Book Description

The Rise of the Labour Party 1893-1931provides a brief history of the Labour Party, from its foundation to the collapse of the second Labour government during the financial crisis of 1931. It is designed to introduce students to some of the trends and controversies in recent historical scholarship on this topic, and to examine the principal developments of party organization, electoral growth, and policy-making. Gordon Phillips gives particular emphasis to the question of Labour's search for popular support and the conditions prevailing at the birth of the Labour Representation Committee, which initiated the need to establish a political organization to represent labor. He examines the constituent elements which formed the party, how it survived the early years of crisis and difficulty to become first the opposition and then, briefly, the governing party. Finally, he explores the party's attitudes, ideology, and policies from 1900-1931. By bringing the central themes of the topic into sharp focus and highlighting recent trends and research, the book provides the reader with an accessible, stimulating and up-to-date interpretation of this important period in British history.