Labour and socialism in Glasgow 1880-1914: the electoral challenge prior to democracy

Abstract

From the emergence of the 'modern' Socialist movement in the 1880s through to the First World War, the majority of socialists in Britain regarded the achievement of particular reforms and the ultimate goal of Socialism itself, as being realisable only through the ballot box. The subject of this thesis is how that movement, i.e. for independent labour representation, was conducted and with what success in Glasgow prior to the First World War. The whole basis of this electoral strategy, however, is called into question by the sex and class biases inherent in the franchise system, as defined by the Reform Acts of the nineteenth century.The focus of the study falls upon local, municipal politics and particular attention is paid to the Independent Labour Party (ILP), as the largest socialist organisation and the body most associated with the movement of independent labour representation. Glasgow was chosen because of its working class complexion, the militant reputation it receive during and immediately after the First World War, and its emergence as an electoral stronghold of the Labour Party in the post-war period.To achieve its aim of securing elected representation, the ILP sought to promote alliances with other democratic' forces which were regarded as part of the working class movement: the trade unions, the co-operators, and the Irish. An alliance of this group was achieved in the 1890s and secured a level of Labour representation on Glasgow Town Council. The elements of this alliance, however, were fissiparious and the coalition eventually collapsed and with it Labour representation, until a more structured Labour Party was established in Glasgow in 1910-12.Even at its most successful, this electoral challenge was limited. This limitation is examined in relation to the franchise system. The class bias of the system operated most forcefully against the poorer working class, and the failure of British Socialism, and particularly the ILP, to campaign for complete democracy is seen as emanating from respectable' fears of the residuum or 'slum dwellers'. The limited impact made by Labour prior to 1914 is thrown into sharper relief by the massively expanded support it enjoyed post-1918 amongst the new mass electorate, which meant that Britain, for the first time, at least approximated to being a full democracy. That the forces of Labour had signally failed to make adult suffrage an important plank of its platform is seen as indicative of a Labour movement and politics unable to transcend the divisions within the working class, and posing only a limited and self-limiting challenge to the established order.