20 The years of self-confidence
Afte r Palrnersron's deat h in 1865 a much stricter "two party" system deve loped , demanding greater loyalty from its membe rsh ip. T he two parti es. Tory (or Conse rvative as it became officially kn own ) and Liberal, developed greater party organisation and order. There was also a cha nge in th e kind of men who beca me politi cal leaders. T his was a result of the Reform of 1832, afte r which a much larger numbe r of peop le co uld vote . T hese new vo ters chose a different kind of MP. men from the comme rcial rather tha n th e landown ing class. G ladstone, the new Libera l leader . had been a factory owner. He had also sta rted h is polit ical life as a T ory. Even more surprisingly Benjamin Disrae li, the new Conservative leader. was of Jewish origin. In 1860 Jews were for th e first time given eq ual righ ts with ot he r citizens. Disraeli had led the Tory attack on Peel in 1846. and brought down his gove rn ment. At th at tim e Disraeli had strongly supported th e interests of the landed gentry. Twenty years lat er Disrae li h imself changed the outlook of the C on ser vat ive Party , de liberate ly increasing th e party 's support among the midd le class. S ince 188 1 the Co nservat ive Part y has genera lly remain ed the strongest. Much of what we kn ow tod ay as the modern sta te was bu ilt in the 1860s an d 1870s. Between 1867 and 1884 the num ber of vote rs increased from 20 per cent to 60 per cent of men in towns and to 70 per cent in the country, incl uding some of th e working class. O ne immediat e effect was th e rapid growth in party organi sati on , with branc hes in every town, ab le to orga nise things locally. In 18 72 voting was carried out in sec ret for the first time, allowing o rdina ry peopl e to vot e freely and without fear. Th is, and the growt h of the newspaper industry, in particular "popu lar" newspapers for the new half-educated popu lation. strengthe ned th e importance of popu lar opin ion . Democracy grew quickly. A nati onal political pattern appea red. Englan d, particu larly th e south. was more conservat ive, wh ile Sco tland. Ireland. Wales and the north of England appea red more radical. This pattern has gene rally continued since th en . The House of Commons grew in size to over 650 members. and th e House of Lords lost th e powerful
position it had held in th e eighteent h an d early nin eteenth ce nturies. Now it no lon ger formed policy but tried to prevent reform raking place through th e House of Co mmons. Democracy also grew rapid ly outs ide Parliament. In 1844 a "Co-operative Movement" was started by a few C hartists an d trad e un ionists. Its purpose was self-help, thro ugh a network of shops wh ich sold goods at a fair and low price, and wh ich shared all its profits among its members. It was very successful, with 150 C o-operative sto res by 185 1 in th e north of England an d Sco tla nd. By 1889 it had o ver 800.000 members. Co-operat ive self-help was a powerful way in whic h th e working class gain ed self-confidence in spite of its weak posit ion . After 1850 a number of trade un ions grew up. based on part icular kin ds of skilled labour. However . un like man y European worker struggles, the English trade uni on s sought to ach ieve th eir goals through parl iamen tary dem ocracy . In 1868 the first congress of trade un ion s met in Manchester, represen ting 11 8,000 mem bers. T he following year the new T rades Un ion Congress established a parliamentary com mittee with the purpose of ach ieving worker representation in Parliament. This wish to work within Parliament rather tha n o utside it had already brought trade unionists into close co-o peration with radicals and reformi st Liberals. Even th e Conservative Part y tried to attract worker suppo rt . Howeve r, there were limit s to Conse rvative and Liberal co-o perat ion . It was one thing to encourage "friendly" societ ies for th e peaceful benefi t of workers. It was quite anot her to enco urage union campaigns using strike acti on . During the 18 70s wages were lowered in many factor ies and th is led to more strikes than had been seen in Brita in before. T he trade un ions' mixture of worker struggle and desire to work democratically withi n Parl iament led eventually to the foundation of the Labour Part y. Durin g the same period th e machinery of modern government was set up. Durin g th e 1850s a regular civil service was established to carry out the work of gove rnme nt . and "civil servants" were carefully chosen after taking an examinati on. The system 143