Labor Party of Great Britain: date of foundation, ideology, interesting facts

The Labor Party of Great Britain (LPV) is one of two political forces that are really fighting for power in Foggy Albion. Unlike the rival Conservative Party, Labor was initially more focused on raising social standards for citizens of the country. To fully understand the political processes in the UK, it is very important to clarify the role of this organization in the life of society. Let's follow the history of the emergence and development of this political force, as well as clarify the ideology that the Labor Party professes.

Occurrence

The Labor Party was founded in 1900. True, its original name sounded like the Committee of the working representation. Immediately she positioned herself as a representative of the interests of the working class, combining the trade union movement, and sought to intervene in the struggle of the dominant parties at that time in Britain - the Conservative and the Liberal. One of the leaders of the organization from the very first days of its foundation was Ramsay McDonald. At his apartment was her office. Other well-known leaders are James Cary Hardy, Arthur Henderson and George Barnes.

In 1906, the organization acquired its current name, which in English is written as a Labor Party, and is translated into Russian as the "Labor Party".

Early stage of development

In the first elections in 1900, in which the newly-created party participated, of the fifteen candidates to the British parliament passed two people, and this with the financing of the campaign is only 33 pounds.

Already at the next election in 1906, the number of Labor representatives in the parliament increased to 27 people. The leader of the parliamentary faction was James Hardy. This meant informal leadership in the party, since until 1922 there was no separate post for the Labor leader.

As already mentioned above, initially the Laborites in Britain were in the shadow of the conservative and liberal parties, of which they tried to get out. However, at first because of the small number of seats in the parliament, they were forced to cooperate with ideals closer to them in ideology. This close cooperation lasted until 1916. Naturally, in this tandem of the liberal party the role of the elder brother was assigned.

At the height of the First World War in 1918, the Labor Party adopted its own charter and program, which later became the starting point for forming the organization's position on basic political and social issues.

The ruling party

During the First World War, there was a split in the ranks of the Liberal Party, and the workers' movement began to gain momentum in connection with the growing revolutionary situation in Europe. And the British Labor Party entered into a great game, as a separate political force.

In 1924, for the first time in history, they were able to form a government. The Labor Party did not receive a majority in the parliament, although it was a record number of representatives for the party - 191 people. But the bickering between conservatives and liberals allowed them to form a cabinet of ministers. Thus, the hegemony of the conservative and liberal party, which lasted for centuries, was broken. Since that time, the main competitors in the struggle for power have become Labor and conservatives.

Labor representative James Ramsay MacDonald became prime minister of Great Britain.

However, by the end of the year the Labor government, because of the pressure and intrigues of the conservatives and liberals united to fight against it, had to resign. In addition, thanks to a stream of compromising competitors in the new parliamentary elections, the workers' party was defeated, and the number of its representatives dropped to 151 people.

But this was only the first of a series of subsequent Labor ministries.

The Government of MacDonald

Already at the elections in 1929, the Labor Party received for the first time in history the majority of seats in the parliament (287 delegates) and acquired the right to form a cabinet again. The Prime Minister of Great Britain was again James MacDonald. But due to a number of political and economic failures of the new government, a split occurred in the Labor Party itself. James McDonald went to rapprochement with the conservatives in order to have more powerful support in the parliament. This led to the fact that in 1931 he left the party, creating in contrast to it the National Labor Organization, but continued to hold the post of prime minister until 1935, when in this position he was replaced by a representative of the Conservatives.

A new leader of the Labor Party was one of the people who once stood at the origins of this movement - Arthur Henderson. But the split of the party, as well as political scandals, led to the fact that in the new parliamentary elections in 1931 it failed miserably, having held only 52 representatives in the British legislature.

Era Attlee

As early as next year, George Lansbury replaced Henderson as head of the party, and three years later Clement Attlee. This leader of the Labor Party held this post longer than anyone before or after him - 20 years. The period of Attlee lasted from 1935 to 1955.

In the elections of 1935, the party under his leadership was able to significantly improve its performance by holding 154 representatives to the parliament. After the resignation from the premiership of Chamberlain's conservative in 1940, Attlee managed to enter the coalition government of Winston Churchill.

The post-war development of LPO

Because of the Second World War, the next elections were held only 10 years later in 1945. After them, the Labor Party won a record 393 seats in parliament at that time. This result was more than enough for the formation of the Cabinet headed by Clement Attlee, who succeeded as conservative Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who lost the election. Labor could only be congratulated with such success, because their victory at that time looked like a real sensation.

It must be said that the third coming to power of the Labor Party has become much more effective than the two previous ones. Unlike McDonald, Attlee managed to carry out a number of significant social laws, to nationalize some large enterprises, to restore the economy of the country, battered by war. These achievements contributed to the fact that in the elections of 1950 the Labor Party again celebrated the victory, although this time the parliament was represented much more modestly - 315 people.

However, Attlee's cabinet was far from having only one victory. Unsuccessful financial policy and devaluation of the pound led to the fact that in the early elections in 1951, the victory was won by conservatives led by Winston Churchill. The Labor Party won 295 seats in the parliament, although this was enough to continue to exert a significant influence on the country's policy, because the Conservatives had only seven seats more.

The new elections in 1955 brought more disappointment to the Laborites, because according to their results they received only 277 seats in the parliament, and the conservatives scored a very convincing victory. This event was one of the reasons that Clement Attlee left the big politics the same year, and Hugh Gateskell replaced him as Labor leader.

Further history of the party

However, Gateskell and could not become a worthy replacement for Attlee. The Labor Party increasingly lost its popularity, as evidenced by the decrease in their numbers in the parliament after the elections of 1959 to 258 people.

In 1963, after the death of Geithskell, Harold Wilson became the leader of the Labor Party. He was more than thirteen years in charge of the party. The following year, under his leadership, the Labor Party won after a fourteen-year hiatus victory in the parliamentary elections, receiving 317 seats, which is 13 more than the conservatives. Thus, Wilson became the first Labor Prime Minister of Great Britain after Clement Attlee.

However, Labor's leadership in the parliament was so shaky that it did not give them the opportunity to implement the basic steps of their program. This situation forced an early election in 1966, at which the Labor Party won a much more confident victory, winning 364 seats in the parliament, that is, 111 seats more than the Conservatives.

But by the beginning of the 1970s, the UK economy showed statistical figures far from ideal. This led to the convincing victory of the conservatives in the new elections in 1970, gaining more than 50% of seats in the parliament, and the Laborites were satisfied with 288 seats (43.1%). Naturally, the result of such results was the resignation of Harold Wilson.

The conservatives did not live up to their expectations, and in the next elections in the spring of 1974 Labor won the victory, however, with a minimal margin. This fact forced them to hold early elections in the autumn of the same year, as a result of which the Labor Party won a stable majority. Wilson again headed the government, but not for very clear reasons, already in 1976 he resigned. James Kallaghan became his successor as party leader and prime minister.

In opposition

However, the popularity of Callaghan could not be compared with the popularity of Wilson. The devastating defeat of the Labor Party in the elections in 1979 was a natural result of this. The era of the Conservative Party began, which gave the UK such outstanding prime ministers as Margaret Thatcher (who was head of government for 11 consecutive years) and John Major. The hegemony of the conservatives in parliament lasted 18 years.

During this period the Laborites were forced to withdraw into the opposition. After Callaghan's resignation as party leader in 1980, it was led by Michael Foot (1980-1983), Neil Kinnock (1983-1992) and John Smith (1992-1994).

New Labor

After the death of John Smith in 1994, from May to July , the acting head of the party was Margaret Beckett, but in the election of the Labor leader, the victory was won by young and ambitious politician Tony Blair, who by that time was only 31 years old. His updated program contributed to the opening of the party's "second wind". The period in the history of the party, beginning with the election of Blair as its leader until 2010, is usually called "New Labor".

At the center of the New Labor program was the so-called third way, which was positioned by the party as an alternative to capitalism and socialism.

Labor revenge

How successful was the tactics chosen by Tony Blair, showed the 1997 parliamentary elections, in which the Labor Party won for the first time in 18 years. But it was not just a victory, but a real defeat of the conservatives led by John Major, after all, the Labor Party got 253 seats more. The total number of Labor representatives in the parliament was 418, which is still the unbeaten record of the party. Tony Blair became Prime Minister of Great Britain.

In the elections in 2001 and in 2005, the Labor Party again wins with a significant advantage, and they extract 413 and 356 seats in the parliament, respectively. But, despite the generally good results, the trend indicated a significant decrease in the popularity of the AP among voters. This was in no small measure promoted by the aggressive foreign policy of the Labor Party, headed by Tony Blair, expressed, in particular, in active military support for the intervention of Americans in Iraq, as well as in participating in the bombing of Yugoslavia.

In 2007, Tony Blair resigned, and as leader of the party and prime minister he was replaced by Gordon Brown. However, the first parliamentary elections after the resignation of Blair, which occurred in 2010, turned into a defeat for the Labor Party and the victory of the conservatives led by David Cameron. This result contributed to the fact that Gordon Brown freed not only the premiership, but also left the post of party leader.

Modernity

In the struggle for the post of head of Labor in 2010, Ed Miliband won. But the defeat of the party in 2015 in the parliamentary elections, in which it showed an even less convincing result than last time, forced Miliband to resign.

Currently, the head of the LPV is Jeremy Corbin, who, unlike Blair and Brown, is the representative of the left wing of the party. At one time, he was also known as an opponent of the war in Iraq.

Evolution of ideology

In its history, the ideology of the Labor Party has undergone significant changes. If initially it was oriented toward the workers' and trade union movement, in time it more and more absorbed the capitalist elements, thereby ideologically approaching its eternal rival, the Conservative Party. However, the achievement of social justice in the state has always been included in the party's priorities. Nevertheless, the Laborites avoided alliance with the Communists and other extreme left currents.

In general, Labor's ideology can be characterized as social democratic.

Prospects

The nearest plans of the Labor Party include the victory in the next parliamentary elections, which are to be held in 2020. Of course, it will be extremely difficult to implement this, given the current loss of electoral sympathies for the party, but there is enough time for changing the opinion of the voters.

Jeremy Corbin plans to get the favor of voters by returning to the left ideology, which was originally inherent in the Labor Party.