ABSTRACT
The history of the Labour press in Britain is a history of struggle, with much failure and little success. Judged by the criteria of conventional publishing, there is no doubt that the British labour movement has never succeeded in developing a viable press. The Labour Party lacked, in its earliest phase, the structural coherence of conventional political parties, even of parties such as the Independent Labour Partyor the SDF. Similarly, its press was less homogeneous than its counterparts in the other socialist and labour groups. The establishment of the Labour Representation Committee in theory offered new prospects for the Labour press; a potentially greater readership, greater resources and a more widely dispersed and effective organisational support. In London the trades councils, which played a key role in founding the London Labour Party. By August 1911 a special committee of the Labour Party was well advanced in its discussions and plans.
