sses and trades now have their representatives in Parliament, but in
the very wide acknowledgment that women without votes cannot get that
attention by members of the House of Commons that is given to male
electors. That the majority of electors have expressed a decided opinion
that the power of the House of Lords should be curtailed, as the power of
the monarchy has been curtailed, and that the decisions of the House of
Commons are only to be corrected by the House of Commons, is evidence that
under our obviously imperfect Parliamentary system the will of the electors
does get registered on the Statute Book.

EDUCATION TO DEMOCRACY

Apart from the direct political education to democracy, it is well to note
the other agencies that have been at work, preparing men and women for the
responsible task of national self-government.

In the Middle Ages the religious guilds and the trade guilds, managed by
their own members, gave men and women a training in democratic government.
The parish, too, was a commune, and its affairs and finances were
administered by duly elected officers.[2]

But the guilds, with their numerous almshouses and hospitals, were all
suppressed early in Edward VI.'s reign, and their funds confiscated. As for
the parish, it was shorn of all its property, save the parish church, in
the same reign, and its old self-governing life dwindled away to the
election of churchwardens.

It was not till the beginning of the nineteenth century that the working
classes, by the formation of trade unions, once more took up the task of
education in self-government. From that time onward, through trade unions,
co-operative societies, and friendly societies, with their annual
conferences and congresses, a steady training in democracy has been
achieved; and our Labour Party of to-day, with its Members of Parliament,
its members of county and district councils, and its Justices of the Peace,
would hardly have been possible but for this training. Other agencies may
be mentioned. The temperance movement, the organisation of working-men's
clubs, and the local preaching of the Nonconformist Churches--particularly
the Primitive Methodist denomination--have all helped to educate workmen in
the conduct of affairs, and to create that sense of personal responsibility
which is the only guarantee of an honest democracy.

* * * * *

CHAPTER I

THE EARLY STRUGGLES AGAINST THE ABSOLUTISM OF THE CROWN