. Jas. Keir Hardie's life story from pit trapper to Parliament . t should be borne in mind thatin the decade following the passing ofthe second Trade Union Act in 1876the trade unions had become more andmore stolid, had paid an ever-increas-ing attention to benefits and steadilydecreasing attention to that social re-volution which was their essential were discouraged and everykind of industrial action that was like-ly to be emibarrassing to the employ-ers were looked at askance, while the political side the unions had forgottenthe words of Eobert Owen and theideals of the Chartists
. Jas. Keir Hardie's life story from pit trapper to Parliament . t should be borne in mind thatin the decade following the passing ofthe second Trade Union Act in 1876the trade unions had become more andmore stolid, had paid an ever-increas-ing attention to benefits and steadilydecreasing attention to that social re-volution which was their essential were discouraged and everykind of industrial action that was like-ly to be emibarrassing to the employ-ers were looked at askance, while the political side the unions had forgottenthe words of Eobert Owen and theideals of the Chartists and had handedthemselves over entirely to the leader-ship of Mr. Gladstone. Their politics aswell as their economics had ceased to betheir own; they had become the politicsand economics of the middle class. Once the dock strike of 1889 hadsent its spirit throughout Great Britainit became difficult to realize how reac-tionary a condition was the tradesunionism of 1885. It was two yearsbefore this great dock striks that KierHardie spoke before the Swansea Trade. Keir Hardie as he appeared before theSwansea Congress in 1887 Union Congress and was greeted withridicule. His speech was practically amotion for a vote of censure on Broadhurst, , who was thousecretary of the Congress. On a pointof procedure the attack was , on the question of Labor Elec-toral Representation, Mr. Hardie renewed the attack. He quoted a casewhere Mr. Broadhurst, , had sup-ported the candidature of a man whowas an employer of the worst Hardie pointed out that it wnsimpossible to advance the cause of la-bor if this sort of thing took ^eech created an uproar. A heat-ed debate falloKved, anid Mr. Bwad- hurst received much applause, when heheld up Mr. Hardie to ridicule. Heasked how long Mr. Hardie had foundthis new code, how^ long had he beenthe apostle of purity of election, howlong had he sacrificed his life to tradeunionism and politics, that he shouldrush
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectlabormovement, bookye
