Catalogue Number
NMLH.1990.71.108
Object Name
Postcard
Title
'J. Keir Hardie. No 12. Reproduced for the Newcastle Socialist Society.'
People
Keir Hardie, Labour Party, Independent Labour Party, Newcastle Socialist Society
Description
A postcard featuring a photograph of Keir Hardie, the founder of the Labour Party, alongside a long quote of his about the importance of the labour movement to the working classes. Hardie is a bearded man with thick mid length hair, wearing a suit and tie, looking to the left of the camera.
Keir Hardie (15 August 1856-26 September 1915) sat as MP for West Ham South between 1892-1895, and as MP for Merthyr Tydfil in Wales from 1900 until his death. Hardie was the co-founder of the Scottish Labour Party (1888), the Independent Labour Party (1893), and the Labour Representation Committee (1900) which later became the Labour Party. He founded working class focused political parties to address the needs of workers he felt were neglected by upper class politicians.
Hardie began his working life as a child coal miner, later becoming leader of a miners union. He was the first parliamentary leader of the Labour Party from 1906-1908, and resigned the leadership to campaign on issues like women's suffrage, self-rule in colonised India, and opposing British involvement in World War I. Hardie was calling for a pacifist general strike opposing the War shortly before his death in 1915.
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