock won a Silver Seashell.

Cary Grant in North by Northwest (1959)

By this time, Hitchcock had filmed in many areas of the United States.^[82] He followed Vertigo with three more successful films. Two are also recognised as among his best movies: North by Northwest (1959) and Psycho (1960). The third film was The Birds (1963).

In North by Northwest, Cary Grant portrays Roger Thornhill, a Madison Avenue advertising executive who is mistaken for a government secret agent.^[83] He is hotly pursued by enemy agents across America, apparently one of them being Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), in fact working undercover.

From 1960[link]

Psycho is almost certainly Hitchcock's best-known film.^[84] Produced on a highly constrained budget of $800,000, it was shot in black-and-white on a spare set.^[85] The unprecedented violence of the shower scene, the early demise of the heroine, the innocent lives extinguished by a disturbed murderer were all hallmarks of Hitchcock, copied in many subsequent horror films.^[86] After completing Psycho, Hitchcock moved to Universal, where he made the remainder of his films.