HOW DEMOCRATIC WAS BRITAIN BY 1910?

HOW DEMOCRATIC WAS BRITAIN BY 1910?

In order for any state to be deemed democratic, certain conditions must be in place. Primarily, universal suffrage must exist for all adults. However, this alone does not create a democracy. Additionally, there must be a choice of political parties at elections and the winning party must represent the voters. The electoral system itself must be free from bribery and corruption. Moreover there should be free and equal access to the political process and parliament must be accountable to the people. Former president of the United States of America Abraham Lincoln had famously defined democracy as : “a government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
Between mid-Victorian and Edwardian times, British society underwent a period of massive social, economic and political reformation. In the early 1800’s Britain was an oligarchy. The political process was controlled entirely be the land-owning elite. Only 4.71% of the population were enfranchised and politics was reserved as exclusive to society’s upper strata.
In order to assess how democratic Britain had become by 1914, we must critically examine the democratic reforms and how they facilitated the features of democracy mentioned above.
Firstly, we must address the theme of universal suffrage. The Industrial Revolution redistributed wealth in Britain and the newly created “middle class” yearned for the vote. This led to the passing of the Great Reform Act being passed in 1832. Hill describes this act as “the the first an greatest reform act.” However, this act only extended the vote to around 200,000 more people. In light of this, Hill could be accused of exaggeration and it could be suggested that the 1832 Reform Act had next to no effect on British politics.
The next reform act came in 1867,where the vote was extended to the upper tier of the working class. This was a large step towards democracy. The working class was becoming more informed with the advent of the newspapers and new railways allowed a much greater speed of communication.
However, the poorer working class were still totally unrepresented in parliament. This changed with the passing of the 1884 representation of the people act. This enfranchised many labourers and men in the countryside. Also, the requirements for the vote were evened out across the nation. However, we must be aware of the fact that even after the 1884 Act, a third of British men were still without the vote and women were completely excluded from politics. This was the final major reform act prior to 1910.
We must also analyse the system of voting to establish how democratic Britain had become by 1910. Throughout the 19th century, voting was carried out in public and this left elections susceptible to bribery and corruption. The 1872 secret ballot act was largely effective in bringing such malpractices to an end. Thompson supports this view stating: “after 1872, voters could use their votes freely.” However, it could also be argued that even with the Secret Ballot Act in place, vast sums of money were still being exchanged as bribes at elections. This was remedied by the 1883 Corrupt and Illegal Practises Act which gave a detailed list of all practises surrounding elections would be deemed illegal. The combination of the 1872 and 1883 acts did stop the manipulation of the political process effectively.
We must also consider whether voters had a real choice of political parties to vote for by 1910. In the early 19th century, when only he upper class had the vote, only the upper class needed representation. This meant there only needed to be two political parties. However, as the electorate increased and more social groups were incorporated into politics, there was a growing need for a larger choice of political parties. This call was answered by the formation of the Labour Party in 1906. Labour sought to represent the newly enfranchised middle class, who were not offered any representation by either of the two existing political parties. The formation of this third political party served to make Britain more democratic in another way; it forced the Tories and the Whigs to become more streamlined and clarify their policies. The Tories became the Conservative party and the Whigs the Liberal Party. However, there still was only three political parties to choose from so it is fair to suggest that voters did not have a full range of choices.
Even by 1910, an MP did not receive a wage and so most middle and working class men simply could not afford to run as an MP. There are two negative connotations of this. Firstly, free and equal access to the political process is not afforded to all citizens. Also, some social groups were not fairly represented in parliament.
As aforementioned, newspapers were becoming more accurate and as Britain become more interconnected by rail, they were becoming more readily available. This led to the average British citizen adopting an interest in the running of their country. This, coupled with the 1870 and 1872 Education Acts led to an increase in class awareness and average intelligence Nationwide. It could be argued that this resulted in Britain becoming more democratic as people became more politically capable.
The combined effect of the above factors certainly made Britain a more democratic society. By 1914, the electoral system had been made fair and free of bribery and corruption. Moreover, there was an increased and more diverse electorate who were better educated and more politically capable. A new party had been established and there was real competition for government and representation for all voters. Massive steps towards true democracy had been taken by 1914.
However, Britain was merely a fledgling democracy in comparison with New Zealand or Germany in 1914. By this date, a third of men and no women were not enfranchised and were thus excluded from politics. This was a fundamental flaw of British politics. Additionally, politics was not open to all citizens as it was not a paid position. This meant that, to an extent, politics remained the realm of the wealthy elite. Also, there were only three political parties established.
There is evidence to suggest that by 1914, while significant moves toward democracy had been achieved, Britain was by no means a true democracy, as had been described by Lincoln.