rise of Labour Flashcards
1880s agriculture in Britain
900k employed and contributed to 15% of Britain’s GDP
Green on political action
since the 50s people used the constitution and parliamentary procedures as a basis for political action and there was no fear of revolution
1840s economic policy
income tax re-introduced
reduction of indirect tax and establishing banking
poor law + friendly societies became prominent and self-help was a crucial theme. little state involvement- restrictive budgetary policy under Gladstone + Disraeli outrightly rejected protectionism
changing global position 1880-1914
1902 alliance with Japan, defensive alliance with France and Russia 1907
1899-1902 2ND Boer war
Canada, NZ + AUS introduced tariff on British goods
direct involvement in Empire eg Chamberlain as colonial secretary in 1895 introduced colonial infrastructure developments and went on a tariff reform crusade
decline in British economic position globally
3rd place in world share of manufacturing output of iron steel 1890-1914. was previously 1st
Britain’s agriculture 1914
7% of GDP
51% of the population lived in towns with populations bigger than 100k. was 36% in 1880
1900 welfare schemes
1906-14 liberals provided subsidised school meals
1908 old age pensions
1908-9 health and dental inspections in schools
1909 introduction of national health and unemployment insurance legislation
1909- graduated rates of income tax
legislation that weakened aristocratic influence over land holdings
1880 Ground game act - removed aristocratic influence over hunting, so allowed farmes to kill rabbits and hares on their land
1881 Irish land act
1883 agricultural holdings act
changes to HOL
1910-11 veto powers abolished reducing aristocratic influence as the Tories became the party of property more generally
Green quote on the significance of the Labour party’s formation
“Labour was regarded as a symptom as well as a cause of social and political change, an indication of the new agenda demanded by the mass electorate enfranchised in 1884”
London County Council
formed 1899
controlled by radical progressives until 1907 who wanted social reform that opposed privilege. their programme focused on sanitation, housing, unemployment, length of the working day, sickness, income and quality of living space. they insisted that ‘fair wages and conditions’ clause be added to all contacts
they also stated that public ownership was desirable when held by a democratically elected body
John Benn
radical in LCC who believed its primary role was to remove private corporations from the public sphere
LCC implementing social change
1890s- £3.2k in loans for parks and open spaces and £1.8 mill for paving works + number of sanitary inspectors increased
parish role in social improvement
35 parishes formed public libraries
Shoreditch opened municipal technical schools
vestries introduced work schemes or relief for the poor
1889 London Government act
replaced vestries with 28 borough councils with 1,362 councillors and in 1906 the Conservatives dominated with only 2 boroughs controlled by progressives
Battersea Trades and Labour Council
directly employed labour on a 48 hour working week
provided municipal housing and electricity
set aside public works until winter when employment was at its highest
Labour council in Woolwich
supported direct Labour force, trade union pay and conditions, house-building and improved sanitisation
Labour MP- George Lansbury on unemployment
“the right to relief must be reciprocated by acknowledging the obligation to the community to take work when it was available. In its turn, the community should be obliged to ensure that suitable work or training was indeed available”
Labour in Leicester
1906-14 Labour membership on the city council rose from 10 to 14
1905-6 the unemployed marched to London and this created a distinction between the moderate alternative to socialism of liberals and Labour who wanted nationalisation, 8-hour working day, provisions of coal and milk and referred directly to community
Women in Labour
Women’s Labour league founded in 1906 and the Women’s liberal federation broke off from the liberal party who refused to acknowledge female suffrage
MacDonald’s declaration of what Labour stood for
- adult suffrage including women
- abolition of the HOL
- devolution to local authorities
- tax and rent of land monopolies to aid local authorities
MacDonald as a socialist
moderate socialist who’s critical of Engels and wanted cross-party co-operation. wanted to unite Conservative liberals under ethical socialism
saw a value in tradition :tradition both of thoughts and activity” that should be held onto
MacDonald on welfare
charity was detrimental to society. created dependence and forced individuals to conform to the values of the state and so instead individual responsibility should be promoted and erosion of self-motivation would cause many to pursue selfish aims
Smart- Labour politician
1908- Labour’s main objective should be to tackle poverty and so instigated right to work campaigns
Henderson’s views
wanted socialism not “preaching the virtues of the minimum wage… or any social reform” as this was unable to beat the ‘New Liberals
George Lansbury on tax and welfare
wasnt opposed to it but resented the current system as believes that national insurance was forcing the poor to pay for their own benefits + believed welfare should be a moral right not a charity so unlike MacDonald as believed in it
agreed with Jowett that there should be national taxation of the rich
Labour on democracy
Jowett and Lansbury wanted frequent referendums, however MacDonald opposed them as he believed it gave the press too much power
MacDonald wanted the state to be democratised as this would prevent legislation which favoured the aristocracy
Labour and the Liberal alliance
new Liberals were equally concerned with making the legislature accountable to the people and welcomed Jowett’s schemes on parliamentary committees to scrutinise government
Liberals had already formed an unofficial committee of foreign policy and had agreed to a royal commission to oversee the civil service
MacDonald on minimum wage
should be introduced for government employees- ‘should set a standard’, however should not be high enough to put people out of work. Miners in the North East supported this but opposed 8 hour working day/ national minimum wage
Labour campaigned for a minimum wage of 30 shillings at a national level
Labour Mps 1906 and 1923
rose from 30 to 191
Liberal Mps 1906 to 1924
fell from 400 to 40
1910-1914 Labour electoral performance
came 3rd out of 3 in 14 industrial constituencies, however in this period Liberals lost 1/6 of their vote to Labour
1910- labour only put forward 58 candidates as this is all they could afford
Labour party’s full time agents
far fewer than Tories or liberals, who had 300 pre WW1- 17 in 1912 and 80 in 1918 after promising to pay 25% of their salary
1913 trade unions act
300k/ 420k voted in favour of establishing political funds for the labour party
number of union members
1901- 85% of the population were employed by others but only 15% were union members
1914- 25.8% were union members however 40% of these couldn’t vote
the average workshop employed how many workers?
29.3
the average shops in iron and steel mills employed how many workers?
237.5
the average heavy engineering shop employed how many workers?
55.65
Labour politicians in society’s organisation
Henderson was an indirect founder of Newcastle United and a prominent figure in Lawn bowls
Will Thorne Mp for South West-Ham was a boxer and Cyclist
Working-class and the monarchy
Bagehot attested that the working-class had been 'coerced' into supporting the monarchy when Kier Hardie attacked the monarchy in 1888 it was wildly unpopular working-class honours readily received- David Shackleton's knighthood 1917
Labour party on capitalism
agreed it was responsible for poverty and unemployment as it meant workers had low and irregular wages, however, believed it was reforming- furthered industrial production, trusts were limiting competition which facilitated new technological advancement. the way forward was greater state control, both Snowden and MacDonald believed trusts could be used in economic reform and eventual socialism
Women’s Co-op guild
- women should have the right to divorce
- consequently women should be independent and be able to carry out their political activity independently
however more linked to the co-op movement than it was to Labour
Branches of the Women’s Labour League
1910- 68 branches
1911- 112
1912- 102
Women’s labour league
endorsed Labour candidates at elections, stood for election as ‘poor law guardians’, members of children’s aid committees and as municipal or county councillors where they could. mainly focused on the domestic sphere- female contributions as wives and mothers and the necessity of getting rid of separate spheres- “bring the mother sphere into politics”
The Women’s social and political union
dependent on the ILP for fund, meeting places, advice and sponsors for Private members bills in 1907, Christabel Pankhurst held rival meetings and eventually won out, excluding working-class women from the union and Sylvia Pankhurts East London federation was excluded in 1913 as it supported the Dublin transport Worker's strike
WLL on votes for women
proposed a bill in 1910 that would prevent Labour from endorsing any extension of the franchise that excluded women. this was passed in 1912 and as the first party to do so formed a union with the National Union for Women’s suffrage
ILP and the female vote
supported it as linked to Eva Goore Booth and Selina Cooper. in 1912 George Lansbury gave up his seat to stand as a women’s suffrage candidate. More desirable of an immediate extension to the franchise than the labour party
Taffs Vale
Tarde unions were previously empowered by the state to arbitrate in disputes and bargain with employers and were not liable to pay for lost money, however 1900: if employees were to strike, then unions had to give compensation to the trains
overturned by liberals in 1906
registration levels in working-class constituencies
1911- in the seven seats of Tower Hamlets there were only 36% of men who were eligible voters during elections and in Glasgow, the figure was under 50%.
Conversely, Edinburgh had 69%
Price index of Goods in 1896
low point at 61- high grain production so landed aristocracy had to reduce rents by 40%
wages during the decline in goods prices (up to 1896)
real wages still increased by roughly 2% a year
1911 overpopulation
over half of the population in Glasgow lived at a density. of more than 2 people to a room and 1/3 of the Newcastle upon Tyne population lived like this
Life expectancy increases
inner city Liverpool vs small town in 1851- 26 to 57
by 1911, this was 51 and 55
