British Labour Party Papers, 1906-1969

The Labour Party was founded in 1900 to represent the interests of trade unions and working-class voters. In political terms, it has often been characterised as a “broad church”, encompassing a range of left and centre-left viewpoints.

This collection contains minutes and related records compiled by the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) during the period 1906-1969. These records cover the party’s formative years, from its creation and early successes through the governments of Ramsay MacDonald and the wartime coalition to the Atlee administration and Harold Wilson’s first premiership.

The records provide an insight into the PLP’s often divided outlook on several important domestic and international political issues, including: the campaign for women’s suffrage; the Great Depression; the first and second world wars; the Beveridge Report and the emergence of the post-war welfare state; Britain’s nuclear weapons programme; imperialism and decolonisation; and Britain’s potential membership of the European Economic Community (EEC).

There is only one hope for mankind - and that is democratic socialism. There is only one party in Great Britain which can do it - and that is the Labour Party.

Aneurin "Nye" Bevan, Minister for Health, 1945-1951

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Insights

The collection was curated in association with the Manchester-based Labour History Archive & Study Centre. The centre holds the complete records of the national Labour Party and Communist Party of Great Britain, archives of working-class organisations, personal papers of radical politicians, writers and activists, and over 95,000 photographs relating to the growth of democracy in Britain.

The collection is largely comprised of minutes from PLP Meetings, though it does include some supplementary materials relating to annual party conferences.

The PLP is the collective body of Labour Members of Parliament.

Most of the material is in typescript, but some of the earlier minutes are in manuscript.

The minutes shed light on a number of issues that caused disagreement within the PLP, including nuclear disarmament, Britain’s entry into the EEC, and Clause IV.

The minutes are organised chronologically into volumes of roughly equal size.