Trade unions Did the Liberals miss an historical opportunity to become the party of organised labour and the trade unions in the 1870s? By Tim Hughes. The Liberal Party and the trade unions in the 1870s

n Tuesday 27 September 1870, Glad- Karl Marx and it stands, for all concerned, as a stone met with a delegation from the failure to focus on the real issue of the long-term Labour Representation League, an relationship between organised labour and the O 2 organisation created to promote the election of Liberal Party following the Second Reform Act. working-class MPs, but described by Gladstone in It may seem strange that trade union repre- his diaries simply as a ‘Deputn of working Men’.1 sentatives were meeting with the prime min- They met to discuss the Franco-Prussian War. ister to discuss matters of foreign policy. They The initiative for the meeting had come from were, after all, representatives of emerging

20 Journal of Liberal History 99 Summer 2018 The Liberal Party and the trade unions in the 1870s

sectional interests rather than of a class. Cer- concerns for personal and public economy. He tainly Gladstone had built a strong reputation even referenced his meetings with the unions with the unions in the 1860s as Chancellor of in his ‘Pale of the Constitution’ speech, which the Exchequer, when unions demonstrated appeared to embrace universal male suffrage in an interest in his Post Office Savings scheme. 1864.3 This was a matter of state policy. Foreign This interest was founded on their need to policy was, however, an area on which popu- keep union funds safe, and for Gladstone was lar support could be built, as Palmerston had evidence that the working man shared his demonstrated.

Journal of Liberal History 99 Summer 2018 21 The Liberal Party and the trade unions in the 1870s

In doing this, a more knowing Gladstone a Conservative sensibility based on his Peelite Overleaf (page 20:) could have opened up the possibility of creat- beliefs rather than coming from an internation- ing a new political paradigm. Gladstone’s foreign alist perspective that would have been shared by Thomas Burt policy has come to be seen as rooted in moral con- his working-class delegation. The delegation had (1837–1922) victions that had first surfaced in his ‘Letters to reason to be suspicious of the monarchy, given the Earl of Aberdeen’ on the abuses in the Nea- Victoria’s later interventions in foreign policy at Alexander Macdonald politan prisons. This has been seen as Gladstone’s the behest of Disraeli in order to put pressure on (1821–81) first meaningful alignment with an identifiable Cabinet members to support Disraeli’s policies in Liberal foreign policy.4 His ‘Letters to Aberdeen’ the Balkans.9 Liberal Prime Minister railed against injustice and was readily supported Looking more closely at the Labour Repre- W. E. Gladstone by Palmerston and republicans as an attack on the sentation League, this was created with the pri- (1809–98) abuses of monarchical rule. Palmerstone distrib- mary aim of registering working-class men for uted them, with no lack of glee for the embarrass- the vote and getting working-class men elected as ment it caused Aberdeen, to the British embassies. MPs ‘proportionate to other interests and classes Gladstone argued unconvincingly that these at present represented in Parliament’.10 This was letters should be seen as a defence of monar- a significant ambition, with 30 per cent of work- chy rather than an attack on the tyrannies of ing-class men having the vote in 1867 but – with untempered monarchical rule; for Shannon few seats with a working-class majority – one they ‘retarded Gladstone’s movement towards that depended upon building alliances. Rooted Liberalism’.5 It is certainly premature in the con- in the London Working Men’s Association and text of Gladstone’s career to begin to call him the embryonic TUC, their very presence in No. a Liberal at this juncture and his foreign policy 11 Downing Street was the result of an impres- remained distinctive from either Palmerston or sive series of working-class successes that could the Manchester School of Cobden and Bright, be seen as culminating in the Trade Union legisla- which embraced the dichotomy of free trade and tion of 1871, which saw the trade unions achieve peace. Gladstone would, however, go on to set a legal status that gave them protection through the boundaries of a new ‘liberal’ foreign policy, the courts. creating a school of foreign policy now defined It is, however, too easy to see a separation by scholars of international relations as liberal. between organised labour and Liberalism, a sepa- If he could do this in the realm of foreign policy ration of tradition as well as creed. The meet- he could also have broadened this out in terms of ing’s significance comes from its taking place in organised labour within the emerging Gladsto- a period of transience and consolidation which nian Liberalism. builds on the ‘community of sentiment’ and ‘a Interestingly, suspicion of monarchy was also coalition of convenience’ of the 1860s to form a a theme in the September meeting, where the del- more robust Gladstonian Liberalism: a form of egation sought reassurances that there were no Liberalism which, while it should not be confused pro-German ‘dynastic influences’ holding back with Gladstone, was nevertheless focussed on Britain’s involvement in the Franco-Prussian his person.11 It remains to be considered whether War, a less than subtle reference to Queen Victo- Gladstonian Liberalism was a change of substance ria.6 For the delegation of working men there was rather than of sentiment, but it left room for the a more pragmatic reasoning behind supporting ascendancy of organised Nonconformity from its a republican government in France: the broader interest in disestablishment and church rates into primacy of the people and the principles of free- becoming the foundation stone of a popular more dom in foreign policy. It is not that morality radical liberalism.12 This led through clear choices did not play a role in the thinking of the Labour of policy directed by Gladstone, not least towards Representation League – which has been con- Ireland and the eventual Whig split from the Lib- vincingly linked to the thinking of the Repub- eral Party in 1886. lican, Italian nationalist, Mazzini more than the Gladstone favoured working-class men enter- internationalist Marx in this respect – but that ing parliament and would be the first to appoint a it was rooted in a different thinking to that of working man to his government – Thomas Burt, Gladstone.7 Republicanism was never an aspect the leader of the Northumberland Miners’ Asso- of Gladstonian Liberalism, although it was pre- ciation – as parliamentary secretary to the Board sent in a Liberal Party that contained Bradlaugh of Trade, even though he was not at that time a and Dilke. Marx stressed the fear of ‘Prussian member of the Liberal Party. On being elected instruction’ and it could be that he had laid down in 1874 as one of the first two Lib-Lab MPs, Burt the grounds for suspicion rather than these com- was honoured alongside his fellow miners’ leader, ing directly from the delegation. Marx also men- Alexander Macdonald, in a banquet held by the tions these as coming from the ‘oligarchic part of Labour Representation League. Here he spoke the Cabinet’.8 Clearly Marx himself saw a divi- about how ‘something had been done to break sion between the Whig and radical elements. It the exclusiveness which had hitherto kept the appears that Marx saw Gladstone as an unreliable poor man outside the House of Commons’ but ally. Marx was of course right to be suspicious of that it would be a mistake to become an expo- Gladstone, who brought to even foreign policy nent of ‘class representation and legislation’.13 He

22 Journal of Liberal History 99 Summer 2018 The Liberal Party and the trade unions in the 1870s

Overleaf (page 21:) was instinctively Liberal in his politics and would vulnerability of their support from organised refuse to take the Labour Party whip when the labour. Howell wrote, ‘Everyone vied with the A. J. Mundella miners affiliated to the Labour Party in 1908. other to do the best thing. Cross deserves our (1825–97) Interestingly, in 1870 he was active in the Work- warmest gratitude for his conscientious work.’17 men’s Peace Association campaigning for British The failure of the leaders of organised labour Robert Applegarth neutrality during the Franco-Prussian War, fur- was to not recognise Gladstone’s limitations and (1834–1924) ther evidence of the importance of foreign policy conservatism at this point, although to be fair in the formation of political allegiances among these limitations were also not clear to middle- George Howell the representatives of the working class. class radicals sympathetic to the trade unions like (1833–1910) There is therefore some credence to seeing Mundella. For Gladstone, when entrenching his Gladstone as bringing ‘the working man within Post Office savings accounts, he had spoken to the pale of the constitution’.14 However, while he the unions but responded to their Friendly Soci- promoted the careers of individuals, he did this in ety characteristics.18 He related to the self-help recognition of individual merit rather than rec- they represented but he did not see their collec- ognising the rights of a class. For the leaders of tive nature and never retreated from his commit- organised Labour and their representatives who ment to a more libertarian individualism; he was entered the House of Commons, the language of never an egalitarian despite Bebbington linking class did not necessitate class politics, as shown Gladstone, via his Ancient Greek sensibilities, to above. It is within this distinction that the oppor- modern concepts of New Labour communitari- tunities lay for Liberalism to institutionalise the anism.19 Organised labour represented, with only interests of organised labour within their own 217,128 members, a small part of the practical ‘col- party. This opportunity could have been taken in lective self-help’ that was developing among the 1871 with the Liberal government’s Trade Union working class alongside 300,157 members of co- legislation but this required amendment through ops and 1,857,896 members of friendly societies in the ‘bipartisan effort’ of 1875 and effectively dem- 1872.20 onstrated the distance in perception that remained For the leaders of organised labour, they between Liberalism and organised labour.15 believed they shared a vision of international fair- The original Liberal Trade Union Bill had ness and the promotion of liberal values of free- proved highly controversial if not potentially dom. Indeed in September 1870, they shared the toxic and had been divided into two at the insti- short-term objective of intervention in the set- gation of a deputation from the Trades Union tlement of the Franco-Prussian War, although Congress led by the Liberal MP, A. J. Mundella, Gladstone was seeking government intervention creating the Criminal Law Amendment Bill out in order to maintain a balance of power in Europe of the third clause of the original bill. This proved based on mediation between the Great Pow- sufficient to maintain the support of the unions ers which was central to the ideas of Aberdeen for the main Trade Union Act of 1871. The Lib- and the Concert of Europe. This was founded on erals had been slow to recognise the importance essentially pre- Disraelian Conservative values. of picketing to the trade unions and the ambigu- While meeting with representatives of Labour, ity of the term ‘intimidation and molestation’ as his chief concern in the diaries appears to be Card- defined in the clause. This should not be a surprise well’s army reforms and there could be no ques- given the manner in which Gladstone had built tion of stronger measures being taken. Schreuder bridges with the unions through his perception sees Gladstone as being more open to the use of of them as akin to friendly societies and agents of aggression but certainly not as open as his allies.21 economy rather than agents within the realm of The second administration would make clear that industrial conflict. Britain’s strategic interests would come first with Recognised as requiring reform, the initial Gladstone. response of the working-class MPs Burt and Mac- Middle-class radicals did recognise the signifi- donald had been to support Disraeli’s idea of a cance of organised labour and their representa- royal commission; but when it reported in Febru- tives. The Reform League, from its conception, ary 1875, it proved unsatisfactory to politicians was subsidised by Liberals such as Samuel Morley and trade unionists alike. A Conservative bill was who contributed to the wages of George How- introduced with which Mundella achieved much ell, the full-time secretary of the Reform League. in the committee stage, only for the Conserva- Howell would become secretary to the TUC Par- tive home secretary, Richard Cross, to work with liamentary Committee from 1873 to 1876. Like Howell, the secretary of the Parliamentary Com- the International, the Reform League saw the mittee of the TUC, to produce the Conspiracy need to be fronted by working men while having and Protection Act. This met the demands of their agendas driven by middle-class intellectu- the trade unions. If the Criminal Law Amend- als. Morley would provide further funds to pro- ment Act demonstrated ‘clear fault lines running mote working-class candidates in 1868, alongside through the relationship between working- an understanding with the Liberal chief whip, class radicalism and official Liberalism’,16 it also George Glyne, reminiscent of the later agree- showed a desire to transcend them. However, offi- ment between Herbert Gladstone and the Labour cial Liberalism failed to recognise the potential Representation Committee in 1903. Indeed the

Journal of Liberal History 99 Summer 2018 23 The Liberal Party and the trade unions in the 1870s

similarities may well explain the lack of concern Liberal MPs such as Mundella – but the reluctance from official liberalism about the development of of organised labour to set up broader objectives the Labour Party in 1906.22 could simply be seen as their acceptance of the However, of the two candidates backed by the broader Liberalism they sought to represent27. His Reform League that stood for election in Decem- role would end with his resignation from the Car- ber 1868, neither was endorsed by the local Liberal penters and Joiners Union and from the Interna- parties, a problem that would re-emerge in 1903. tional to take up a role on a Royal Commission on Two would be elected in 1874, Alexander Mac- Contagious Diseases. This however removed him donald from the Miners’ National Association and from a pivotal role as a leading trade unionist and Thomas Burt, agent of the Northumberland Min- moderate link to the International. He was fond ers’ Association. The Lib-Lab tradition had begun of the phrase ‘As long as the present system lasts’, but was based primarily on the links to a strong but this demonstrated his belief in progress rather union rather than forging a meaningful channel than socialism, and Humphrey cites an old social- with the emerging working class. Potential Lib- ist saying of him in his later years, ‘the old man eral MPs –such as Keir Hardie, Arthur Henderson has never really been one of us’.28 and Ramsay MacDonald – would still face rejec- Owen has emphasised the significance of local- tion and become key figures in the foundation of ism but also finds himself using different facets of the Labour Party. Yet in 1885, twelve working- Liberalism to explore the relationships between class MPs were elected and historians have been labour and Liberalism. While the title of the study challenged by Reid to explain ‘why such a sepa- focuses on ‘organised Liberalism’ a distinction is rate Labour Party should eventually have felt to made with ‘official Liberalism’ in the text. It is be necessary at all’.23 this distinction which, while recognising the dif- Could a Labour Party have emerged separate ficulty of accommodating working-class candi- to the Liberal Party in this period? There were dates standing for the Liberal Party, also opens up Smothered by certainly union men of substance, including Ran- a space for official Liberalism and the leadership dal Cremer who stood for parliament in 1868, to do more to accommodate organised labour, ‘organised Liber- who would be successfully elected for the periods the Labour League and later the Labour Repre- alism’ and misun- 1885–1895 and 1900–1908, and who would even- sentation League. While he identifies a ‘genuine tually win the Nobel Peace Prize. However, he desire’ from the National Liberal Federation, cre- derstood by the had resigned from the International as early as ated in 1877 by Joseph Chamberlain, to promote 1867, seeing it as too radical and was never going working-class candidates, they are often unable one figure within to lead a party of the left. Perhaps this could have to impose their will.29 What was required was a come from Robert Applegarth, but he never ‘People’s William’ who sought not only to open ‘official Liberal- stood for election and faded from view; or alter- doors and be inclusive towards the working class natively a figure like Howell, Liberal MP from in terms of recognising the leaders of labour and ism’ who could 1885 to 1895; or Potter, who stood without success exceptional individuals but one who saw the need in Peterborough and Preston. The man who tried to be more proactive as a party leader in develop- have given it to form a party of labour was John Hales who ing more structured links with organised labour. momentum, the sought to turn the English section of the Inter- Wrigley has argued that, ‘Gladstone, in his national into a national party of labour and the final active decade of politics, took careful notice trade unionists of working class. It never looked like he would suc- of the growing strength of labour’ and sees this as ceed. Socialist parties would emerge in the 1880s developing out of his experiences with the Lib- the Labour Repre- and the Independent Labour Party in 1893, but Lab MPs in the 1880s and also with the 1889 dock even the cloth-capped Keir Hardie had sought to strike. While building on Gladstone’s experiences sentation League become a Liberal MP. A closer look at these men in the 1860s, however there is little mention of the reveals the Liberal nature of organised labour, early 1870s in this evaluation.30 could have been rather than offering an image of the socialist fel- How might these words, written in 1889, have low traveller. been received in 1870? a bridge offer- Applegarth was one of the delegation in the ing continuity September meeting. He had already seen a key In the common interests of humanity, this aim of organised labour to extend the franchise remarkable strike and result of this strike, which between the radi- being achieved for urban workers in the Second have tended somewhat to strengthen the condi- Reform Act. The improved legal status of the tion of labour in the face of capital, is the record cal working-class trade unions was achieved through a royal com- of what we ought to regard as satisfactory, as a mission to which he had acted as a prominent wit- real social advance [that] tends to a fair principle traditions of the ness, having written to Gladstone in June 1866 of division of the fruits of industry.31 and been interviewed by the home secretary, nineteenth and H. A. Bruce.24 Only the aim of securing labour Gladstone has clearly moved from seeing the trade twentieth centu- participation in parliament seemed an ongo- unions as friendly societies. But Wrigley, while ing concern.25 It is in this area of labour partici- he does recognise Gladstone’s caution towards the ries. The opportu- pation that a failure of imagination occurred. unions in the 1890s, still overestimates the change Applegarth collaborated with the various intel- that has taken place in regards to Gladstone nity was missed. lectual forces of his time – Marx, Beesley26 and rather than the changing nature and leadership

24 Journal of Liberal History 99 Summer 2018 The Liberal Party and the trade unions in the 1870s of the new, emerging, less-skilled trade to fight battles over ideology rather Howell and Victorian Working Class Politics unions. A year later, Cardinal Manning, than power. He too may have missed (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971), p. 184. a friend and confidant of Gladstone’s, an opportunity to divert the socialist 18 Chris Wrigley, ‘Gladstone and Labour’, in would commend Gladstone on his ‘very tradition’s trajectory from what would Quinault, Swift & Windscheffel (eds.),Wil - wise reserve’ on the ‘relations of capital become the British Labour Party. liam Gladstone: New Studies and Perspectives & Labour’ regarding the dockers strike, (Ashgate, 2012) while emphasising how the dockers Tim Hughes has been teaching history for 19 David Bebbington, The Mind of Gladstone ‘have broken with the Socialist Theories, thirty years, the last fifteen at Magdalen Col- (Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 303. For and are simply industrial and economic.’ lege School in Brackley. Gladstone, the unions saw more favour than Manning clearly seeks more from Glad- under Blair, who famously didn’t invite them stone than he is willing to give. Here in 1 M. R. D. Foot and H. C. G. Matthew, The to No. 10, but neither man was interested in microcosm are the expectations, disap- Gladstone Diaries, vol. 7 (Clarendon Press, embracing class politics. This emphasises the pointments and excuses – Manning cites 1982), p. 371. liberalism of New Labour rather than the Gladstone’s focus on Ireland – that those 2 Marx to Engels on 10 Sep. 1870. Karl Marx egalitarianism of Gladstone. who look to Gladstone have to accept.32 and Frederick Engels, Collected Works, vol. 44 20 Neville Kirk, Change, Continuity and Class: Historians have come to recognise 1870–73, p. 70. Labour in British Society 1850–1920 (Manchester that working-class traditions and class 3 Borough Franchise Bill Second Reading, University Press, 1998), p. 49. consciousness, in the sense of being Hansard CLXXV, May 11 1864. 21 D. M. Shreuder, ‘Gladstone as “Trouble aware of one’s class, can just as easily lead 4 Derek Beales, ‘Gladstone and Garibaldi’, in Maker”: Liberal Foreign Policy and the Ger- to Tory as to Liberal or socialist poli- Peter J. Jagger (ed.), Gladstone (Hambledon man Annexation of Alsace Lorraine, 1870– tics.33 The trade union legislation of 1875 Press, 1998), p. 150. 1871’, Journal of British Studies, 17 (1978), pp. showed how Conservatives were as capa- 5 Richard Shannon, Gladstone, vol. 1 (Hamish 106–35. ble as Liberals as satisfying the demands Hamilton, 1982), p. 242. 22 Owen, ‘The Struggle for Political Represen- of organised labour. The trade union 6 The Times, 28 Sep. 1872, cited in footnote in tation’, p. 15. reformists of the early 1870s can now be Foot and Matthew, Gladstone Diaries, vol. 7, p. 23 A. J. Reid, United We Stand: A History of Brit- seen as Liberal, and one of the strands 371. ain’s Trade Unions (Penguin, 2004), p. 149. within the coalescing forces of liberal- 7 Henry Collins, Karl Marx and the British 24 Copy of the letter dated 25 Jun. 1866, in A. W. ism coming together beneath Gladstone’s Labour Movement (Macmillan, 1965), pp. Humphrey, Robert Applegarth: Trade Unionist, umbrella. Smothered by ‘organised 285–286 Educationist, Reformer (HardPress Publishing, Liberalism’ and misunderstood by the 8 Marx to Engels, 10 Sep 1870; op. cit. 2013; originally published 1913), p. 142. one figure within ‘official Liberalism’ 9 Milos Kovic, Disraeli and the Eastern Question 25 Report of the Fourth Annual Congress of who could have given it momentum, (Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 311. the International Men’s Association, pp. 4–5, the trade unionists of the Labour Rep- 10 Minutes of the General Council of the cited in Collins, Karl Marx and the British resentation League could have been a Reform League, 4 Dec. 1867, cited in James Labour Movement, p. 153. bridge offering continuity between the Owen, ‘The Struggle for Political Represen- 26 Edward Spencer Beesley, English positivist radical working-class traditions of the tation: Labour Candidates and the Liberal and Comtist who had links with Marx and nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Party, 1868–85’, Journal of Labour History, 86, the trade union movement. See Christopher opportunity was missed. Spring 2015, p. 15. Kent, Brains and Numbers: Elitism, Comtism, and 11 John Vincent, The Formation of the British Lib- Democracy in Mid-Victorian England (Univer- eral Party 1857–68 (Pelican Books, 1972), p. 290. sity of Toronto Press, 1978). A footnote on Marx 12 For a history of the Liberation Society see J. P. 27 Asa Biggs, Victorian People: A Reassessment of Returning to the meeting in Septem- Ellens, Religious Routes to Gladstonian Liberalism Persons and Themes 1851–1867 (Pelican Books, ber of 1870, Marx sought to counter the (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994). 1965), p. 204. influence of monarchy and Russia by 13 The Bee-Hive, 21 Mar. 1874, cited in Lowell J. 28 Humphrey, Robert Applegarth, pp. 94, 319. using the Labour Representation League Satre, Thomas Burt, Miner’s MP 1837–1922: The 29 James Owen, Labour and the Caucus, p. 98. to put pressure on Gladstone. Although Great Conciliator (Leicester University Press, 30 Wrigley, ‘Gladstone and Labour’, p. 70. his predictions regarding the subsequent 1999), p. 38. 31 The Times, 24 Sep. 1889, cited in Michael need for France to move towards Rus- 14 Simon Peaple and John Vincent, ‘Gladstone Barker, Gladstone and Radicalism: Recon- sia were impressive and in effect foresaw and the working man’, in Peter J. Jagger (ed.), strction of Liberal Policy, 1885–94 (Harvester the First World War, it is interesting that Gladstone (Hambledon Press, 1998), p. 83. Press, 1975), p. 92. he did not proactively seek the develop- 15 Jonathan Spain, ‘Trade unionists, Gladsto- 32 Cardinal Manning to Gladstone, 27 Aug. ment of a working-class party in Eng- nian Liberals and the labour reforms of 1875’ 1890 in Peter C. Erb (ed.), The Correspondence land, based on the trade unions, which in Eugenio Biagini and Alastair Reid, Cur- of Henry Edward Manning and William Ewart he could have influenced.34 He had rec- rents of Radicalism: Popular Radicalism, Organised Gladstone, 1882–1891 (OUP, 2013), p. 69. ognised the need for the working class in Labour and Party Politics in Britain, 1850–1914 33 Matthew Roberts, ‘By-elections and the different countries to develop their own (Cambridge University Press, 1991), ch. 6, p. Unionist Electoral Ascendancy’, in T. G. Otte paths to representation and power but 109. and Paul Readman (eds.), By-elections in British preferred to out-manoeuvre the mar- 16 James Owen, Labour and the Caucus: Work- Politics, 1832–1914 (Boydell Press, 2013); for the ginal anarchist factions in Europe. He ing class radicalism and organised Liberalism in impact of positive Unionism and the impor- had also recognised that England rep- England, 1868–1888 (Liverpool University tance of working-class Tories to Conservative resented the most developed position Press, 2014), p. 14. electoral success. and that this position was founded on 17 Howell to Robert Knight, 14 Jul. 1875, cited 34 Collins, Karl Marx and the British Labour Move- the trade unions but in the end preferred in F. M. Leventhal, Respectable Radical: George ment, pp. 182–3.

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