UK LABOUR PARTY

To What Extent Was the 1918 UK Labour Party Constitution a Break With or Development of Labourism

To What Extent Was the 1918 UK Labour Party Constitution a Break With or Development of Labourism

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to enlighten and explore the extent to which the 1918 U.K Labour Party constitution influenced the development of Labourism. The United Kingdom was the first country to experience the industrial revolution, and consequently the first to see the birth of a labour movement. Hence, the economic demands found their means of expression and struggle in the associations (trade unions), while on a strictly political movement of the working class joined the Chartists, whose goal was the achievement of universal suffrage. As a result, trade unions increased their influence in the political arena; in addition, the working class gave their support first to the Radicals. Moreover, the Liberal Party without constituting an independent party suffered tardiness with which it extended the right to vote for the electoral system; hence, electoral districts were drawn, giving disproportionate weight to rural areas at the expense of industrial cities.

The Labour Representation Committee

The first breakthrough came in 1881, when Henry Mayers Hyndman established the Socialist Democratic Federation. The other groups with more or less socialist orientation assumed great importance to the Fabians Society. This was the origin of U.K Labour Party. The U.K Labour Party was able to overcome the divisions between the various political groups and trade unions in a phase of restrictions placed by the government to the free action of Trade Unions. Which gave birth to the Committee Representative of Labour; moreover Ramsay MacDonald was elected secretary of the committee and a head of the affairs concerning liberalism and parliamentarism. Nevertheless, in 1906, the Committee obtained a significant result of the elections by winning 29 seats (5.7% of the vote) (Lawton, 2004, 89).

It initially did not provide an individual membership; but, with the passage of time the pre-existing groups were introduced in the committee; ultimately, the committee declared and acknowledged the importance of Independent Labour Party. In the following years, the Labour Party followed a line of co-operation with the Liberals, achieving important reforms such as the legislations aimed at health care and compensation for unemployment (1911). Nevertheless, UK Labour Party recognized the regulating activities of Trade Unions (1913), standards of the eight hour work, minimum wage concerns, etc (Lawton, 2004, 92). This party was formed by the Social Democratic Federation from the ex-members of UK Labour Party.

Trade Union Affiliation

The trade union affiliation policies in 1970 provided diverse solutions for the Labour related issues in UK. In 1974 the voters were called to the polls twice. Due to the revised polling, it was the first time when Labour gained 301 seats, the Conservatives got 297, and Liberals achieved 14. Nevertheless, other 23 seats went to smaller lists, including the Scottish National Party and the Ulster Unionist Party. In addition, every party was given the possibility of ensuring a stable government in order to return ...