The Scottish United Trades Councils Labour Party, also known as the Scottish Trades Councils Independent Labour Party, was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

labour party. The party originated in a meeting held in Edinburgh on 8 August 1891 with representatives of various

trades council A labour council, trades council or industrial council is an association of trade union, labour unions or local union, union branches in a given area. Most commonly, they represent unions in a given geographical area, whether at the district, city, ...

s and local labour organisations. 67 delegates attended, claiming to represent 84,500 members. The meeting agreed to sponsor the Parliamentary and local candidacies of labour movement activists who were independent of both the Conservative Party and of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

Keir Hardie James Keir Hardie (15 August 185626 September 1915) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician. He was a founder of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, and was its first Leader of the Labour Party (UK), parliamentary leader from 1906 to 1908. ...

convinced the meeting to also campaign for the payment of MPs and councillors. The meeting established an executive, with one representative of each trades council, plus a member of the

Scottish Labour Party Scottish Labour (), is the part of the UK Labour Party active in Scotland. Ideologically social democratic and unionist, it holds 23 of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and 37 of 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons. It is repres ...

. R. Chisholm Robertson, a miner from

Stirlingshire Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling ( ) is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.Registers of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. It borders Perthshir ...

and a rival of Hardie, was appointed as Secretary.W. Hamish Fraser, ''Scottish popular politics: from radicalism to Labour'', pp.129-133 The executive attempted to form local labour representation committees, based on the membership of the trades councils. This was sufficiently successful that a national movement known as the "Scottish United Trades Councils Labour Party" was established. Its platform included calls for an

eight-hour day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses of working time. The modern movement originated i ...

, universal suffrage, land nationalisation and limited industrial nationalisation, and a

local option A local option is the ability of local political jurisdictions, typically counties or municipalities, to allow decisions on certain controversial issues within their borders, usually referring to a popular vote. It usually relates to the issue of ...

on temperance. However, the new party agreed not to sponsor any candidates where there was a chance that a Conservative might beat a Liberal or a

radical Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century *Radical politics ...

. At the 1892 general election, the party sponsored four candidates:

John Wilson John Wilson may refer to: Academics * John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism * John Wilson (agriculturalist) (1812–1888), British agriculturalist * John Matthias ...

in Edinburgh Central,

Robert Brodie Robert Brodie (died 1939) was a Scottish trade unionist and political activist. Born in Edinburgh, Brodie became a flint glass worker and was active in the Flint Glass Makers' Sick and Friendly Society. From 1888, he represented the society on ...

in Glasgow College, Chisholm Robertson in

and

Henry Hyde Champion Henry Hyde Champion (22 January 1859 – 30 April 1928) was a socialist journalist and activist, regarded as a leading figure in the early political organisations of the British labour movement. From a middle-class background, he was an early ...

in Aberdeen South. Between them, the candidates won 2,313 votes. The party also actively supported nine left-wing Liberal candidates, including one

Crofter A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a ten ...

. Some of the candidates were also sponsored by the

Scottish Socialist Federation The Scottish Socialist Federation was a Scottish political party founded by supporters of the Social Democratic Federation in Edinburgh in December 1888.F. W. S. Craig, ''Minor Parties at British Parliamentary Elections'' In the 1892 general ele ...

. The party organised a further conference after the election, presided over by Cunninghame-Graham. It sponsored two candidates for local elections in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. That year, the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

was formed, and in March the party dissolved, advising members and branches to affiliate to the new organisation, which many did.

F. W. S. Craig Frederick Walter Scott Craig (10 December 1929 – 23 March 1989) was a Scottish psephologist and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations, compilin ...

, ''Minor Parties at British Parliamentary Elections'' In late 1893,

attempted to reform the party as part of a disagreement with Hardie, but the Scottish Labour Party firmly opposed this, and the venture was a complete failure.David Howell, ''British Workers and the Independent Labour Party'', p.151

Election results

1892 UK general election

References

* William H. Marwick, ''Scotland in Modern Times'' {{Defunct political parties in Scotland Defunct political parties in Scotland Political parties established in 1891 1893 disestablishments in Scotland 1891 establishments in Scotland Political parties disestablished in 1893 Socialist parties in Scotland Trade unions in Scotland History of socialism Independent Labour Party Labour parties in Scotland Defunct socialist parties in the United Kingdom