ABSTRACT
The society derived its name from the Roman general Fabius who was supposed to have won his battles by avoiding direct, full-scale attack but by wearing down the enemy by limited but constant pressure. Keir Hardie’s conference was attended by 120 delegates, representing the labour clubs, the Scottish Labour Party, the Social Democratic Federation, the Fabian Society, and a limited number of trade unions. In 1906 the Labour Representation Committee took the more appropriate name of the Labour Party, which was later to form two minority governments in 1924 and 1929, and majority governments after World War II, especially after the massive landslide electoral victory in 1945. The last point to be considered in connection with the founding of the Labour Party is the question of how far it was an inevitable consequence of the growth of class-consciousness and the extension of the franchise in 1867 and 1884.
