Ebook The Socialist Movement in England

It is the purpose of this book to make clear what the Labour-Socialist Party is, and to suggest its probable influence on the near, as well as the more distant, future. The successes of the party have caused widespread alarm, especially among Conservatives, who do not appear to know whether it is Socialist or not. Socialism is certainly the conscious aim of the majority of its leaders, and probably of most of the rank and file; and the party, at two Conferences, has already asserted that Socialism is its ultimate object. But there is no desire to compel every member to accept Socialism; it is sufficient if the affiliated Unions are in favour of acting in the interests of Labour, independently of either of the other parties. Hence such apparently contradictory votes as those at the Hull Conference, where the delegates voted one day against imposing Socialism as a test of loyalty, and the next in favour of Socialism in the abstract. I hope I have made clear how far Socialism and Labourism are one.

The appearance of the new party was perfectly natural, nay, inevitable, sooner or later.