Page:James Ramsay MacDonald - The Socialist Movement.pdf/237

 Rh Dock Strike had been won in 1889 and the new Unionism proclaimed. The battles of Trafalgar Square had been fought and had stirred many people's minds. Throughout the country, various local Labour Parties were being formed, a Scottish Labour Party had been started as early as 1888, and that year Mr. Keir Hardie appeared as an independent labour candidate for Mid-Lanark and polled 619 votes. During the Trade Union Congress meeting in Glasgow in 1892, a conference of working-class leaders was held to consider the position. The result of this and other negotiations was the calling of representatives from Labour organisations, Fabian branches and other Socialist societies, at Bradford early in 1898, and the Independent Labour Party, with Mr. Keir Hardie as its leading spirit, was launched. Its object was Socialism, its method was to unite all the forces owning Socialism as their goal and inspiration. It rejected abstractions and dogmas, and it appealed directly to the everyday experience of labour. It proposed to enter politics at once, and its success was instantaneous. Indeed, the harvest was ripe. The Party challenged both Liberals and Conservatives, and before it was many months old won municipal elections. At the General Election of 1893 Mr. Hardie was returned for South West Ham, and the new Party proceeded to contest by-election after by-election, invariably polling a substantial number of votes.

The details of its subsequent history need