Question 1
1 ‘The development of the Labour Party during the period from 1893 to 1914 was dependent on the support of the Trade Unions.’
Use the four sources in their historical context to assess how far they support this view.
Source A: In the introduction to a biography of Keir Hardie, the leader of the Labour Party, Ramsay MacDonald, comments on the formation of the Independent Labour Party.
When the Independent Labour Party (ILP) was formed in Bradford, it was a forlorn hope attacked by a section of Socialists on the one hand and by the union leaders on the other. Through the days of fighting and trudging, Hardie’s dogged persistence made faint‑heartedness impossible. Hardie had an inexhaustible inner resource needed between 1893 and 1900 in order to create the Labour Movement. People were more important than things to him, a spirit that infused the ILP, and is one reason why it became the greatest political influence of our time, and threw into an almost negligible background all other Socialist bodies in this country.
Keir Hardie by William Stewart, 1921.
Source B: An active member of the ILP in Yorkshire describes the outcome of the conference held in London, 27 February 1900, at which the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) was formed.
The three socialist parties – the ILP, the Fabian Society and the Social Democrats – were represented. The Trade Unions had 500 000 members represented. To commit the Trade Unions to an extreme Socialist programme would have made their co‑operation most unlikely. Keir Hardie, with a true appreciation of the situation, on behalf of the ILP, moved an amendment that the conference ‘approve the formation of a distinct Labour group in parliament, whose policy must embrace a readiness to co‑operate with any party engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of Labour’. This was passed unanimously. The LRC executive comprised seven representing the Trade Unions, two the ILP, two the Social Democrats and one the Fabian Society.
Philip Snowden, An Autobiography, 1934.
Source C: The comments of a trade union delegate at the Annual Conference of the LRC are reported in a popular national Sunday newspaper, the staff of which included leading trade unionists.
In 1902, the numbers affiliated to the LRC were 450 000, and today the numbers were 750 000. During the last few weeks the textile workers had come in, making the figure more like 850 000. He [the trade union delegate] believed it would go on more and more as the workers began to realise that the judges in the Taff Vale case were politically motivated and had placed themselves above and beyond the legislature. The more the workers realised that the judges had subverted the laws of the land, the more would their movement grow in strength.
Reynold’s Newspaper, article, 22 February 1903.
Source D: A prominent member of the Fabian Society and critic of the Labour Party expresses her views about the attitude of working men to the Labour Party.
[Ramsay] MacDonald represents the views and aspirations of the bulk of Trade Unionists. The British workman has been persuaded by propaganda that a Labour Party is useful and that some of his class ought to enjoy the £400 a year and the prestige of being an MP. However, the closer the Labour Member sticks to the Liberal Party the better he is pleased. So far as he has any politics he still believes in the right of the middle and professional classes to do the work of government.
Beatrice Webb, Diary, 6 February 1914.
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