THE INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY AND THE ELECTORS. A PART from, and
yet intermingled with, the main electoral battle of the day, there is proceeding a battle which, for more reasons than one, is deserving of closer attention than is likely to be paid to it by the ordinary politician. We refer to the greatly extended campaign waged in the present Elections by the Inde- pendent Labour party. Perhaps we ought to call it their first real campaign, for although there were some eight or nine candidates at the General Election of 1892 who stood in opposition to the nominees both of the Home-rule and of the Unionist parties, the Independent Labour party, as a distinct organisation, endeavouring to embrace the whole country in its operations, did not come into existence till January, 1893. In that month a National Conference was held at Bradford, which was attended by one hundred and twenty persons, being mostly delegates from Independent Labour associations in various parts of Great Britain, together with some representa- tives of branches of the Social Democratic Federation and of the Fabian Society. This Conference elaborated a programme and a constitution which, without any essential modifications, though with some extensions directed to secure the inclusion of the agricultural labourers, are now in force. The object of the party, as defined at its last annual Conference, held in April of the present year, is the creation of "An Indus- trial Commonwealth founded upon the socialisation of Land and Capital." The methods to be pursued in achieving that result are described as being " the educa- tion of the community in the principles of Socialism ; the industrial and political organisation of workers ; and the independent representation of Socialist principles on all elective bodies." Pending the complete reorganisation of the present social and economic fabric on the basis above indicated, and as contributory towards it, the Inde- pendent Labour party has a somewhat detailed pro- aramnae—Ag,ricultural, Industrial, Educational, Social, and Fiscal—some items of which are more or less in accord with proposals already adopted by the Liberal Home- rule party, and others of which are quite arguable and even desirable, mixed up with demands for blank confisca- tion, worded as if they were the most natural suggestions in the world. Thus, in the agricultural programme will be found such points as the following :—" Fixity of tenure with compensation for improvements in case of dis- turbance ; " " the proper utilisation on the land (under new powers to be conferred, if necessary, on local autho- rities for the purpose) of the sewage which now pollutes I be rivers and lakes ; and " land values, urban and rural, be treated as public property." Under the Industrial -programme will be found a proposition securing "State pensions for every person at fifty years of age, and adequate provision for all widows, orphans, sick and dis- abled workers ; the necessary funds to be obtained by a tax upon unearned incomes." It was originally proposed that fifty-five should be the age at which " every person " should have a right to look to the State for support, but after discussion this was, apparently by a unanimous vote, agreed to involve a needless delay of five years. Perhaps it is hardly necessary to add that when the Fiscal programme is reached, it is found to include expressly the taxation to extinction of all unearned incomes."
Now it is easy enough to laugh at a good deal of the programme from which we have quoted, but mockery is not the attitude of mind which in our judgment it is desirable to cultivate with regard to the aims and pro- ceedings of the Independent Labour party. This party, which is barely two and a half years old, is running twenty-six or twenty-eight candidates of its own at the present Elections. Of those candidates, such inquiries as we have been able to make lead us to suppose that the most sanguine members of the party do not hope to see more than from a dozen to fifteen returned, and that the best-informed will be very well pleased if as many as six are elected. Some of those with regard to whom the strongest hopes are cherished may be mentioned. There is Alderman Ben Tillett, who is standing for West Bradford against the Conservative, Mr. Ernest Flower, and the Liberal Home-ruler, Mr. Horsfall. The latter gentleman cannot be supposed to be nearly as strong a candidate as the late Radical Member, Mr. Illingworth, and it would not be surprising if be lost enough votes to Mr. Tillett to lift the Independent Labour candidate above Mr. Flower. The numbers polled for Illingworth, Plower, and Tillett respectively in 1892 were 3,306, 3,053, and 2,749. At Bolton, Mr. Fred Brocklehurst, who, by the way, is a University man, is thought by his friends to have a good chance ; but if he gets in, it will be at the expense of one of the two Conservatives lately sitting for the borough. In the Gorton Division of Lancashire, Dr. Pankhurst appears to have a very fair prospect of success, as his Liberal Home-rule opponent has retired from the field in what has been a Home-rule constituency. The return of Mr. Keir Hardie, the presi- dent of the Independent Labour party, for South West Ham, which he has represented since 1892, seems probable, though his majority may be somewhat reduced, owing to irritation on the part of orthodox Liberals in the con- stituency, who did not run a candidate against him in 1892, at his attitude towards the late Liberal Government. They are not running a candidate now, but if their vote were thrown at all strongly on the side of the local Unionist candidate, Major Banes, the result might be decisively affected. This, however, does not seem likely, and Mr. Hardie is working with such strenuous energy, and is apparently so warmly esteemed in the constituency, that his return to Westminster to lead any such followers as the country may send him, seems fairly well assured. Whatever strength he has will apparently be used by Mr. Hardie to damage whatever Government may be in Office, in so far as it fails—and any conceivable Government must fail—to satisfy his views of what is due to the working classes.
There are other places, such as the Colne Valley district, of the West Riding, where Mr. Tom Mann is standing against Sir James Kitson, the late Home-rule Member, and the Liberal Unionist, Mr. Harold Thomas, where it seems quite possible, if not probable, that the result of the Independent Labour candidature may be to turn the representation from Home-rule to Unionist. It is even breathed that at Radical Northampton Mr. Labouchere's seat is not safe. In Glasgow very serious anxiety appears to be felt among the Home-rulers as to the effect of the Labour candidatures in several divisions of the city. On the whole the action of the Independent Labour party seems more likely to weaken the Home-rule strength in the next Parliament than that of the Unionists. We venture to hope that this balance of probability will not lead Unionists any where, either now or later, to coquet with a party whose avowed aims are such as we have described. On the other hand, the strength—as it seems to us, the growing strength—of the Independent Labour party should prompt the Unionists to pursue with all the keener zeal those social reforms which will mitigate the hardships on which such politicians as Mr. Keir Hardie, whose sincerity and earnestness most persons who hear him will be inclined to believe in, base their demand for support for a propa- ganda which, though constitutional in its methods, is in its aims frankly revolutionary. Every evidence of genuine sympathy with the needs of the toiling masses and every honest and well-thought-out attempt to relieve the unde- served pressure of economic causes, will serve to strengthen the foundations of our political and social fabric against a movement which is none the less dangerous for being, as we incline to believe, inspired by a true enthusiasm for humanity, and for being marked by patience, by no means common in revolutionists, with the day of small things.
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