The Bee-Hive (journal)
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The Bee-Hive was a trade unionist journal published weekly in the United Kingdom between 1861 and 1878.
The Bee-Hive was established in 1861 by George Potter, with professional journalist George Troup as editor. It advocated strike action and supported the New Model Trade Unions of the 1860s. It was swiftly adopted as the official journal of the London Trades Council (LTC), but by 1862 only had a circulation of 2700, and had lead to Potter accumulating debts of £827. Some members of the LTC complained that the Bee-Hive gave its support too unreservedly to strike action, with Robert Applegarth accusing Potter of being a "manufacturer of strikes". Potter defended the policy by arguing that each strike had been judged as necessary by a trade union, and therefore deserved the full support of the Bee-Hive.
Applegarth lead an investigation into the Bee-Hive's reporting in 1865, and accused Potter of personal dishonesty and maladministration regarding the jounral's coverage of an industrial dispute in North Staffordshire. As a result, the Bee-Hive ceased to be the LTC's official journal and Potter lost his seat on the executive board.
Potter went on to establish the London Working Men's Association (LWMA), with the Bee-Hive as it's official journal. The journal continued to advocate rights for trade unions and supported the more radical members of the Liberal Party. Potter took up editing of the Bee-Hive, but it sold poorly and was only saved from bankruptcy when Samuel Morley (a Liberal MP) and Daniel Platt bought up shares in the newspaper in June 1868.
Despite this, in 1878 the Bee-Hive was declared bankrupt, with debts of over £2000. Potter attempted to continue his business by publishing political pamphlets and biographies but this too ended in failure.
