James Keir Hardie

Published on Wednesday 14 September 2005 16:34

JAMES Keir Hardie came from a background of intense privation, although his sufferings would not be uncommon for working-class persons of his era. Born illegitimate on 15 August 1856, he never attended school and didn’t learn to read until he was 17. He found himself as his family’s breadwinner by age eight, working as a baker’s delivery boy. Turning up late for work one day, he was dismissed despite his late arrival caused by Hardie tending his dying brother.

By 11, Hardie was working in the coal mines of Lanarkshire. His first political actions occurred in his early 20s when he organised a trade union, shortly followed by the first-ever strike in the mines. For this he was blacklisted, but rather than damage Hardie’s future prospects, it helped them. He became a writer and editor of a newspaper called The Miner.

Hardie now began to concentrate his talents on a political career. Although his first election saw him finish in last position, he felt confident enough to have another try. In 1892, he was invited to stand as the Independent Labour Party candidate for West Ham in the East of London. He polled 5,268 votes to his Conservative opponent’s 4,036 and duly took his seat in the House of Commons.

Hardie’s radical stance was obvious on his first day in parliament. Rather than wear the accepted uniform of top hat and tails, he dressed in a tweed suit, red tie and deerstalker hat. He advocated subjects such as women’s rights, free schooling and pensions and Indian self-rule. When he attacked the monarchy, however, he unleashed a barrage of criticism that may well have contributed to his failure in the 1895 election.

Again, Hardie was undeterred, and as leader of the new Labour Party, continued to promote his beliefs and ideas, making numerous public appearances in their support - even if he risked arrest by doing so.

In 1900, Hardie became the first Labour Party MP, when he won the seat for Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. The Labour Party at this time was still subordinate to the Liberals, with whom they formed a pact in the 1906 election (to avoid vote-splitting). The result was a Liberal landslide, but more importantly 29 Labour MPs were also returned.

Never entirely comfortable in the position of party leader, particularly when dealing with internal rivalries, Hardie resigned in 1908, but as expected kept up his life of protest and campaigning. When the First World War broke out in 1914, he stuck to his religious and pacifist principles and took part in protests against what he saw as a capitalist conflict. He attempted to organise an international general strike against the war, but encountered opposition to this even amongst party members. He gave numerous speeches against the war and in continuing support of suffragettes and conscientious objectors.

But by now his health was beginning to fade, and after suffering several strokes, Hardie died on 26 September 1915. Much respected by people of all political views, Hardie’s legacy was the founding of one of the first political parties for the common person, imbued with his own principles of compassion and understanding.