ABSTRACT
The Gladstone Government had refused to concede these claims, and accordingly the Trade Union leaders wanted the workers to vote against Whig-Liberals who were involved in this refusal, while supporting all Liberals who would agree to back the Trade Union demands. Disraeli, determined if he could to get the organized workers on his side, had actually repealed the Criminal Law Amendment Act and replaced it by the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act, which, despite its ominous title, went a long way towards meeting the Trade Union claims. To all intents and purposes the struggle over the Labour Laws had been brought to a triumphant issue. Nothing mattered very much, now that the Labour Laws had been put right, except that the Trade Union leaders should be able to return to the political Nonconformist fold. Under unfair conditions, the Labour Representation League merely withered away.
