Keir Hardie, whose kindliness and integrity of character endeared him to all who knew him, was from 1887 down to his death in 1915 the apostle of “independency” in the political organisation of Labour. He sat in the Trades Union Congress from 1887 to 1895 as representative of the Ayrshire Miners; and in the House of Commons from 1892 to 1895 (for West Ham), from 1906 to 1915 (for Merthyr). He was Chairman of the “I.L.P.” from 1893 to 1898, and again in 1914. Pending the publication of a biography by W. Stewart, reference may be made to a biographical Sketch entitled From Pit to Parliament, by Frank Smith; a character sketch by F. Pethick Lawrence in the Labour Record for August 1905; the issues of the Labour Leader for September 30 and October 7, 1915; and an article entitled “An Old Diary,” by F. J. in the Socialist Review, January 1919.
[713]Annual Report of Trades Union Congress, 1887.
[714]It is said that the Liberal Party agents attempted, in vain, to bribe him to withdraw; eventually offering as high a price as a safe Liberal seat on the first opportunity, all his election expenses, and £300 a year—if only he would wear the Liberal badge!
[715]See, for instance, the following “Fabian Tracts,” which had a large circulation among Trade Unionists: No. 6 of 1887, “The True Radical Programme”; No. 11 of 1890, “The Workers’ Political Programme”; No. 40 of 1892, “The Fabian Election Manifesto”; No. 49 of 1894, “A Plan of Campaign for Labour” (History of the Fabian Society, by E. R. Pease, 1916).
[716]These included John Burns (Amalgamated Society of Engineers), J. Havelock Wilson (National Sailors’ and Firemen’s Union), Joseph Arch (Agricultural Labourers’ Union), W. R. (afterwards Sir William) Cremer (General Union of Carpenters), G. Howell (Operative Bricklayers’ Society), J. Rowlands (an ex-watchcase-maker), and eight coalminers.
[717]By J. O’Grady (Furnishing Trades), afterwards M.P. for Leeds; Annual Report of Trades Union Congress, 1898.
[718]This was adopted in preference to what was considered a more extreme proposal (moved by P. Vogel of the Waiters’ Union, a Socialist), appointing the Trades Union Congress itself the organisation for independent Labour representation in Parliament; requiring every Union to contribute a halfpenny per member per annum, and making the Parliamentary Committee disburse the election expenses and the salaries of the members returned to the House of Commons (Annual Report of Trades Union Congress, 1899).
It was afterwards stated that the leaders of the Trades Union Congress had had in contemplation the subordination of the Labour Representation Committee to the Congress. But with a different constituency the new body had necessarily to be an independent organisation; and in 1904 the General Purposes Committee reported to the Trades Union Congress, which endorsed the report, that any resolution to endorse or amend the constitution of the Labour Representation Committee would not be in order at the Trades Union Congress (ibid., 1904).
[719]D. J. (afterwards Sir David) Shackleton (Lancashire Weavers) was allowed a walk-over at Clitheroe in 1902; and in 1903 W. (afterwards the Rt. Honourable W.) Crooks (Coopers) carried Woolwich after an exciting contest, and Arthur (afterwards the Rt. Honourable Arthur) Henderson (Friendly Society of Ironfounders) won Barnard Castle in a three-cornered fight.
[720]In some Unions outside influence, notably that of the railway companies, went to the expense of printing and distributing hundreds of thousands of forms by which dissentient members could claim exemption from the tiny “political” contribution; and in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, in particular, thousands of such claims were made. The number has now greatly diminished (1920).