The Labour Representation League (LRL), organised in November 1869, was a forerunner of the
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
Labour Party. Its original purpose was to
register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), ...
the
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
to vote, and get workers into
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
. It had limited power, described by
Eugenio Biagini as being "very weak and quite ineffective", and was never intended to become a full
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
. However, it played a role in supporting the election of
Lib-Lab
The Liberal–Labour movement was the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions. These candidates stood for the British Parliament with the aim of representing the ...
MPs. The first secretary was
Cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
Society activist and trade unionist,
Lloyd Jones.
[ Bauman, Zygmunt, Between Class and Elite: The Evolution British Labour Movement, ]Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England, and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with t ...
, 1972, p.108
In 1874, the League won two parliamentary seats.
In 1886, the
TUC created the
Labour Electoral Association to replace the League; in turn, this led to the creation of the Labour Party.
Secretaries
* 1869:
Lloyd Jones
* 1873:
Henry Broadhurst
:''See also Harry Broadhurst''
Henry Broadhurst (13 April 1840 – 11 October 1911) was a leading early British trade unionist and a Lib-Lab politician who sat in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons for various Midla ...
* 1880:
John Hales
References
External links
"Formation of the Labour Party"by Jim Mortimer.
History of the Labour Party (UK)
Political parties established in 1869
1869 establishments in the United Kingdom
Political organisations based in the United Kingdom
{{UK-poli-stub