Working-class politics in Sheffield, 1900-1920 : A regional study in the origins and early growth of the Labour Party.

The aim of this thesis is to contribute to an understanding of the nature of working class politics in one local context and to understanding of the main areas of ideological struggle endemic at this time. In this sense, the work will enrich both the field of local political history and the broader area of historical analysis. The study is divided into four sections. The first examines local trade union organisation and practice, across the local trades and industries. It locates specific areas of weakness and strength, estimates the importance of tradition, leadership and nature of work in contributing to a political perspective, and adds to our knowledge of industrial organisation particularly in those industries employing mainly women and in the railway industry. The second section examines the nature and comunication of a dominant ideology and considers its impingement on the development of an organised working class challenge. It examines the activities and comments of a local industrial bourgeoisie in effecting and maintaining a balance of control in the workplace, in Party politics and in the community. This section is complemented by an appendix which lists the names and interests of this group. The organisation of working class politics is, throughout the study, considered according to the different strategies and perspectives of Lib-Labism, Labour-Socialism and Socialist-Syndicalism. The organisational expressions of such perspectives and the nature of their differentiation are examined in the third and fourth sections. First, Party organisation is considered in relation to local trade unionism and the emergence of a dominant form and strategy. Secondly, the local challenge to the principal tenets of a dominant ideology is examined in the assertion of alternative definitions of class, imperialism and patriarchy. A further appendix, attached, shows the parliamentary election results for the period 1894-1918.