took an active part in promoting the South Wales Miners' Federation cause. He represented – with another prominent early leader, Alfred Onions – the Tredegar District of the South Wales Miners' Federation. At the point of his election as Miners' Agent in Maesteg in 1905 Hartshorn was regarded as one of the upcoming men of the Federation. He had shown that he had a good deal of perseverance, a keen insight into mining and political matters, and a determination to do what he considered to be right however heavy the odds against him. He was recommended for the post by the principal leaders of the South Wales Miners' Federation at the time, including William Abraham(Mabon), William Brace and James Winstone, all of them speaking of his "unblemished moral character, his keenness, tact and ability, his knowledge of economic problems, and his good executive abilities". He was going to require all of those characteristics and skills in the years to come. By 1912 he was being described, in the Pall Mall Gazette, as "the most prominent and capable of the Socialist leaders in the South Wales Coalfield". Early political career Hartshorn sought selection as a Labour candidate in the General Election of January 1910 in the Mid-Glamorganshire constituency. On this occasion he failed to gain the support of the South Wales Miners' Federation and had to stand down. He stood again as a Labour candidate in the April 1910 by-election, and yet again in the December General Election of the same year. On both these occasions he was backed by the South Wales Miners' Federation, but he was not successful. Coal disputes During the National Coal Strike of 1912 there are references to Hartshorn in the press as a militant, an extremist, a socialist, as pugnacious, uncompromising and out for trouble . That said, he was not one of the group of young socialists from the Rhondda who published the Syndicalist manifesto, 'The Miners Next Step', with its sustained critique of the style of union leadership shown by the likes of William Abraham. Nor was he an advocate of conciliation and compromise, of co-operation with the coal-owners at any cost. He believed that the 'strike weapon' could and should be used. The 1912 strike of almost 1 million miners was unprecedented. The Government, fearing widespread trouble on a much larger scale than the Tonypandy Riots of 1911, decided to intervene in