Rise Of The Labour Party example essay topic

Many people have argued that it is important to acknowledge early influences in order to understand the birth of Labour's rise to power. The rise of Labour stemmed, fundamentally, from the harsh working and living conditions of late nineteenth century Britain. For example in 1884 intellectuals formed the Social Democratic Federation, the Socialist League and the Fabian Society, which varied in character from the revolutionary to the reformist. Also, the workers formed trade unions, not only the old exclusive craft unions, but also the inclusive 'new unions' formed in the late-1880's and composed of unskilled workers. These early influences would grow and play a key role in the growth of Labour up until 1924. For example Paul Johnson illustrates the growth of trade union membership from 1.5 million in 1893 to 4.1 million in 1914.

After the war, membership increased by over 50%, so it can be argued that the early influences in setting up these types of groups were important in their later growth. Before the outbreak of war in 1914, there were also a number of important acts and changes that were extremely important in the Labour Party's rise. The 1906 Trade Disputes Act effectively reversed the Taff Vale judgement of 1901, thus offering trade unions protection from civil actions. Seven years later in 1913, the Trade Union Act reversed the Osbourne Judgement of 1909 that had banned the use of union funds for political purposes. The Osbourne Judgement had seriously weakened Labour's ability to fight the two 1910 elections and also the fact that no salaries were paid to MPs at the time, therefore placed several Labour MPs in financial difficulties. So the 1913 Act removed these problems and meant that Labours income and chances were multiplied overnight.

Other acts that contributed to Labour's rise was the 1908 Coal Mines Act which limited the miner's working day to eight hours and also the introduction of a Right to Work Bill in response to the high rates of unemployment in 1908 and 1909. All these changes strengthened the Trade Unions who had played an important part in lobbying for them. Another major reason for the rapid rise of the Labour Party was due to the sharp demise of Britain's 'second party' in 1900, the Liberal Party. During the decade before the First World War there seemed no inevitability about Labour's rise, at least to contemporaries. The basic fact about British politics at the time was the domination of the great Liberal Party and this meant therefore that there was a distinct possibility that the Labour Party would either be absorbed by the Liberals, just as the Liberal Unionists had been by the Conservatives after 1895, or become a small and dwindling left-wing group like the I.L. P in the 1930's. Although this did not happen, the ideal of Labour independence implied expansion based on capturing a larger section of the working-class vote: and this could only be done at the expense of liberalism.

Therefore the Liberal Party would play an important role in Labour's future. However there is a split among historians whether we can already before 1914 discern the beginnings of future Liberal decline and Labour expansion. Paul Thompson in his study of London politics between 1885 and 1914 has pointed to the financial and organisational weaknesses of the Liberal Party up to 1906; its failures in local elections; its continuing links with middle-class nonconformist ambitions; and its general inability to adapt itself to working-class needs and aspirations. Even the Liberal victory of 1906 was, he argues, not a genuine revival, but the result of a number of advantages gained by the Liberals as a result of unpopular Conservative policies. Bealey and Pelling agree with Thompson's attitude towards the 1906 election, which they see not as a profound demand for a 'new' liberalism, but of a hankering after the old, elected school boards and free trade. Therefore the corollary of pre-war liberal weakness is, potentially at least, Labour strength; and Pelling and others, while not denying the evident weaknesses of the Labour Party during these years, have stressed "the strength of roots put down before 1914".

Pelling, for example, has emphasised repeatedly the enormous importance of increasing trade union affiliations for future Labour development, and especially the accession of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain in 1909, which at one stroke increased party membership in the House of Commons by fifteen and held out the alluring prospect of all the miners' pocket boroughs being swept into the Labour net, as indeed they were after 1918. Pelling also describes the importance of general social and economic factors and the growing difficulties in basic unity, which were bound eventually to play into the hands of the Labour Party. Dr Gregory has illustrated in detail the importance of these factors for the prospects of the party in the coalfields between 1906 and 1914. By World War One, Gregory argues, the Liberal alliance was already crumbling and furthermore the M.F.G. B was proposing to sponsor twenty-one Labour candidates against the Liberals at the next election. However historians such as Professor Trevor Wilson and P. F Clarke have argued that the Labour Party can best be seen as a part of the Edwardian Progressive Movement. They argue that in the early twentieth century there was a genuine Liberal revival.

The Liberal revival writes Dr Clarke "gave evidence of its scale in 1906 and its durability in 1910". Clarke points out that the Liberals could have retained power in 1910 with Irish votes alone and he saw no reason why this would not continue among the working class in the face of such a weak, narrow and uninspired Labour party that finished bottom of the poll in all fourteen by-elections they fought between December 1910 and July 1914. So therefore, Wilson and Clarke clearly believe that in August 1914 there were no signs of the Labour rise to power that Pelling, Thompson and Bealey could see. A less debated topic is the impact the Great War had on the rise of the Labour Party. Wilson and Clarke believe Labour fortunes were at low ebb in 1914 when the war gave the lie to the socialist myth that European workers would not fight each other as nationalism overrode class allegiances.

Yet paradoxically the war saw a real breakthrough for Labour. As mentioned before, trade union membership increased by over 50% and the need to maximise production led to important improvements in working conditions. Furthermore, 'war socialism' favoured Labour's philosophy of managing the economy, as war was far too important to be left to the operation of free market forces. Labour even gained experience of government for the first time. The party entered the coalition that was formed in 1915 and Arthur Henderson became the first Labour member of a cabinet.

Although many argue this was only done to present the impression of national unity for the war effort, nonetheless it proved important in Labour's rise to power. Another important development during the war was the 1918 general election in which Labour did better than ever before, fighting virtually every seat (compared with plans in 1914 to contest only a quarter) and winning 22% of the total votes cast. So therefore the fact that in 1918 Labour handsomely outdone even their own expectations of four years earlier shows that the First World War was a big factor in this. Furthermore its new constitution not only gave the party a distinctive socialist philosophy (with Clause Four) but allowed individual membership for the first time. Even more important, perhaps to Labour's rise, was that 1918 saw the dawning of democracy in Britain. The Franchise reform allowed all men aged 21 and over to vote and all women aged 30 and over.

Labour could now appeal to a mass electorate and was another important reason for Labour's expansion. The Liberal Party's demise during the war was another important reason for Labour's rise. As Robbins points out, the Liberals went into war with no desire to see State regulation extend to all aspects of industrial and commercial life. Liberty was at the heart of British Liberalism and freedom would be lost if the State ultimately assumed responsibility for everything. When the war came, first the Defence of the Real Act and then military conscription seemed to many Liberals to represent unjustified intrusions on the liberty of the individual.

In fighting for liberty, liberty would itself be extinguished and Britain would become 'Prussianized'. "As one step seemed to lead to another Liberals lost heart". Therefore the result of this was obvious with previous Liberals, starting to support Labour. As Maurice Cowling said, the Labour party "broke through the dams which the Liberal party had built". Despite all the detailed reasons above for Labour's rise to power, the final and most significant reason why Labour was able to form a government in 1924, came about simply by chance. After winning the 1922 election by a clear majority, Stanley Baldwin succeeded Bonar Law as leader and immediately realised the Conservatives could not survive if they simply appeared to be defending entrenched interests.

Therefore Baldwin called what many historians have called a needless general election over the issue of protection and despite remaining the largest party, the Conservatives failed to gain the overall majority. Therefore in January 1924, Baldwin was defeated in the Commons and the King took the course of calling upon Ramsay MacDonald, the leader of Labour, the next largest party, to form a government. So overall there are a number of reasons why the Labour party rose so rapidly from having only 29 MPs in 1906 to forming a government in 1924. Early influences were important in providing a foundation on which the party could grow and expand.

The demise of the Liberal Party during, after and possibly even before World War One also aided Labours rise to power. A number of important acts such as the Trade Disputes Act strengthened the trade unions that played an important role in Labour's rise. The Great War was extremely important in aiding Labour's rise to power and finally when it really mattered, to use a famous clich'e, the Labour Party got the little bit of luck they needed in 1924 to form a government despite the Conservatives having more seats in the general election.