LABOR PARTY, BRITISH 385 LABOR PARTY, BRITISH Industrial organization, which is of American origin, is a general body of all the workers, banded together regardless of what their trades may be. The early American labor organizations, and the later Knights of Labor, were of this pat- tern. The present day representative of this form of organization is the In- dustrial Workers of the World, whose slogan is "one big union." Between these two forms of organiza- tion there has been subject for much controversy in the labor world. On one side it is contended that trade unions are narrowly selfish, in that each body seeks only benefits for itself, and is ex- clusive in its ideals. This contention is supported by the fact that trade unions are inclined to keep down the member- ship of their organizations by high initi- ation fees and by forcing the employers to limit the number of apprentices in each shop or factory, the theory being that the fewer members there are in one trade organization the higher wages will be. It will be obvious from this that trade unionism is almost entirely limited to skilled workers, and, indeed, this is the basis for another charge brought against trade unionists; that they have no re- gard for the welfare of the unskilled workers. Industrial unionism, on the other hand, takes in skilled and unskilled alike. The Industrial Workers of the World, as a matter of fact, are largely composed of the unskilled, most of them being itiner- ant workers, commonly called "hoboes." The present day tendency, since the European War, is strongly in the direc- tion of industrial unionism. The Brit- ish workers have frankly copied the methods of the American I. W. W., though only to a limited extent, in that all the workers of a certain industry are organized together, regardless of what their particular functions may be. An outstanding illustration of this may be found in the British railway workers, the British miners and the transporta- tion workers, who again have federated and formed what is known as the Triple Alliance, the most powerful body in Brit- ish labor organization. An American example of this limited form of indus- trial unionism may be found in the United Mine Workers of America, who comprise all the workers in the coal min- ing industry in America. Another ex- ample is in the Western Federation of Miners. 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 chairman 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 ideas. 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-
