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The Emergence of the Labour Party
In 1898, the newspaper Llais Llafur (Voice of Labour) was begun in Ystalyfera, in the Swansea Valley. During the same year, a bitter strike in the South Wales coalfield convinced many miners that the methods of such leaders as Mabon were too conciliatory and that more radical methods were needed. Following the failure of the strike, the South Wales Miners' Federation came into being. Mabon was its first president, having been persuaded to change his support of the sliding scale to advocating its total absolution, which was achieved in 1903.
Eventually, the Federation ("the Fed") would attract a quarter of a million members, its activities dominating the lives of the people of the valleys. In 1898 there was another important event that greatly affected life in South Wales: Keir Hardie, the popular and charismatic chairman of the five-year old Independent Labour Party, visited the striking miners. They hardly needed his encouragement.
In 1900 in the Taff Vale Railway Company dispute, judgement was given in favor of the company and against the striking workers, who had formed the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. The huge costs levied against the union meant that practically ensured the creation of a new party in British politics -- the unions saw that they had to have legislation to guarantee their rights. Consequently, the Labour Representative Committee (LRC) was founded in London to promote the interests of the trade unions. It became known as the Labour Party from 1906 on. The Lib-Lab tradition that attracted such leaders in Wales as Mabon was not radical enough for the majority of workers; they needed their own representative in Parliament.
Keir Hardie, a Scotsman, who adopted the slogan "The Red Dragon and the Red Flag" was chosen by the LRC as a candidate for one of the two seats at Merthyr. Knowing how to appeal to his Welsh voters. Easily elected at Merthyr -- the only constituency to return a socialist to Parliament -- Hardy was proud to represent the working man in the House of Commons by wearing his cloth deerstalker's cap. It must have been a bitter occasion for the regular top-hatted Members of Parliament. The election of a working man, however, was only a temporary aberration, and Hardy found himself alone on the benches of Parliament; without union support not many working men able to embark on political careers. M.P.'s were not paid a salary until 1911.
For the time being, it was the Liberal Party that was most effective in bringing much needed changes to Britain. One of the primary architects in those revolutionary changes was David Lloyd George, the solicitor from Criccieth, North Wales, elected in 1890 for Caernarfon Borough. His rise through the ranks of Parliament was rapid. In 1905 he became President of the Board of Trade and three years later, Chancellor of the Exchequer. During his tenure with the Board of Trade, he acknowledged the role of trade unions in collective bargaining.
In 1908 as Chancellor, Lloyd George introduced a scheme of social security (Old Age Pensions) to Britain, thus helping bring an end to the dreaded "work houses." In 1909, his scheme to raise the necessary revenue came in the form of his "People's Budget," in which he introduced new taxes on the wealthy landowners, thus earning him the adoration of the Welsh, who called him a "son of the cottage." Rejection of this bill by the landlord-filled House of Lords ultimately led to the Parliament Act of 1911 that drastically reduced that August but now ever-more-senile body's powers.
In 1911, Lloyd George managed to further antagonize the landed classes and endear himself to the workers by establishing National Insurance against sickness and unemployment. Known to many in England as "the curse from Wales," the energetic, enigmatic Welshman was able to convince his Liberal-led government to pass such important legislation. Such legislation that restricted the miners' hours of work to eight hours a day, counteracted the effects of the Taff Vale Judgement, established labor exchanges and safeguarded the interests of exploited workers.
Chapter 20 Continued
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