Gutted, venerable European socialist changed direction (6)
I believe the answer is:
veered
'changed direction' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'gutted venerable european socialist' is the wordplay.
'gutted' means to remove the middle letters (to gut something is to remove its insides).
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'socialist' becomes 'red' (red is a kind of socialist).
'venerable' with its centre taken out is 've'.
've'+'e'+'red'='VEERED'
(Other definitions for veered that I've seen before include "Took evasive action" , "Swerved" , "Changed direction abruptly" , "Changed direction or course, as wind may" , "once let out at sea" .)