"The Rise of the Labour Party between 1893-1914 was due more to the growth of socialist ideas than to the influence of the Trade Union movement" - Assess the validity of this view.

The ILP became increasingly popular, with 35,000 members in 1895, and had more diverse groups within its ranks, such as non-conformists, although generally it was supported by ex-Liberals.  Up to 1895, it was almost entirely socialist ideas which were responsible for the rising Labour Party, as most Trade Unions were still voting Liberal, but after 1895, the importance of the Trade Union movement began to emerge, especially with the ILP’s loss of all its seats in the House of Commons, leaving them with no representation and in desperate need of some financial support.

Trade Unions had begun to demand better working conditions, and generally started to adopt a more socialist stance.  The workers and their TU’s were increasingly dissatisfied with the Liberals lack of significant social reform and factionalism over what seemed to the them as petty and unimportant issues.    The 1899 meeting of the TUC resolved to improve labour representation in parliament, and following this decision, the Labour Representation Committee was set up in 1900 (a union of the two ILP members, two members from the SDF, one member from the Fabians and 7 trade unionists).  The fact there were so many more Trade Unionists in the LRC shows their significance, they were generally very important as the LRC was representing more the labour of Britain after all, not British socialists at this point.

The next significant boost to the Labour Party came again from the Trade Unionists, after the Taff Vale case had been turned around by the House of Lords to go against the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants.  The Union was forced to pay £23,000 in damages despite their calling off the strike early.  The Liberal Government made little effort to reverse the ruling and simply set up a Royal Commission.  This event clearly angered trade unions throughout the country and forced them to back the LRC rather than the seemingly uninterested Liberals.  The result of the case led to an increase in the LRC membership up to 847,315, greatly increasing the committee’s income and enabling them to fund more MP’s to represent them.  The Taff Vale case completely changed the fortunes of the LRC’ and their support after the Taff Vale case was essential to its growth, contributing a hugely increased membership and, by 1903, an annual income of approximately five thousand pounds, which increased their prestige and their chance to get a larger number of MPs into the House of Commons in the next election.  Without the trade union’s support, the Labour Party would not have these essential advantages.  

After the Lib-Lab Pact in 1904, the Labour candidates had a clear run in 30 constituencies, and after the 1906 general election, they won 29 seats in the House of Commons.  This was a significant ‘foot in the door’ for them.  However, between 1906 and 1914 little surface progress was made, and the Labour Party only managed in losing seats in the House of Commons, and became increasingly dependant on the Liberals, despite the initial successful reversal of the Taff Vale ruling.  This dependence was ensured with the Osbourne Judgement in 1909, which made it illegal for any trade union to help the Party financially.  Of course, this particularly was a heavy blow to the Party who relied so heavily on the Trade Unions for funding election campaigns and MPs.  The importance  of the trade union support was extremely clear at this point as the Labour Party could not get very far without it.  Although the Osbourne judgement was essentially reversed in 1913 in the Trade Union  Act it still had a significant affect on the Party.  

The period between 1906 and 1914 was entirely useless though, as although no seats in parliament were gained, in local and by-elections improved greatly and local Labour bodies doubled in members.  However, most important was the increased trade union support, with more affiliations from all over the country, totalling over 600,000.  Other triumphs were also due to the trade union movement, such as the conversion from the liberals of miners in 1909, showing apart from anything else that the Labour Party’s fundamental socialist ideas had seeped into the young minds.  The trade unions in this period were vital to the Labour Party’s rise, they provided the essential needs of the Party, financial support and numbers of members without these affiliations running up to 1914, the Labour Party would have possibly even fizzled out (like the Liberals).  The socialist ideas which started the Labour Party were not enough to carry it through to 1914.  The support of the  trade union movement was vital to its rise and eventual success later on.