the Labour Party

The Party before the War.—The question of discipline within the party distracted its attention and reduced its efficiency, and the annual report for 1914 drew attention to the grave effect that certain sections were having upon party fortunes. Neverthe less, bye-elections showed a steady strengthening of the grip of the party in the country, the first approaches to a political under standing with the co-operators were made, and the Daily Citizen, the first official Labour newspaper, appeared. Meanwhile, the party had settled down to face seriously the question of organiza tion, and 1912 and 1913 showed a great improvement. The first disappointment with parliamentary methods was still vocal, but was working itself out. The state of the country, owing to the Ulster agitation, was over-shadowing everything else. Civil war seemed to be imminent. Obviously a general election had first of all to be held so as to get a vote of confidence for the Govern ment's Home Rule policy. Overtures were being made to ascer tain how the party would stand in the conflict, and offers made to its leaders to join the Government. But another cloud was hurry ing up to blacken the sky. The annual conference records are blank between Feb. 1914 and Jan. 1916. The World War had Come.

Labour in the War.

The party hesitated. It had steadily opposed Sir Edward Grey's European policy, and it associated it self at first with the neutrality committee. On Aug. 2, 1914, it resolved to oppose Britain's entry into the War, but on Aug. 6, by a majority, it decided to make no statement when the first war credits were to be voted. Some of its leaders, including J. Ramsay Macdonald, its chairman, resigned, and thenceforth the activities of the party were those of the nation. Throughout the war, however, it never ceased to discuss the best form of peace. It joined in an international conference of the socialist parties of the Allied countries in Feb. 1915, and issued a declaration of war aims; in May 1915 by a majority it joined the Coalition Govern ment; in Jan. 1916 it was instructed by a special national confer ence to oppose conscription and the Labour ministers resigned, but withdrew their resignation pending the annual conference which was about to meet. This condemned conscription, but re fused by a narrow majority to ask for the repeal of the Act that had just been passed. The ministers remained. When, in Dec. 1916, the new coalition was formed, the party by a majority agreed to remain in it with added representation.

Meanwhile, the party was pursuing its discussion of peace terms, and in May 1917 decided to be represented at the abortive Stockholm Conference, to which delegates from the enemy States had been invited. This led to Mr. Henderson's severance from

the Cabinet in August. At the annual conference held in Notting ham in Jan. 1918 a war-aims programme was agreed upon. The party also took its first stand against Bolshevism and in favour of constitutional democracy. At a special national conference held in London in June, the declaration of the policy and prin ciples of the party known as The New Social Order was launched, the truce had already been broken in the Salford bye-election won by Labour (Nov. 2, 1917), and in Nov. 1918 the party withdrew its members from the Government, and once more stood independent.

The election of that year saw 361 candidates of the party, but only 61 were successful. This election marks the emergence of the party as a truly national one. Four years afterwards 142 were returned, and the party was for the first time the sole possessor of the Front Opposition Bench. At the election of 1923, Labour members were returned, outnumbering the Liberals, and when the Conservative Government was defeated by a united Labour-Liberal vote on Jan. 21, 1924, the first Labour Govern ment was formed on the 24th.

Labour in Office.

The Labour Government could rely upon the support of less than one-third of the House of Commons and legislation was difficult. It directed its attention to unemploy ment, housing and the preparation of national schemes for in ternal development. It had also to face a dangerous development in the Irish boundary problem and take legislative action to en able it to set up the Irish Boundary Commission.

Its foreign policy was devised to secure international co-opera tion and to pacify Europe, and it was successful in settling out standing reparation difficulties at the London Conference (Aug. 1924) and was responsible for the Protocol which was drafted at the Assembly of the League of Nations that year. It was also bent upon creating good diplomatic relations with Russia, for both economic and political reasons, and negotiated two treaties which were not ratified by its successor. The Government was defeated (Oct. 8) by a combination of the Liberal and Conservative parties on its handling of a Communist prosecution, but really fell on its Russian policy. When the election came next month, the eleventh. hour publication of a letter, known as the Zinovieff letter, had a notorious effect on the results, and, though the party vote increased to its elected members fell to 151. The Government at once resigned and the party became the official Opposition.