The National Democratic League was a cross-party political organisation in the United Kingdom , which aimed to unite Liberal Party and former Independent Labour Party (ILP) members in a campaign for basic democratic reforms.
7-698: The League was founded in October 1900 on the initiative of William Thompson, editor of Reynold's News . Concerned by the Conservative Party majority in the 1900 UK general election and the establishment of the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), he called the "Democratic Convention", aiming to bring together liberals and socialists on a basic democratic programme, inspired by Chartism . The League's programme contained seven proposals: universal adult suffrage, automatic electoral registration,
14-824: A short revival in its fortunes in 1902. At this time, the League was particularly strong in London; by 1902, it had 31 branches there, with 34 in the remainder of the country. However, it soon declined everywhere, particularly as the LRC gained strength and became the Labour Party . Thompson lost interest in the organisation, and Frank Hugh O'Donnell took over the presidency, while the Fabian James E. Dobson became Secretary, and John Ward became Chairman. It appears to have dissolved some time after 1911. Reynold%27s News Reynold's News
21-542: The 1950s, it began to make a loss, and was relaunched in 1962 as a tabloid , the Sunday Citizen , but the final issue was published on 18 June 1967. In 1949, Terence Robertson joined the paper as News Editor. Robertson led a colourful private life and was involved in the fatal car crash that killed Vickie Martin, a protégée of Stephen Ward, in 1955. He later wrote several successful books before emigrating to Canada. He apparently committed suicide in 1970 while working on
28-518: The abolition of multiple voting, for the state to cover election expenses, and to pay MPs, the abolition of the House of Lords , and the introduction of a two-round system of voting. Although the programme was limited, it did attract the support of some branches of the ILP and Social Democratic Federation . Their national organisations did not seek to prohibit them from participating, but were strongly critical of
35-465: The limited focus of the League. Tom Mann became the league's first Secretary, serving for three years; he was simultaneously employed as its full-time organiser. He was succeeded by Victor Fisher . Thompson served as the President, while David Lloyd George , Robert Smillie , W. C. Steadman and Richard Bell were among its Vice-Presidents. Although initial interest soon faded, Mann's work led to
42-679: The paper was acquired by the Co-operative Press , linked to the Co-operative Party , and, in 1936, its title was shortened to Reynold's News . After the left-wing journalist H. N. Brailsford wrote a series of articles in Reynold's News critical of the Moscow show trials , the paper received hundreds of letters both supporting Brailsford and criticising him. In 1944, it was retitled again, this time as Reynold's News and Sunday Citizen . During
49-505: Was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom , founded as Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper by George W. M. Reynolds in 1850, who became its first editor. By 1870, the paper was selling more than 350,000 weekly copies. George died in 1879, and was succeeded as editor by his brother, Edward Reynolds . After Edward's death in 1894, the paper was bought by Henry Dalziel and, in 1924, was retitled Reynold's Illustrated News . In 1929,
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