Labour Representation Committee (1900)

The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) was a pressure group founded in 1900 out of an alliance between prominent socialist organisations of the time, and liberal trades unionists under the auspices of the Trades Union Congress, aimed at increasing representation for labour interests in the UK Parliament. The British Labour Party traces its origin to the LRC's foundation.

In 1899, a Doncaster member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, Thomas R. Steels, proposed in his union branch that the Trade Union Congress call a special conference to bring together all left-wing organisations and form them into a single body that would sponsor Parliamentary candidates. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, and the proposed conference was held at the Memorial Hall on Farringdon Street on 26 and 27 February 1900. The meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations — trades unions represented about a half of the unions and one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. The LRC is the direct predecessor of the modern British Labour Party.

In addition to various trade union leaders, organisations present at this conference were the Independent Labour Party (ILP), the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and the Fabian Society, After a debate all the 129 delegates passed Keir Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour." This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and represent the working-class population. To make this possible the Conference established the LRC. This committee included two members from the ILP, two from the SDF, one Fabian, and seven trade unionists.

It had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the difficult task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 "Khaki election" came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively; total expenses for the election only came to £33 and between them they won 62,698 votes. Only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful; Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby.

...
Wikipedia