Labour and the municipality : Labour politics in Leeds 1900-1914

This thesis examines the emergence of the Labour Party in Leeds, from
its establishment as the Leeds Labour Representation Committee in 1902
up to the outbreak of the First World War. This will include a description
and analysis of the very different political features of the Labour Party in
Leeds in the parliamentary and municipal elections in this period.

While only able to have elected one member of parliament before 1914,
the Labour Party was to obtain a presence on the City Council in 1903
and by 1914 became the second largest party.

The success of the Labour Party in municipal politics was due to the
willingness of most trade unions in Leeds to join with the Independent
Labour Party in giving it political and financial support. This was
achieved by the Party's advocacy of municipal government as a vehicle of
social reform. In particular, they argued in favour of using the trading
profits of municipally owned services for the financing of these reforms.

A powerful voice in the Leeds Labour Party was provided by the unions
organising municipal workers. As a result, the Labour group was to act
as their defenders on the City Council in the face of a hostile
Conservative-Liberal majority. However, the Party in Leeds was to
establish a broad base of support from the trade union and socialist
movements in the city, which enabled it to survive relatively unscathed
the defeat of a general strike of municipal workers in 1913 and 1914.