The
Labour Elector was founded by Henry
Hyde Champion, Tom Mann and John
Burns in 1888. The three men had previously been members of the
Social Democratic Federation and had worked
for the party journal Justice. The
paper campaigned for the eight-hour day, denounced bad employers and
criticised trade union Liberal MPs in the
House of Commons.
Henry Hyde Champion was appointed editor
of the Labour Elector. As well as writing about industrial
disputes Champion also helped to organize them, and in 1888 joined
with Annie Besant and her socialist journal,
The Link, to help the Matchgirls
Union defeat the Bryant & May company. The following year
Champion emerged with Ben Tillett, Tom
Mann and John Burns as one of the leaders
of the London Dock Strike.
James Keir Hardie, who had established
his own newspaper, The miner, became the Scottish correspondent of
the Labour Elector in 1889. The Labour Elector argued
strongly for a new working-class party with strong links to the trade
union movement. The newspaper was very enthusiastic about the formation
of the Independent Labour Party. It also took
a great deal of the credit for the party's existence. In the Labour
Elector published on 21st January 1893, the Henry
Hyde Champion wrote that: "The first Conference of the Independent
Labour Party has been a great and unqualified success. These results
are due, principally and originally, to our work."
In May 1893 the Labour Elector became a monthly, rather than
a weekly newspaper. The following month Henry
Hyde Champion added the sub-heading: 'The Organ of the Independent
Labour Party'. However, trade unionists in the ILP were suspicious
of Champion. At a conference in Manchester
in February 1894, references were made to Champion's involvement with
the Conservative Party in the 1884
General Election and delegates suggested that he was not to be
trusted. Champion was so upset by these comments he stopped publishing
the Labour Elector and emigrated to Australia.
The Labour Elector (1st November, 1888)
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