Mr. Snowden made himself extremely unpopular during the World War owing to his pacifist opinions, and was one of the Socialist members of Parliament who lost their seats at the general election of 1918.
Several attempts had been made by individuals belonging to the Labour party to enter the New South Wales parliament, but it was not until 1891 that the occurrence of a general election gave the party the looked-for opportunity for concerted action.
This was called the " solidarity pledge," and, united under its sanction, what was left of the Labour party contested the general election of 1894.
The first general election under the Left (November 1876) had yielded the cabinet the overwhelming majority of 421 Ministerialists against 87 Conservatives, but the very size of the majority rendered it unmanageable.
The general election of 1890 gave the cabinet an almost unwieldy majority, comprising four-fifths of the Chamber.
