The British Labour party is essentially a twentieth century phenomenon, which came in this century to essentially take the place of the Liberals as the main opposition to the traditionally strong forces of conservatism. The question which is to be addressed then is how and why this change came about, and whether this was mainly to do with the increasing popularity of socialism as a political creed or whether it was based on much wider social and class issues. Certainly many working class people were becoming disturbed at the striking contrast between the poverty of the poor and the comfortable existence enjoyed by the upper and middle classes. However what remains to be addressed is whether most of these people saw the solutions to these problems in socialist terms or simply regarded them as issues which should be addressed, regardless or not of any socialist objective.

It is an oversimplication to talk about the rise of the Labour Party as if it were a single homogenous body. In fact it was an amalgamation of three different socialist groups - the Social Democratic Federation, the Fabians and the Independent Labour Party - with s

It was to be the formation of the Independent Labour Party in 1893 which was perhaps the most important initial element. It was not ideologically rigid, and some of its leaders, notably Keir Hardie, deliberately embraced the strategy of a "labour alliance." This stressed the importance of socialists joining trade unionists to form a distinct working class party which, though not committed to socialist objectives, would be independent of the Liberal and Conservative parties. This would clearly seem to demonstrate that there was definite feeling that it was not merely socialism that was important in the growth of a Labour movement but the development of a party who represented the working class. The ILP was not highly successful in itself only ever attracting a small membership and no real electoral success in the elections of 1895, but its greatest importance was perhaps in spreading socialist ideas and acquiring a good deal of support within the union hierarchy.

The LRC formed a strong voice for the working classes, but one which though naturally socialist in nature did not have any committed socialist agenda, its sole purpose was to represent the interests of labour. The priorities of the party lay instead in other areas such as the restoration of the legal protection which the Taff Vale judgement had demolished, the improvement of working conditions where these could be affected by government action, and the engineering of a labour market in which wage earners would be less insecure and enjoy greater bargaining power. It must therefore be seen that at least in the early part of the rise of the Labour Party class consciousness was more important than socialism. Socialism was an important factor, the ILP gave the LRC two of its most prominent members, Keir Hardie and Ramsay MacDonald, but it remained much more an ideological undercurrent than a real reason for the representation of labour in parliament. This is again seen in the controversy which arose soon after 1906 on the commitment of the party to socialism, and its attitude to the Liberal Government. Some broke away from the party to join the Social Democratic Federation desiring to form a British Socialist Party, but this rapidly shrank away, again demonstrating the limited appeal at that time for socialist doctrines.

It was indeed class consciousness and a need for independent representation of the working classes and not socialism which led to the formation of the first large body to demand representation of the working classes in Parliament. In 1899 the Trades Union Congress made the decision to set up another body for the purpose of promoting the representation of labour. Though there was socialist influence in the TUC, it was far from enough to control it and clearly the Unions had their own reasons for wishing to increase their parliamentary presence. The leading trade unions had been extensive

Some common words found in the essay are:
Labour Party, Union Congress, Ramsay MacDonald, British Labour, Trade Unionists, Liberal Conservative, World War, Trade Union, Democratic Federation, Representation Act, labour party, rise labour, rise labour party, world war, class consciousness, representation classes, social democratic, democratic federation, liberal party, union movement, socialist agenda, social democratic federation, taff vale judgement, trade union movement, upper middle classes,
Approximate Word count = 1944
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)