ABSTRACT
The Proportional Representation Society (PRS) attracted supporters from all parties, and they had many different reasons for their advocacy of electoral reform. J. K. Hardie was exhibiting one thread in radical constitutionalism: reform would undermine rigid party discipline and produce a more pluralistic Parliament. Supporters had long fought against the counter-argument that this would produce a tangled confusion of ‘faddist’ politics, but this was seen by Hardie as a beneficial effect. Despite Hardie’s optimism, support for Ramsay MacDonald’s emerging position was provided by Graham Wallas, who had been actively involved in the Fabian Society during its early years but had effectively withdrawn from socialist politics by 1895, in favour of an academic career. The PRS revival of 1905-1908 occurred within the context of calls for the placing of the progressive alliance on a more secure footing, and was couched in radical constitutional discourse.
