An organising committee was established in 1888, chaired jointly by John Lincoln Mahon and Henry Alfred Barker, while Thomas Binning was its treasurer, and other members included Robert Banner and Alexander K. Donald.
While much of its membership was in London, initially it attempted to establish provincial branches, with Tom Maguire and Fred Pickles joining in Bradford.
[2] The party was formally established at the start of 1889, with a platform including Irish Home Rule, the nationalisation of key industries, an eight-hour working day, and Parliamentary reforms similar to those earlier proposed by the Chartists.
[1] This was based an influential document by Mahon, entitled "A Labour Programme", which had been published in 1888 with a foreword by Robert Cunninghame-Graham.
[2] The organisation stood Barker as a candidate in the 1889 London County Council election in Hoxton, but he polled very poorly.