What were the origins of the Labour Party?

Origins of the Labour Party

Demands for political representation of working people were first made by the chartist movement in the 1830s. The nineteenth century saw a wave of movements for political change bringing power to the workers and social and economic equality. This was labelled socialism and its most influential theorist was Karl Marx.

> Karl Marx was a German philosopher and radical who believed that aristocrats had been overthrown by middle class capitalists who would eventually be overturned by the Proletariat. The proletariat would begin a revolution and after a period of dictatorship by the workers an ideal society would emerge based on the principle "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need"

The American socialist Henry George's book Progress and Poverty (1879) was a bestseller in Britain and the wealthy Henry Hyndman established the Social Democratic Federation in 1884. This was a collection of discussion groups and political clubs including some influential figures such as Eleanor Marx. Interest was mainly among the middle classes and…