How Successful Was The Labour Party In Increasing Support And Achieving Its Aims 1906 – 1914?

By 1906 the intention was clearly there but the labour party was still nothing but a small pressure group. But this year was the most successful in Labours early history in terms of policies it supported being passed through parliament.

The whole existence of the Labour party was closely linked to the discord and unrest caused by the Taff ruling. The unions now had their only political voice, the strike taken away form them. But in 1906 this ruling was overturned by the luxury of the massive majority that the Liberal party entertained.

This policy was very much a Liberal offering, but meant a massive breakthrough in the acceptance of Labour ideology. Other Liberal reforms that were very appealing to the Labour party were the introduction of an eight-hour day for miners and school meals and medical inspections in schools.

Though these policies can be seen as major stepping stones for the Labour movement, they must not be seen to have come into existence due to Labour. It must be remembered that that the Liberals held the majority and though they shared many similar ideas, they did not need the support of a fledgling pressure group.

This symbiotic relationship between the Labour and the Liberals, dominated the development of Labour between 1906 and 1914.

'The Liberal Prime Minister would be so dependent on workers votes, it would be like a cork bobbing along a socialist tide.'

Defeated Conservative Prime Minister Henry Campbell Bannerman

This link of course would stifle the development of the Labour party as a separate entity. The Osborne pact of 1909 demonstrated how much labour depended on the Liberals.

The ruling removed the compulsory levy that people had to pay for the running of the Labour party. With the levy removed the party had to fight the two general election of 1910 on a shoestring budget. But these elections did bring the party significant and important political gains. In the first election labour achieved 40 seats and in the second election they gained two more seats.

These political gains were made by challenging Conservative seats. In both of the elections only two seats were won when up against official Liberal candidates. The elections brought home the fact that labour were very much still the junior party in the relationship. Inroads were being made into the countries political conscience, but not much headway was being gained against the party that had fathered the Liberal party.

Overall these eight years saw the transformation of a small minority pressure group into a viable political alternative. Though the party was still a political minnow, it was growing and eventually toppled the party it has been born from.

'Liberalism and more particularly Liberal associations have definitely declared against labour.'

Ramsey McDonald 1894