LABOR PARTY, BRITISH, a polit ical party in Great Britain which has for its objects the formulation of re forms to benefit the working class and the election of members to Parliament to enact those measures into law. The origin of the party dates from February 1899 when the Trade Union Congress appointed a Labor Representation Com mittee to secure the election to Parlia ment of men favorable to labor. J. Ramsay Macdonald was chairtnan of the committee and he has never ceased to be an active worker in the ranks of labor. The success of the work of this commit tee led other organizations such as the Fabian society and the Independent La bor Party to unite with it under the title of the British Labor Party. This was effected in 1906 and in that year 30 out of the 50 candidates endorsed were elected. When the elections of 1910 were announced the Labor Party group was seen to hold the balance of power in the House of Commons, since Liberals and Conservatives were so nearly equal in numbers. When the war was declared the majority of the Labor party sup ported the government, although a num ber of the Independents refused. When the Coalition ministry of Mr. Lloyd George came into power in 1916 Mr. Arthur Henderson, a prominent member of the Labor Party, became one of the inner circle of the new government. About a year later, due to his opposition to Lloyd-George's Russian policy and his approval of the Stockholm Conference, Henderson resigned and with his resig nation the Labor Party became more and more hostile to the Coalition. The
party published a pamphlet dealing with war aims and reconstruction which while pleasing to many liberals seemed to many to lack patriotism and to favor extreme Socialist icleas. Finally at a congress of the Labor party in 1918 it was decided to end the truce with the Government and to enter the general elections to be held Dec. 14, 1918, as a separate politi cal party. The elections resulted in an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons for Lloyd-George and the Coalition government, the Labor party electing but 65 members against the gov ernment's 461. The encouraging fea ture was that Labor had displaced the Liberals as the main opposition party. Further encouraging signs soon began to appear. The by-elections held dur ing 1919 and 1920 showed a great re versal of opinion among the electorate, resulting in three-fourths of these elec tions going against the government and in favor of Labor. Arthur Henderson, defeated in the election of December, 1918, was returned in one of these by elections. Thus strengthened by effective leadership in the House of Commons the Labor group exerted a considerable influ enee on the government in favor of peace with Russia and a mitigation of the terms of the treaty of Versailles with Germany.