SECTION IV
1. A Strike of the Journeymen Feltmakers, 1696-99—2. A Petition of Master Tailors against Combination among the Journeymen, 1721—3. A Dispute in the Northumberland and Durham Coal Industry, 1765—4. Sickness and Unemployment Benefit Clubs among the Woolcombers, 1794—5. Combination Act, 1799—6. Combination Act, 1800—7. The Scottish Weavers' Strike, 1812—8. The Repeal of the Combination Acts, 1824—9. A Prosecution of Strikers under the Common Law of Conspiracy, 1810—10. An Act Revising the Law affecting Combinations, 1825—11. The Conviction of the Dorchester Labourers, 1834—12. An Address of the Working Men's Association to Queen Victoria, 1837—13. A Chartist Manifesto on the Sacred Month, 1839—14. The Rochdale Pioneers, 1844.
The history of modern Trade Unions is separated from that of earlier combinations by the industrial changes of the eighteenth century and by the alterations in the law affecting them. Illustrations of combinations are given from the seventeenth century (No. 1), the early middle and later eighteenth century (Nos. 2, 3 and 4) and the early nineteenth century (Nos. 7 and 11). The most important changes in the law were made towards the close of the period (Nos. 5, 6, 8, 10).
The strike of the Journeymen Feltmakers (No. 1) shows a well-organised body of London craftsmen at the end of the seventeenth century fighting the chartered Company on a wages question in a time of rising prices. The struggle was long, and ended, in 1699, in arbitration by Members of Parliament. The Journeymen Tailors' combination against which the Master Tailors appealed to Parliament in 1721 (No. 2) was also a London organisation, and claimed to control the hours of labour as well as wages. The woolcombers (No. 4) were early famous for combined action, and their system was remarkable for the way in which it combined a fighting trade policy with Friendly Benefit. The declaration of the miners in the northern coalfield (No. 3) refers to one of the recurring struggles over the yearly Bindings. The result of the strike is unknown.
The Master Tailors and the employers in some other trades were successful in procuring special Acts of Parliament forbidding combinations (No. 2, note). At the end of the eighteenth century the two general Combination Acts made most kinds of trade union action specifically illegal (No. 5 and No. 6). Combination still survived, but their leaders were always open to attack in emergencies like that of the Scotch weavers' strike (No. 7). Their special liability under the Act of 1800 was removed in 1824, and, though an outburst of strikes led to a revision of the law, the skilled assistance of Francis Place and Hume saved the Trade Unions from being thrust back into their former position (Nos. 8 and 10). But organised striking could also be brought within the common law of conspiracy. Strikers had been proceeded against in this way before (No. 9); and this liability remained after 1825, as well as liability under an Act against oaths of secrecy (No. 11). The case of the Dorchester agricultural labourers (No. 11) also serves to illustrate the great, though short-lived enthusiasm of the Trade Union movement in the 'thirties. Its failure was followed by the rise of Chartism. The immediate objects of the Chartists were political, but their real grievances and ideals were economic, as their early manifestos plainly show (No. 12); and their leaders wavered between political methods and the direct action of the general strike (No. 13). The Rochdale Pioneers co-operative society (No. 14) was founded in the middle of this period of Trade Union and Chartist agitation, and illustrates a third parallel development of working-men's combinations under the stress of the Industrial Revolution.
AUTHORITIES
Modern books: The standard history is S. and B. Webb, History of Trade Unionism: for the legal position, Dicey, Law and Opinion in England; Schloesser and Clark, Legal Position of Trade Unions; for the seventeenth century, Unwin, Industrial Organization. Miners' combinations are described in Fynes, The Miners of Northumberland and Durham, Tailors' Combinations in Galton, The Tailoring Trade (Select Documents, Introduction). Wallas' Life of Francis Place gives an account of the repeal of the Combination Acts, Podmore, Life of Owen, describes the forward movement among trade unions. For early co-operative history see Holyoake, The Rochdale Pioneers. The most complete accounts of the Chartists are in Dolléans' Chartisme, and Beer, Geschichte des Socialismus in England, Part II, of which an English translation is to appear shortly.
Bibliographies in S. and B. Webb, op. cit. and Industrial Democracy; Unwin, op. cit., Galton, op. cit., Cunningham op. cit., and Fay, Co-operation at Home and Abroad.
Contemporary.—1. Documentary authorities: Records of a seventeenth century strike are printed in Unwin, Industrial Organisation, App. A. Petitions by weavers, feltmakers, etc., are to be found in the House of Commons Journals, Vols. 27, 36 and passim. Galton, op. cit., covers the eighteenth century. For collections of price lists, e.g., tailors, printers, brushmakers, bookbinders, basketmakers, see Webb., op. cit. bibliography; also for early rules and minutes of the Unions of keelmen, cotton spinners, miners, etc. Official material for the history of the Combination Acts and their repeal is in the Report from Committee on Artizans and Machinery, 1824 (V), and on Combination Acts, 1825 (IV). There was a Report on Friendly Societies in 1825 (X).