Labour Representation Committee - Definition and Overview

The Labour Representation Committee (LRC) was formed on February 27, 1900, at a conference at which representatives of the main socialist groupings in the United Kingdom were present. The LRC is the direct predecessor of the modern British Labour Party.

Organisations present at this conference were the Independent Labour Party (ILP), the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and the Fabian Society, as well as various trade union leaders. After a debate the 129 delegates decided to pass Keir Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour."

To make this possible the Conference established the LRC. This committee included two members from the ILP, two from the SDF, one Fabian, and seven trade unionists. Keir Hardie was chosen to head up the LRC and Ramsay MacDonald was chosen as its secretary.

The LRC put up fifteen candidates in the 1900 General Election and between them they won 62,698 votes. Two of the candidates, Keir Hardie and Richard Bell won seats in the House of Commons. They performed even better in the 1906 election with twenty nine successful candidates. Later that year the LRC decided to formally change its name to the Labour Party.