Labour Representation Committee
From Free net encyclopedia
The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) was formed on February 27, 1900, at a conference at which representatives of the main socialist groupings in the United Kingdom were present. The LRC is the direct predecessor of the modern British Labour Party.
Organisations present at this conference were the Independent Labour Party (ILP), the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and the Fabian Society, as well as various trade union leaders. After a debate the 129 delegates decided to pass Keir Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour."
To make this possible the Conference established the LRC. This committee included two members from the ILP, two from the SDF, one Fabian, and seven trade unionists. Keir Hardie was chosen to head up the LRC and Ramsay MacDonald was chosen as its secretary.
The LRC put up fifteen candidates in the 1900 General Election and between them they won 62,698 votes. Two of the candidates, Keir Hardie and Richard Bell won seats in the House of Commons. They performed even better in the 1906 election with twenty nine successful candidates. Later that year the LRC decided to formally change its name to the Labour Party.
The Labour Party itself regarded 2000 as its centenary year.
Opposition to Blair
On Saturday 3rd July 2004, the founding conference of the new Labour Representation Committee occurred. The group operates as a socialist pressure group within the Labour Party. The LRC allows Constituency Labour Parties and Branch Labour Parties to affiliate to it, along with local, regional and national unions and individual party members and supporters. So far there are currently 5 affiliated CLPs and 4 BLPs. In parliament, the group is represented by the Socialist Campaign Group. Affiliated organisations include the Communication Workers Union and the New Communist Party.
The Chairman is John McDonnell, and the group is supported by Jeremy Corbyn, Michael Meacher and Tony Benn.