A History of British Trade Unionism

364 Pages·1992·35.428 MB·English

by  Henry Pelling (auth.)

A HISTORY OF
BRITISH TRADE UNIONISM
By the same author
THE ORIGINS OF THE LABOUR PARTY
THE CHALLENGE OF SOCIALISM
AMERICA AND THE BRITISH LEFT
LABOUR AND POLITICS, 19~1906
(with Frank Bealey)
THE BRITISH COMMUNIST PARTY
MODERN BRITAIN, 1885-1955
AMERICAN LABOR
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LABOUR PARTY
SOCIAL GEOGRAPHY OF BRITISH ELECTIONS,
1885-1910
POPULAR POLITICS AND SOCIETY
IN LATE VICTORIAN BRITAIN
BRITAIN AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR
WINSTON CHURCHILL
THE LABOUR GOVERNMENTS, 1945-51
BRITAIN AND THE MARSHALL PLAN
A HISTORY
OF BRITISH TRADE
UNIONISM
BY
HENRY PELLING
FIFTH EDITION
palgrave
macmillan
© Henry Pelting 1963, 1972, 1976, 1987, 1992
*
Soflcover reprint of the hardcover 5th edition 1992 978-0-333-57766-0
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work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First edition 1963
Reprinted 1996
Second edition 1972
Reprinted 1975
Third edition 1976
Reprinted 1979, 1984
Fourth edition 1987
Fifth edition 1992
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ISBN 978-1-349-12970-6 ISBN 978-1-349-12968-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12968-3
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Transferred to digital printing 2002
PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
For this edition, as for the second, third and fourth editions, I
have extended the narrative, revised the bibliography, and
altered the text in the light of fresh research.
ST JOHN'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE H.M.P.
CONTENTS
PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION V
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION ix
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Xl
INTRODUCTION Xlll
PART ONE
THE EMERGENCE OF TRADE UNIONISM
I THE SETT!NG 3
II THE ORIGINS, TO 1825 7
III HIGH HOPES AND SMALL BEGINNINGS, 1825-60 24-
IV THE FORMATION OF A PRESSURE GROUP, 1860-80 52
PART TWO
THE CONSOLIDATION OF LABOUR
V THE SETTING 85
VI NEW UNIONISM AND NEW POLITICS, 1880-1900 89
VII FROM TAFF V ALE TO TRIPLE ALLIANCE, 1900-14 121
VIII WAR AND THE GENERAL STRIKE, 1914-26 149
PART THREE
PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL INTEGRATION
185
IX THE SETTING
X SLUMP AND RECOVERY, 1926-39 188
XI POWER WITH RESPONSIBILITY, 1939-51 214-
XII ON THE PLATEAU, 1951-62 239
XIII THE STRUGGLE AGAINST STATE INTERVENTION,
263
1962-70
XIV THE INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT AND THE
SOCIAL CONTRACT, 1970-9 283
XV ON THE DEFENSIVE: 1980-91 301
319
CONCLUSION
STATISTICAL TABLE 323
328
FURTHER READING
341
INDEX
PREFACE TO THE ,FIRST EDITION
I am very grateful to Mr. Frank Bealey and to Professor B. C.
Roberts for their kindness in reading the entire typescript of
this book and making suggestions for its improvement. Mr.
K. W. Wedderburn has been good enougl"to put me right on
a number of legal points. Two of my colleagues at Queen's,
Mr. N .. H. Dimsdale and Mr. P. R. Thompson, have also
assisted me by reading the proofs and pointing out inac
curacies both large and smalL I should not wish to attribute
to any of these friends, howev.er, the responsibility for the
errors that may remain.
Perhaps I may mention here my sense of obligation to
all those who have helped me involuntarily - namely, the
authors of all the works mentioned in the lists of Further
Reading. If the present volume has any advantages over
earlier studies of British trade-union history, they must
largely derive from the researches of these authors, which I
have not hesitated to make use of without specific acknow
ledgement. Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis.
H. M. P.
THE QUEEN'S COLLEGE,
OXFORD
ix
ILLUSTRATIONS ....
, ,.,.
I. An Early Membership Card, 1805 20
2. (above) The Tramping Artisan, 1820 28
(below) A Labour Note, 1833
3· A Mid-Victorian Union Emblem 44
4· (above) The Nine Hours Strike, 1871 77
(below) The London Dock Strike, 188g
5· (above) Recruiting Under Difficulties, 1913 140
(below) A Strike Meeting, 1914
6. (abo"e) The T.U.C. General Council, February 1926 173
(below) The General Strike, May 1926
Banner of a Miners' Lodge 228
7·
8. Congress House 260
Acknowledgemmts. I am very grateful to the Trades Union Con
gress for supplying photographs for illustrations Nos. 2 (below), 4
(abo",) and 8, and to the National Coal Board for NO.7. By
kind permission of the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers
and Coppersmiths, No.1 is taken from A. T. Kidd, History of
,Iu Tin Plate and Coppersmiths Societies (1945). Nos. 3, 4 (below),
Radw
5 (above) and 6 (above) are from the Times Hulton Pie,""
Library.
Xl
INTRODUCTION
Now A DAY s when one in every three or four adults is a
member of a trade union, and when all of us are likely to
be affected by the decisions of its leaders, there is no need
to emphasise the importance of the study of trade unionism.
But why should we examine its past, when what we are
really concerned with is its present and future?
For better or for worse, the structure of present-day
British trade unionism can be understood only in terms of
its historical development. An acute foreign observer de
scribed it at the end of the Second World War as 'an ancient
city full of architecture of different periods and styles'.
This is no less true today: it is a characteristic due in part
to the early development of British industry, in part to the
absence from our national history in the last two centuries
of any social upheavals such as have been caused elsewhere
by revolution or military conquest.
But there are other reasons, too, to study British trade
union history. It is concerned with the aspirations and the
fears of ordinary people, with their endeavours and their
struggles, with their modest successes and their setbacks. In
following its slow and often painful progress, we may
obtain some understanding of human problems in genera',
and in particular of those likely to exist in an emerging
industrial society. Of course, no other country has developed
or will develop quite as Britain has done: but as the greatest
of the classical historians pointed out, so long as human
nature remains as it is, similar situations will recur, and we
can learn from history in the same way as from personal
experience.
XllI