Introduction

The words of John Trevor, founder and prophet of the Labour Church, addressed to the Second International’s London Congress of 1896 open the introductory chapter, as they offered to global Socialism a vision of the Labour movement as a religious phenomenon. The chapter gives a brief history of the Labour Church from the founding service in October 1891, through the spread of its congregations across Britain, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, until the demise of the Labour Church Union in Britain by 1914. This is followed by an overview of the Labour Church’s historiography. The central argument of the book is that the key to understanding the Labour Church movement is its core message, defined by the author as Theological Socialism and epitomised by the movement’s motto, ‘God is in the Labour Movement’. The introductory chapter concludes with synopses of the book’s chapters.