New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-08-19
WORKING FOR WORKERS
A HUNDRED YEARS OF "ORCAN1zED
LABOR" IN GREAT BRITAIN.
THE HISTORY OF TRADE CNIOlISM 3!
Sidney and Beatrice Webb Svo Hh XVI ~o
J<ongrnans, Green & Co.


nous Current literature is burdened with them
ESSAYS prescriptions, arguments. appeals. on
every phase Of the multplex thene and from
every conceivable poin; Of view. Not until this
year however has an accurate and Impartial MS
tory of trade unon.sm appeared. SCch work, II
not perfect at least fairly adequateI Is furnished
In the volume before us: and furns aed, curiousiy
enough. by persons who. at least Until recently
have been reckoned hostile TO tresde upionism
Mr.. and Mrs Webb-the authors ofNthe BOOK are
husband and wife-are Socialists. And 50 rau-
caly different the two things In fprnciple mat
1t used 10 be said Socialism could g. Tin no foo'hoio
in England because the unions weTe too strong
We do not hear that now; for En- gland. with all
its unions either In spite OF or erause OF 'hei"
has become one Of the most Sociaiistic Countries
In the world Indeed. In this age OF incongruous
mixtures when the extreme coll ectiVism OF 'he
Socialists and the extreme indivhualism Oh 'he
Anarchists blend together for q Clmon purpose
It would seem ill-advised to say That more ''ah
a remnant remains Of the traditional enmity be-
tween Socialism and trade unonkon. III was. at
anv rate not as opponents Of trade unionism that
the authors addressed themselves TO this WORK.
nor even as controversialists. They undertook
II neither TO prove nor TO disprore a theory' ou'
rather to discover truth and to record 1t. Ih,s
"a what they have done on the whole impartaly'
and in a lucid and comprehensive manner. They
have written q history Of trade unionism, not OF
trade unions which distinction is to be kept well
IN mind: and a history Of 1t exclusively IN the
British Isles where 1t had its eorigin ana mas
attained its chief Development They give us
scant mention Of many conspicuous labor or
earizations and strikes and otl nr things OF real
interest; and still more scant discussion OF the
labor problems of to-day, which they nave re-
served for a future volume. Butt they relate WIN
skill a story full of contradictory moVemeh's'
shiftings hther and thther weverngs FORWARD
and backward, and the scarcely -artculate clamor
OF the oppressed multitude
Trade unionism is only centafry old; an infant
compared with the age Of human society. LABOR
organizations of one kind or, another are OLD
enough and strikes date back a hundred gener-
t,ons 10 when the Israelites rtbelled against the
Egvn,ian taskmasters who bade them make
hr,cks without straw. But mime OF these, ana
No, oven any of the medieval guilds-despite Dr.
Rrentano's plausible suggest fon-may properly
no reckoned a prototype Of u AIDE unonism. Inc
latter is essentially modern, because IL IS app''
cable only 10 conditions OF i1dustriai lie WHY"
are purely modern Its existence depends "po"
a certain freedom, which has! not been generaHy
entoyed until the present cerfury, ana upon the
division Of society-a division well dehneh ana IN
the main permanent--nto tTo classes. the en-
ployers and the employed. Down TO the midd'e
of the last century there was scarcely any SUE"
condition There were mary small employers,
hiring each only two or three men, and-as many
annrentices. The employer aad himself been first
an apprentice then journevman. then master
and each of his vorkmen had reasonable prospect
Of himself within few years. enjoying the same
advancement There We're also innumeraoie
he'll
sued their industries in their own homes III
such circumstances there WAS reason for FORM
ing a workmen's league in distinction from the
guilds to which both masters and men were at
cached The apprentices and tourneymen hao
their social clubs. but thee membership OF 'hese
was constantly changing. as the apprentices De-
came tourneymen. and the Journeymeh became
masters or employers. There was no CONTINUOUS
association of wage-earpe rs for the purpose Oh
maintaining or Improving the conditions OF their
enn,ovment" as our nthors define trace
union >,
About a hundred yeals ago Industrial condi-
lions underwent change. Men began 10 employ
labor on a larger scale. The small employer anu
the independent laborer went 10 the wall lheie
.rose as DR. Ingram sa'rs a definite separation
between the functions Of the capitalist ana 'he
workman. between thes direction OF Industrial
industrial world became divided into two more
or loss distinct and peri nanent classes. employers
and employees. The vorkingmen soon realized
This They found that promotion from class TO
class had stopped. Wcrkingmen they were. ana
uorkinemen they were likely to remain all their
lives They began TO devise ways and means OF
making their standard of life as high as possipie
and thus trade uni'nism had It's origin
Arst I'm those Industries In which this change
was first effected, and later extending into all
as steam-power and the factory system swept
household industry ort Of being and made more
marked the distinctontand the difference between
capital and labor.
II is OF curious interest to observe that the first
thing undertaken to- the trade unions was 10
revive and re-estabhs the State socialism or
the Middle Ages. Under the new order OF anairs
10Th the proflts and. the power Of the employers
were much increased. and they took advantage
~ the fact to cut down wages, The employees
resisted this. and made appeal to Parliament
for protection The ne had. in earlier times. been
a law nroviding for''the fixing OF wages by local
boards This sill on the statute book but
had fallen into ermire disuse The workmens
unions asked that ~ be revived But Parliament.
with the paradoxiCr,l disregard for precedents
On often shown BY a government whose Const-
tution Is nothing but mass of precedents de-
clined TO interfere. For II to fix wages. limit
the number of apprentices, or In any way 10
rneddle with the laws OF trade. was "whoily IN
admissible in principle, incapable Of being re-
duced to practcei by any means which can
possibIy be devils ed and. II practicable would
he productive of the most fatal consequences"
Thus encouraged. employers cut down wages
still more the whrkmen became desperate. and
in 1912 the first great strike was declared 10000
weavers in Scott and going out In day. The
strtkers might Rave Won by peaceful means.
hut the government. which had refused to in
terfere in behalf OF the employees, quickly inter-
sered in behalf of the employers. The leaders Of
A.. ..zLo xvere ,frrested and sent to TAIL for the