CLEARING THE GROUND 55
foundation, taking away the support of the mass
of workers without which it could not survive,
they would contemptuously have smiled.
Neither hatred nor scorn affected Hardie. He
sought nothing either from those who detested
or from those who despised him. He could
not be intimidated nor bought. In speech
and writing he beat his policy into the heads of
those who would read or listen. Because the
" Lib-Labs" put their Liberalism first, they
must be replaced by M.P.s who would put
Labour first. Because the Liberals had lost their
enthusiasm for social improvement, the workers
must have their own Party.
He could, he admitted, remember the time
when the Liberal rank and file was tinged with
the ardour for far-reaching changes.
cc The first Radical movement was inspired
by the ideal of political equality, and it went
to pieces when the Whigs compromised with
the Leaders of Radicalism and with their own
principles by passing the Reform Act of 1832.
Again we find •it flaring out in the Chartist
movement, until once more the leaders sold
the pass, and Chartism sank in a whirlwind
of bitter curses and personal wranglings. The
rails of Hyde Park had to go down before the
wrath of an angry people ere the Commons
would pass the Boroughs Enfranchisement Act,
and I well remember 1884, when we all
marched and cheered to the watchword of