THE HISTORY OF TRADE UNIONISM

Demy 8vo; Tenth Thousand; New Edition, with New Introductory

Chapter; lvii and 558 pp. (1911).

Price 7s. 6d. net.

This work describes, not only the growth and development of the Trade Union Movement in the United Kingdom from 1700 down to the end of the nineteenth century, but also the structure and working of the present Trade Union organisation in the United Kingdom. Founded almost entirely on material hitherto unpublished, it is not a mere chronicle of Trade Union organisation or record of strikes, but gives, in effect, the political history of the English working class during the last one hundred and fifty years. The opening chapter describes the handicraftsman in the toils of the industrial revolution, striving vainly to retain the mediæval regulation of his Standard of Life. In subsequent chapters the Place Manuscripts and the archives of the Priory Council and the Home Office enable the authors to picture the struggles of the early Trade Unionists against the Combination Laws, and the remarkable Parliamentary manipulation which led to their repeal. The private records of the various Societies, together with contemporary pamphlets and working-class newspapers, furnish a graphic account of the hitherto undescribed outburst of "New Unionism" of 1830-34, with its revolutionary aims and subsequent Chartist entanglements. In the course of the narrative we see the intervention in Trade Union history of Francis Place, Joseph Hume, J. R. M'Culloch, Nassau Senior, William the Fourth, Lord Melbourne, Robert Owen, Fergus O'Connor, Thomas Slingsby Duncombe, John Bright, the Christian Socialists, the Positivists, and many living politicians. The hidden influence of Trade Unionism on English politics is traced from point to point, new light being incidentally thrown upon the defeat of Mr. Gladstone's Government in 1874. A detailed analysis is given of the economic and political causes which have, since 1880, tended to divorce the Trade Union Movement from its alliance with "official Liberalism." A new introductory chapter brings the story down to the last few years. The final chapter describes the Trade Union world of to-day in all its varied features, including a realistic sketch of actual Trade Union life by a Trade Union Secretary, and a classified census founded on the authors' investigations into a thousand separate Unions in all parts of the country. A coloured map represents the percentage which the Trade Unionists bear to the population of each county. A bibliography of Trade Union literature is appended (which, together with that given in Industrial Democracy, affords a unique index of almost every available source of information).

CONTENTS

		Introduction To the New Edition.
		Preface
I.		The Origins of Trade Unionism.
II.		The Struggle for Existence (1799-1825).
III.		The Revolutionary Period (1829-1842).
IV.		The New Spirit and the New Model (1843-1860).
V.		The Junta and Their Allies (1860-1875).
V1.		The Old Unionism and the New (1875-1889).
V1I.		The Old Unionism and the New (1875-1889).
VIII.		The Trade Union World.

APPENDIX

On the Assumed Connection between the Trade Unions and the Gilds in

Dublin—sliding Scales—The Summons to the First Trade Union Congress—Distribution of Trade Unionists in the United Kingdom—The Progress in Membership of particular Trade Unions—List of Publications on Trade Unions and Combinations of Workmen.

"A masterly piece of work."—Times.

"To the politician ... an invaluable guide."—Observer.

"An admirably lucid presentation of a great mass of complicated facts. Its very footnotes display a wealth of material such as would have amply sufficed to turn each note into an article of considerable length. In the learning they exhibit, and the concise and decisive way in which they settle important subsidiary questions and side-issues, they remind us of the notes in such monuments of German industry and erudition as Zeller's Griechische Philosophie.... The result is a full, clear, and condensed history such as can have few parallels.... We may fairly repeat that the book is a masterpiece of lucidity of knowledge. Every page is of value, and nearly every sentence contains a fact."—Speaker.

"Readable every word of it. There is plenty of excitement and plenty of romance in the book."—Queen.

"As fascinating reading as a well-written novel."—Cotton Factory Times.

"Infinitely painstaking, comprehensive, clear and acute, the first correct and scholarly history of Trade Unionism in England.... Marked by immense research.... The book must find a permanent place upon the shelf of every student of Economics.... Undeniably marked by the qualities of true history—fulness, accuracy, and clear connection in the presentation of facts."—Newcastle Chronicle.

"It would not be easy to overestimate the value and importance of their admirable and masterly work ... not likely to be superseded for some time to come."—Economic Review.

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.

LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

WORKS BY SIDNEY AND BEATRICE WEBB