Labour's Grass Roots

Essays on the Activities of Local Labour Parties and Members, 1918�45

Matthew Worley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9780815390121
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351154345
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

The period between 1918 and 1945 witnessed dynamic social and economic developments in Britain as the notion of a government controlled economy and welfare state took root. In order to be understood, this shift in the political landscape needs to be seen in context of the growth of mass political movements and the implementation of fuller democratic processes in the aftermath of the Great War. But whilst much has been written on the rise of the Labour Party, the decline of the Liberals and the domination of the Conservatives in the sphere of high politics, much less research has been done on the local or regional experience of Britain's main political parties between the wars. This volume brings together ten essays that together provide an introduction to the role, influence and effectiveness of Labour Party activists across Britain. Taking a systematic and comparative approach that examines a range of representative areas, this volume is more than simply a collection of local studies. Instead it utilises the local to develop and illuminate the wider dynamics at work inside the Labour Party. By emphasising the role of the party membership, Britain's social and political evolution can be reconstructed from grass-roots level, taking into account the priorities and expectations of the people who sustained and cultivated the nation's social-political base. By addressing reoccurring issues of interest to labour historians, such as gender, nationalism, the co-operative movement and trade unionism, through the locus of regionalism and local party activity, this volume will not only provide scholars with a better understanding of the Labour Party, but should stimulate similar much needed research into other political parties and organisations.

Chapter 1
Introduction: Labour's Grass Roots

Matthew Worley

Sidney Webb's comment in 1930 that it was the 'fanatics and cranks and extremists' who dominated and maintained the Labour Party at constituency level was as condescending as it was unfair.¹ While trade union funds have traditionally and primarily financed the party, Labour has simultaneously depended on a core of loyal volunteers to sustain its organisation beyond the party headquarters, most of whom were driven by a deep-seated desire to change the world in which they lived. True, eccentric characters did join the party, and powerful political cliques did form within and around certain constituency organisations.² But it was more generally the selfless devotion, time and energy of ordinary party members and supporters - locally based men, women, trade unionists and socialists - that helped enable Labour to challenge and overturn the Conservative-Liberal hegemony of British politics existent prior to the Great War (1914-18).

Certainly, the need to establish an active and substantial party membership was recognised in the Labour Party constitution adopted in 1918. Its first stated national objective was to 'organise and maintain in parliament and in the country a Political Labour Party, and to ensure the establishment of a Local Labour Party in every county constituency and every parliamentary borough'.³ As this suggests, the party was firmly committed to constitutional politics, seeking to achieve its aims through parliament and municipal government. Accordingly, the party needed a permanent, nationwide apparatus able to garner, mobilise and retain public support. In other words, Labour's progress was to a notable extent dependent on the healthy cultivation of its grass roots.

This book is designed to examine the activities and experiences of the Labour Party and its members in a number of towns, cities, counties and regions throughout Britain between 1918 and 1945. In so doing, it seeks to recognise the role played by party members and supporters in shaping Labour's wider social and political history. At the same time, it hopes to look 'inside' the Labour Party to reveal, explore and help understand the variegated nature of the party's organisation, political identity, and subsequent electoral fortunes.

Uncovering the Grass Roots

The activities and experiences of party members have too often been written out of interwar British political history. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the intrigues, debates and events of Westminster have tended to preoccupy the attention of historians, as have the lives of prominent party leaders and politicians. In this, the historiography of the Labour Party has generally conformed to type. The bulk of published work on Labour centres on the undulating fortunes of the parliamentary party and those who played a leading role within it.⁴ Increasingly, however, the work of David Howell, Mike Savage, Duncan Tanner and others has done much to provoke an awareness of the 'dynamics' of local political development, its import in the wider (national) progress of the Labour Party, and the major regional variations in Labour's approach and appeal.⁵ Consequently, the past 15 to 25 years have been marked by the appearance of a growing literature dedicated to the emergence and subsequent evolution of Labour within various British localities.⁶ Many such studies have continued to concentrate on the 'classic' debate as to the reasons for Labour's usurpation of the Liberal Party as the principal alternative to the Conservatives in British politics. But they have also begun to delineate other areas of concern, not least the role played by Labour women in the building and sustaining of the party, and the different means by which local party members endeavoured to nurture and maintain Labour's identity across the country.

Such a focus on constituency-level politics is particularly relevant to the period after 1918. It was, after all, from here on that the 1918 Representation of the People Act provided Britain for the first time with a democratic base inclusive of the majority of the adult population, enfranchising all men over 21 and most women over 30.⁷ In response, all three of Britain's principal parties accepted the need to develop an active, loyal and extensive membership base in the years following the Great War, and the histories of all three can be said to have been shaped or at least affected by the activities, attitudes and aspirations of their wider memberships. With regard to Labour, the party conference adopted a new constitution in 1918, transforming it from a party organised as a federation of affiliated trade unions and socialist societies to one based on constituency (divisional) organisations comprising individual members alongside the union and socialist affiliates. The local party was no longer regarded as a temporary electoral organisation, but a permanent feature of the party apparatus overseeing, distributing and initiating party activity, propaganda and membership. Although the trade unions continued to form the bulk of Labour membership and remained the dominant force at the party conference, the importance of divisional parties undoubtedly increased over the interwar period as a whole.

To a notable extent, the composition of the newly formed constituency parties continued to reflect Labour's basic federal structure. Given that Labour was largely founded on the trade union movement, those parties established in industrial areas tended to be dominated by the relevant trade union branches. This was particularly so in mining constituencies, but those party members affiliated via their trade union also made up the bulk of Labour's divisional organisation in most towns, cities and industrial localities. Of course, an affiliated member was not necessarily an active member. Nor was trade union domination necessarily conducive to Labour's electoral advance. The party's association with a particular trade union (or unions) could deter as well as attract potential support; inter-union rivalry was sometimes evident; and overt union influence could shape a party's priorities in a way that failed to complement the wider constituency. Elsewhere, in areas where the trade union presence was less concentrated or less well-established, as in Scotland, London, parts of Yorkshire and cities such as Norwich, the influence of the socialist Independent Labour Party (ILP) on Labour activity continued to be important during the 1920s. Yet, the very formation of divisional parties challenged the ILP's place within the wider Labour Party, allowing non-union members to join Labour directly and assume the propaganda and social activities previously associated with the ILP. Accordingly, the ILP suffered a steady decline in both membership and influence from the early 1920s, leading eventually to its disaffiliation in 1932. Generally, therefore, the Labour Party continued to be comprised primarily of associated trade unionists. Twenty years after Labour had adopted its new constitution, a party membership of 2,642,613 included 2,170,408 affiliated via their trade union.⁸

Significantly, however, Labour's reorganisation in 1918 necessitated that the party widen its appeal beyond the ranks of the organised labour movement. Divisional parties were to be established in agricultural and non-industrial localities, middle-class recruits were to be courted, and the newly enfranchised female electorate was to be welcomed into the Labour fold. As a result, the composition and breadth of the Labour Party extended over the 1920s and 1930s. This was not always welcomed in places where the party was already established, with many existing members fearing a dilution of union or socialist influence. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, some of the most active and sizeable divisional organisations emerged in and around the Home Counties and beyond Labour's industrial heartlands. In some areas, moreover, the women recruited into local women's sections began to outnumber their respective constituency party's individual male members, while the proportion of parliamentary candidates sponsored by divisional parties (as opposed to trade unions) steadily increased over the interwar period. In addition, Labour continued to forge a complex relationship with the co-operative movement from 1918, as Nicole Robertson demonstrates in her chapter on co-operative politics in the Midlands. To this effect, Labour's grass roots were subject to a range of influences, with party members assuming or reflecting a number of identities, and with party organisations developing in an array of different contexts.

In response to such an observation, it may be argued that a closer study of divisional party activity and experience is essential to our wider appreciation of Labour Party history. At a basic level, such research will rescue from obscurity those men and women who helped sustain the party in the twentieth century, the party activists who gave up much time and energy to spread Labour's message. Although the party became more centralised and disciplined over the interwar years, the divisional organisations retained a degree of autonomy with regard to selecting parliamentary candidates, fighting both municipal and general election campaigns, and instigating party activity in between election times. As we shall see in the essays collected in Labour's Grass Roots, similarities and differences with regard to such activity were evident across the party. Indeed, the importance of local and regional variation throughout Britain to our understanding of the Labour Party's development should not be underestimated, and becomes clear once area studies are compared and contrasted. Labour's ability to win and retain support fluctuated throughout Britain and even within specific regions and localities; respective divisional parties were informed by a range of economic, demographic and cultural factors, and party members sought to understand, articulate and focus Labour's appeal in a variety of ways, often adapting their message to suit, project or reflect a particular community. This, in turn, feeds into the on-going debate as to the relationship between politics, social position and experience.⁹ If no inevitable or indivisible link can be established between the Labour Party and the broad but divergent ranks of the British working class, to what extent was the party a product of its environment, and to what extent did Labour shape the social-political priorities, loyalties and aspirations of its constituents? Whatever our conclusion, it is only by looking at the actions of local party activists in the context of their communities that we can adequately hope to answer such questions.

On a social and cultural level, meanwhile, local and regional research into the Labour Party helps shed light on the broader experiences of Labour members and supporters. In particular, Labour activists endeavoured to sustain, finance and extend the party through a range of activities, including socials, dances, teas, choirs, sports clubs and whist drives. The extent to which this influenced Labour's electoral fortunes may be debated, but such initiatives undoubtedly formed an integral part of many a member's own understanding of Labour Party life during the interwar period.¹⁰ Moreover, the local level was obviously the domain in which Labour's members, voters and opponents lived, worked and functioned. Hence, as Savage has pointed out, the study of local Labour Party history is important in facilitating an awareness of the relationship between the practical politics of everyday life and formal politics 'based on struggles in and around the state'.¹¹ In such a way, the extent to which Labour was able to affect, articulate or demonstrate a link between the two can be seen as essential to the party's progress, or lack of it.

At present, the disparate nature of existing local Labour Party studies, in terms of their methodology and their focus, continues to raise problems with regard to our comprehending fully Labour's development across Britain as a whole. The need to forge a wider ranging and carefully comparative analysis utilising local and regional research is clear. Indeed, it may be argued that to fully appreciate the means by, and extent to which, the Labour Party progressed over the twentieth century we need to highlight and appreciate both differences and similarities in political approaches, experiences and contexts. To do this, the complexities of Labour's history have to be embraced, assimilated and assessed. By bringing together a collection of essays examining the Labour Party throughout distinct parts of the country, Labour's Grass Roots endeavours to act as a spur to such work.

Notes

1. Quoted in N. Riddell, Labour in Crisis: The Second Labour Government, 1929-31 (Manchester, 1999), p. 17.

2. C. Howard. 'Expectations Bom to Death: Local Labour Party Expansion in the 1920s', in J. Winter (ed.), The Working Class in Modern British History: Essays in Honour of Henry Pel ling (Cambridge, 1983).

3. 'The Constitution of the Labour Party', Report of the Annual Conference of the Labour Party, 1919 (London, 1919).

4. There is obviously not room here to provide a full bibliography of the Labour Party. So, for a few examples relating to the interwar period, see G.D.H. Cole, A History of the Labour Party From 1914 (London, 1948); H. Pelling, A Short History of the Labour Party (London, 1961); R. Skidelsky, Politicians and the Slump: The Labour Government of 1929-31 (London, 1967); R Miliband, Parliamentary Socialism: A Study in the Politics of Labour (London, 1972); R. McKibbin, The Evolution of the Labour Party, 1900-24 (Oxford, 1974); B. Pimlott, Labour and the Left in the 1930s (Cambridge, 1977); D. Howell, British Social Democracy: A Study in Development and Decay (London, 1980); K. Laybourn, The Rise of Labour: The British Labour Party 1890-79 (London, 1988); G. Foote, The Labour Party's Political Thought: A History (Basingstoke, 1997, third edition); A. Thorpe, A History of the British Labour Party (Basingstoke, 1997); J. Swift, Labour in Crisis: Clement Attlee and the Labour Party in Opposition, 1931-40 (Oxford, 2001); D. Howell, MacDonald's Party: Labour Identities and Crisis, 1922-31 (Oxford, 2002); D. Marquand, Ramsay MacDondld (London, 1977); K. Harris, Attlee (London, 1985); B. Pimlott, Hugh Dalton (London, 1995 edition); J. Shepherd, George Lansbury: At the Heart of Old Labour (Oxford, 2002).

5. D. Howell, British Workers and the Independent Labour Party, 1888-1906 (Manchester, 1983); M. Savage, The Dynamics of Working-Class Politics: The Labour Movement in Preston, 1880-1940 (Cambridge, 1987); D. Tanner, Political Change and the Labour Party, 1900-18 (Cambridge, 1990). Also, J. Lawrence and M. Taylor (eds), Party, State and Society: Electoral Behaviour in Britain since 1829 (Aldershot, 1997).

6. For some examples, see J. Gillespie, 'Poplarism and Proletarianism: Unemployment and Labour Politics in London, 1918-34', and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• General Editor's Preface
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction: Labour's Grass Roots
• 2 Elections, Leaflets and Whist Drives: Constituency Party Members in Britain between the Wars
• 3 Following the Procession: Scottish Labour, 1918-45
• 4 'Happy Hunting Ground of the Crank'? The Independent Labour Party and Local Labour Politics in Glasgow and Norwich, 1932-45
• 5 Making Politics in Local Communities: Labour Women in Interwar Manchester
• 6 Labour's Family: Local Labour Parties, Trade Unions and Trades Councils in Cotton Lancashire, 1931-39
• 7 The Reactions of Municipal Voters in Yorkshire to the Second Labour Government, 1929-32
• 8 The Political Dividend: Co-operative Parties in the Midlands, 1917-39
• 9 Gender, Civic Culture and Politics in South Wales: Explaining Labour Municipal Policy, 1918-39
• 10 Sociable Capital: London's Labour Parties, 1918-45
• 11 'One of the Most Backward Areas of the Country': The Labour Party's Grass Roots in South West England, 1918-45
• 12 The Formation of Party Milieux: Branch Life in the British Labour Party and the German Social Democratic Party in the Interwar Period
• Index