1922 Encyclopædia Britannica/Trade Unions

TRADE UNIONS (see ).—The history of Trade Unionism in the United Kingdom and in the United States, during 1911-21, is dealt with in detail, in separate sections, below; and in the various articles under country headings information regarding foreign countries will be found. The industrial unrest of the years immediately preceding the World War was not by any means confined to Great Britain, and in the chief industrial countries notable developments took place in the growth of trade unionism. Trade unions in such countries as France, Germany, Belgium and Austria, where the movement was of comparatively early growth, received large accessions of membership, and trade unions arose in other countries where any form of labour association had been hitherto unknown. Even before the war, however, there were certain notable exceptions. In Russia and Japan, for example, every form of trade union was illegal, and persons participating in trade union organizations did so at the risk of death or imprisonment. Trade unions, therefore, in those countries, either were secret associations working underground, or masqueraded under the guise of friendly societies or other bodies of a similar character. The war had many diverse effects on the various trade union movements. In the Central European countries the privations of the last two years of the war were reflected in a great falling-off in trade union membership. In Germany this was more than compensated for by the reliance of the Republican governments which followed the Armistice upon the help of the trade unions. This brought to the trade unions a great number of new members, with the result that in 1920 the German trade union movement was actually the largest in the world. In Hungary, on the other hand, the &ldquo;White&rdquo; government of the regent Horthy, which succeeded the short-lived Soviet republic of 1919, put down Trade Unionism with the utmost severity, some 70% of the leaders being executed. In the new States created by the Treaty of Versailles, trade unionism was in 1921 generally weak, owing to the existence of strong nationalist movements which absorbed the energies of the population; but in some, such as Czechoslovakia, having a large industrial element, there was a trade union movement of some size. In Russia, on the other hand, the trade unions were an integral part of the Soviet Government, and hence the inducement to the average workman to become a trade unionist was greater than in any other country.

International Trade Union Associations.—The chief international trade union body is the International Federation of Trade Unions, to which most of the chief national trade union bodies are affiliated. Its headquarters are in Amsterdam, and in 1921 it had a membership of just under 24 millions. There was an International Federation of Trade Unions in existence before the World War, to which 19 countries were affiliated, with a membership of about seven and a half millions. The structure of this Federation was extremely loose; its activities included the issue of statistics and reports, the passing of resolutions on social legislation, the promotion of unity within the national movements, and the arrangement of international appeals for funds; but as a whole it was of little importance. For instance, the British Trade Union Congress was not affiliated, Great Britain's representative on the International being the General Federation of Trade Unions. Its centre was at Berlin. During the war this Federation fell to pieces, and a new one, the present Federation was founded in 1919. Twenty-four countries were affiliated in 1921, the most important exception being the American Federation of Labor.

The structure of the International Federation of Trade Unions remains very loose. It endeavours to promote the interests of the affiliated bodies and of trade unionism in countries not affiliated, to prevent international blacklegging, to provide funds for purposes laid down in the rules and to promote combined action on questions of trade union interest. In 1920 the Federation attempted, in pursuit of the last object, to carry out a blockade of the White Government in Hungary by international action, but the blockade was unsuccessful. The Federation makes no attempt to interfere with the policy or organization of its affiliated membership. In contrast, the International Council

of Trade and Industrial Unions (the &ldquo;Red&rdquo; Trade Union International) was found to act, in its own words, as a &ldquo;militant international committee for the reorganization of the trade union movement.&rdquo; Its headquarters in 1921 were at Moscow and it was dominated by the ideals and influence of the Russian Communist party. It would only accept as members trade unions or minorities of trade unions which it recognized as revolutionary bodies. Besides these two general groupings, there were in 1921 a number of international federations of workers in different trades, of ever varying membership and importance. A list of these, with their membership, where known, and headquarters, is given in the table on page 744.

A table is also given showing comprehensively the membership of trade unions in different countries after the war. This table does not take into account some minor associations and trade unions which are not for various reasons affiliated to any of the important central bodies. Nor does it include overlapping membership, e.g. in Great Britain the General Federation of Trade Unions, whose members are also affiliated to the Trades Union Congress. In such countries as Brazil, Armenia, Lithuania, Turkey, Ukraine, China, the state of organization is not sufficient to include them. In some countries which have been included the figures of membership given are approximate only. This is naturally the case where trade unionism is subject to severe repression, or where a particular organization, such as the Industrial Workers of the World in the United States, has come under the ban of the executive.

Membership of Trade Unions in Different Countries after the War.

Membership of Trade Unions (Continued).

International Trade Union Federations and Estimated Membership, 1919-1920

The history of British trade unionism in 1911-21 was one of almost continuous and unparalleled expansion. Not only did the percentage of trade unionists in all trades materially increase, and the trades and industries in which trade unionism was previously almost unknown reach a comparatively well-organized condition, but the status of trade unions enormously increased and their programmes and policy were canvassed in quarters where before 1910 they met with no attention.

In numbers alone the growth is sufficiently remarkable. At the end of 1910 the Board of Trade reckoned the total number of trade unionists as 2,435,704; at the end of 1919 the official figure was 8,023,761. At the annual Trades Union Congress of 1910 the number of trade unionists represented was 1,639,853; in 1921, it was 6,389,123. This increase was not, of course, evenly distributed between the several industries, though all received a certain share. It was most remarkable on the railways and in agriculture, among employees of the State, such as postal workers and civil servants, among semi-skilled and unskilled workers and women, in several minor industries, particularly those affected by the Trade Boards Acts, and in the later years among professionals and &ldquo;salary-earners.&rdquo; Draughtsmen, foremen, architects, professional engineers, actors, law clerks and commercial travellers are only a few of the classes in which trade unionism found a new foothold, while in professions such as teaching and journalism it gained a great deal of ground.

The causes of this great increase are many, some operating generally and some in particular cases only. Undoubtedly a very potent factor in all cases was good trade. Trade unions have always, throughout their history, tended to flourish in times of good trade and to decline in trade depressions, when unemployment makes the weekly contribution a serious drain on their members' pockets, and unemployed benefit uses up the central funds. The years from 1910 to 1914 were years of comparatively good trade, and, after the first shock of war was over, they were followed by such a trade boom as had never been known. With five millions of workers withdrawn to the colours, needing to be clothed and provisioned and supplied with munitions, the demand for the services of those who remained was enormous. There was practically no unemployment during the war, and,

although wages did not begin to rise until many months after the war started, they yet rose much more rapidly than trade union contributions, so that the worker found the burden of contributing to a trade union relatively light. The boom continued long after the Armistice, and it was not until 1920-1921 that the subsequent depression began to be heavily felt.

The factor of good trade would reflect favourably upon trade union membership whether in war or peace; but the war years gave an impetus of another kind to organization on trade union lines. From the Treasury Agreement (March 1915) onwards, the Government recognized the trade unions in essential industries as part of the economic and political structure of the country. They were called in to assist in the production of munitions, to share in the running of Government controls, in such cases as the Cotton and Wool Control Boards, and particularly to coöperate in the selection of men for the army. In many cases the trade unions succeeded in gaining exemption for men engaged upon certain occupations, and at one time certain unions were even empowered to issue Trade Cards to their members, protecting them from military service. They were also of necessity consulted in the &ldquo;dilution&rdquo; and &ldquo;substitution&rdquo; of labour, and they entered into a very large number of agreements fixing the conditions upon which dilutees should be employed, the wages they were to receive, and the restoration of normal practices at the end of the war.

At the same time the cost of living was rising rapidly, and the trade unions were the bodies concerned with demanding commensurate increases in wages. Thus the average worker found that whether he wished to preserve his standard of life, to retain his exemption from the army, or to secure his job against his return, the best way was to become a member of his trade union; and the Government, which preferred in general to negotiate with representative bodies, whether of workmen or employers, contributed in no small degree to their growth.

Again, certain legislative enactments played a large part in increasing trade union membership. Of these, undoubtedly the most important was the National Insurance Act of 1911, with its subsequent amendments. The Act of 1911 was divided into two parts, Health and Unemployment Insurance, and these parts were subsequently amended by separate Acts. Under the Act dealing with Health Insurance, State benefit payable to insured persons who fell ill is administered by Approved Societies, and a number of trade unions, in order to secure closer contact with the workmen in their industries, decided to form Trade Union Approved Societies for the purpose of administering Health Insurance. Many trade unions thus gained a number of members who joined for health insurance and became full trade unionists, as in most cases they were not allowed to join the Approved Society only.

Unemployment Insurance was originally a much smaller experiment, covered by Part II. of the 1911 Act; but it gained considerably in importance when the Government in 1920 compulsorily included under unemployment insurance all the industries of the country in which there was any appreciable amount of unemployment. Under the new Act, trade unions which ordinarily paid unemployed benefit were allowed, subject to certain conditions, to administer the State benefit to their members, an allowance being made to them, under certain conditions, for administration costs, and a considerable number of them availed themselves of these provisions. Some trade unions, particularly those catering for skilled workers, also act as labour exchanges for their trades, notifying vacancies and supplying workers, where they are wanted.

Two further enactments, the Trade Boards Act of 1909 (amended and widened in 1918), and the Corn Production Act of 1917, which set up Agricultural Wages Boards with power to fix binding rates of wages, did much to increase the membership of trade unions, particularly in lowly paid industries. It is a commonplace of trade union organization that very low wages make labour difficult to organize, and the Trade Boards and the Agricultural Wages Boards, by raising the rates of the lowest paid classes, enabled them for the first time to afford trade union

contributions. The results of this can be seen from the agricultural industry, whose trade union membership rose to approximately 300,000 in the summer of 1921, when the repeal of the Corn Production Acts abolished the Agricultural Wages Boards. Something of the same result was achieved by the fixing of rates of wages under the Munitions of War Acts for women and unskilled workers in the munitions trades, and their subsequent stabilization for a year and a half after the Armistice.

The last of the causes contributing to trade union growth is impossible to estimate in terms of figures. From 1910 onwards the working classes showed a diminished faith in political action, and a belief in industrial action, strikes and the power of large industrial organization. The theories of French Syndicalists and American Industrial Unionists, and later of English Guild Socialists, began to gain ground, and these all stressed the importance of strong trade unions, and the necessity for &ldquo;blackleg-proof&rdquo; organizations. All these tendencies combined to drive the workman into his trade union, and to induce him to canvass among his fellows, and the assumption that a worker must be a trade unionist steadily gained ground.

Nearly every trade union showed an actual increase of membership in the decade. But beside this, there was a marked tendency towards larger industrial groupings. A large majority of the trade unions known to the Ministry of Labour are small local societies, survivals of an earlier period, having in many cases no more than a hundred or two hundred members, and of no practical importance. Even in 1910 practically the whole effective force of the trade union movement was confined to about a hundred societies, and further amalgamations, speeded up by the Trade Union Amalgamation Act of 1917, which lessened the restrictions upon amalgamation, had by 1921 reduced the number to something like fifty. Thus, large national associations have come into existence on the railways, in road and water transport, in the Post Office, the iron and steel trades, the building trades and the woodworking trades, and the distributive industry; the various unions of general workers are now united in a single federation, and many other schemes of union were in 1921 either in process or under discussion. The movement towards federation is no less important than the amalgamation movement proper. In many cases, where the existence of many trade unions on differing financial bases render amalgamation difficult, there are often formed strong federations which fulfil many of the functions of a single organization. Of this kind are the federations in the building, printing and transport industries, and among general workers. In contrast to this unitary tendency must be mentioned the newer unions of non-manual workers, who are in most cases organized separately from their manual fellows, but even here the tendency to federate or in other ways to ally themselves with the unions of manual workers is evident.

This tendency towards large aggregations must be set down partly to the increased integration of capital since the beginning of the century, and partly to the theories of workers' control and industrial unionism, which have been making rapid headway. The day of the small master, and even of the single firm, is all but over, and the tendency of workers in the employ of one employer or of one company to unite in a single union is a natural sequel. The influence of the movement towards workers' control is equally obvious. Where trade unions were content to be &ldquo;continuous associations of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment&rdquo; (S. &amp; B. Webb, History of Trade Unionism, 1892 edition), the &ldquo;craft&rdquo; or &ldquo;kindred craft&rdquo; union, which organized together workers employed on a single process or on processes nearly related, was a sufficient instrument. But as the plans of the Syndicalists, the Guild Socialists, and others for the &ldquo;control of each industry by the workers engaged therein&rdquo; gained ground, the old craft union was regarded as ineffective, and plans were made on all sides for the absorption of all workers engaged in a single industry into one organization. Many of the important amalgamations mentioned above are due to this idea, though it must not be assumed that the whole or even the major part of the British trade union movement

is organized on industrial lines. Craft unions and &ldquo;kindred craft&rdquo; unions continue to exist in a number of trades; many amalgamations are directed merely to the abolition of competing craft unions, as in the printing industry; and there is the further complication of the General Labour unions, which, beginning by enrolling the real &ldquo;general labourer,&rdquo; the man whose skill is in the strength of his muscles, and who shifts from industry to industry as he finds an opening, have gone on to organize the mass of semi-skilled workers which machine industry requires, and even in certain cases to compete with the skilled unions on their own ground. There is thus no clearly defined principle governing the whole of British trade unionism, and bitter disputes over membership have not by any means ceased to occur; but the tendency to unite, by differing means in differing cases, the trade unionists of a single industry with one another, and even, as in the case of the Triple Industrial Alliance of miners, railwaymen, and transport workers, to unite several separate industries, made very great progress during the decade.

Apart from increase in membership, the trade union movement as a whole gained considerably in consideration and importance after 1910. This was shown in two ways. The trade unions secured, by general public consent, a much larger place in the mechanism of society than they had hitherto held, and at the same time they steadily turned their attention to new fields of activity. Before the passing of the Trade Disputes Act in 1906, the trade unions were hardly recognized as a political factor of importance. Even in 1910, though their importance had greatly increased and they were known to be the main support of the Labour party, that support had in many people's opinion been knocked away by the Osborne Judgment; and both before and after the Trade Union Act of 1913 enabled trade unions to take a direct part in politics, the view was openly expressed in many quarters that trade unionism was a dangerous growth, unwisely fostered by the legislature, which would be well advised to sweep it away at the first favourable opportunity. Dismissal of workmen for belonging to a trade union was comparatively frequent, and many strikes were fought on the question of the right of a trade union to negotiate on behalf of its members. The great Dublin strikes of 1913, the most considerable industrial upheaval before the war, arose out of Mr. W. M. Murphy's refusal to recognize the Irish Transport Workers' Union as a body competent to negotiate with him on behalf of his employees. Similarly, up to and during the war the three unions of railway workers were engaged in a struggle to obtain recognition from the general managers of railway companies, who, during the war, formed the Railway Executive Committee for administering the railways under Government control. The position was entirely changed by 1921. The Government itself had contributed to raise the status of the trade unions during the war, offering them a semi-partnership on many industrial questions, and both the Government and the larger employers found that they preferred on the whole to negotiate with organized than with unorganized bodies of workmen. During the war, for instance, the practice gradually grew up of appointing a representative of organized labour to any committee whose subject was of importance to the working classes, and such representatives were generally chosen from the trade unions. Recognition given at headquarters could not be denied locally; trade unionists qua trade unionists were appointed to Local War Pensions Committees, Food Advisory Committees, and the like, and were generally recognized as qualified to speak on behalf of their fellow-members. The result was to raise the trade union movement to a position such as it enjoyed in no other country save Germany or revolutionary Russia. Although cases might still be known where workmen were discharged because their individual trade union activities were not approved by their employers, the &ldquo;victimization&rdquo; of a man simply for being a member of a trade union was no longer likely to occur. Discrimination is, however, occasionally exercised both by public and private employers against a particular union's claim to organize a particular section. Thus the Railway Clerks' Association was long forbidden to speak on behalf of

station masters. The most important instance of this is the Government's refusal to permit members of the police forces to belong to the Police and Prison Officers' Union.

All this growth has naturally led trade unions to expand their activities, and in many cases to amend their internal administration. The constitutions of some unions in 1921 dated back 50, 60 and 70 years, and were obviously inadequate to the changed situation, so that many experiments in altering them had come under discussion. One particular point of contention, the &ldquo;shop branch&rdquo; versus &ldquo;residence branch&rdquo; controversy, is dealt with below. Other difficulties centre mainly round the representation, in a large union, of the interests of different crafts and sexes, the method of electing the governing body, the relative power to be assigned to the governing body, to the officers, and to the members themselves, the amount of local autonomy, financial and otherwise, to be granted, and so on. Different unions adopt different solutions. The executive committee or council, for example, is generally elected by vote of the members, either by districts (as in the Iron and Steel Trades Association), or by departments (as in the National Union of Railwaymen); but it may also be elected by general vote of the whole union. Only two important unions, the Amalgamated Engineering Union, and the United Society of Boilermakers, have adopted the principle of an executive committee in permanent session. In some unions the executive committee is theoretically the final governing body, though in such cases the practice of taking a referendum upon most questions of importance really leaves the decision in the hands of the members; others have a general council or delegate meeting sitting for some time which has power to override the decisions of the executive committee on certain subjects; most, though not all, held at fixed intervals a conference or meeting of representatives to receive the report of the executive committee and to discuss policy. The merits of delegate and other representative conferences and of ballot, secret or otherwise, in ascertaining the will of the membership is one of the problems most frequently-canvassed among the trade unions. In some cases the general secretary and other officers are appointed and paid by the executive committee, in others they are elected by vote of the members. It will readily be understood that the latter method gives in effect much more power to the secretary than the former, and the position of a trade union secretary and the extent to which he is able to speak for his union and to conclude binding arrangements on its behalf is another problem claiming much discussion.

Differences of practice also exist with regard to the autonomy of branches and sections of trade unions, and the method of declaring or calling off a strike. Some societies allow great freedom of action to their branches and district committees or councils; others, such as the Iron, Steel and Kindred Trades Association, retain all contributions in the hands of the head office, and only allow money to be spent by branches or districts for purposes specifically approved by the central organization. Between these two extremes there is room for a large variety of different methods. Some unions specifically provide in their constitutions that a ballot of the membership must be taken before a strike is declared. In many other cases this is secured by the general practice; and some unions, such as the Miners' Federation insist further that a two-thirds majority in favour of a strike must be secured. The National Union of Railwaymen, on the other hand, allows a strike to be declared by the executive committee, without prescribing any consultation of the membership. Local strikes may in some cases be declared by the local committee, but in most cases, since the strike pay is centrally administered, the sanction of the central office is necessary for a local strike, and the central executive has also power to order the men back to work. All these problems of administration require the services of trained men, and the position and education of the trade union official has begun to receive consideration. The trade unions have been slowly coming to the opinion that the work of a trade union official is specialized and requires special training; salaries have been raised, and classes and

summer-schools for trade union officials and organizers are regularly held. Specialization, however, upon organizing and routine work often tends to remove the trade union official from contact with and understanding of the problems of the members whom he serves, and this difficulty has not yet been satisfactorily solved.

Trade unions have gradually extended their activities in many new directions, of which the principal are politics, education, and the control of industry. The political Labour party in its origin rested upon the support of the trade unions; but in 1909 their political activities appeared to have received a check. This was removed by the passing of the Trade Union Act in 1913, which enabled every trade union, after the prescribed ballot had been taken, to collect contributions for political purposes. By 1921 almost every trade union had its political fund, lists of Labour candidates backed by trade union money appeared, and locally the trade union branches played a regular part in the activities of local Labour parties and supported Labour candidates at local elections. Trade unions also began to show considerable interest in the education of their members. During these years the movement towards adult working-class education experienced a great revival. The Workers' Educational Association, a body which in connexion with the universities ran a large number of evening courses and summer-schools for working-class students, was supported by the trade unions, some of which became actual partners in its work. The Central Labour College—now the Labour College— a residential college for students of Marxian economics, founded in 1909 by a secession of students from Ruskin College, and subsequently supported by the National Union of Railwaymen and the South Wales Miners' Federation, extended its activities; and class-centres called Labour colleges, on more or less Marxian lines, were set up in Manchester, Glasgow and elsewhere. Trade unions provided a number of scholarships for their members at the Labour colleges and at Ruskin College, Oxford; and in 1921, when the General Council of the Trades Union Congress was set up, a resolution was carried to provide for the unification of working-class education under it.

Trade union interest, however, has not been confined to education proper. The Daily Herald, a newspaper founded during a printers' strike in 1912 by the London Society of Compositors, was supported by Labour and trade union funds, and became an important political force, although it was forced temporarily to become a weekly soon after the outbreak of war. Later, in 1913, the trade unions revived an ancient project of running their own newspapers, and the Daily Citizen appeared as the first daily newspaper entirely owned and conducted by the British trade union movement. This paper had a short career, and ceased publication in 1915, mainly owing to war conditions, but the trade unions played a large part in the reissue of the Daily Herald as a Labour daily, early in 1919. Besides the daily papers, there are a number of local weeklies and monthlies to which trade unions contribute, and some of them also run papers and printing presses of their own. The Labour Research Department, which in 1916 became a federal body composed of trade unions and other Labour bodies contributing to the endowment of research into the history and problems of the Labour movement, shows the increasing interest of the trade unions in specialized research work.

The inclusion of the phrase &ldquo;control of industry&rdquo; (see ) in the aims of the trade unions has played a considerable part in forming their policy, although it has not been generally translated into fact. In the early years of the century, most trade unions, like the Labour party and the Socialists, were assumed to be in favour of the transference of the important industries of the country to the ownership and control of the State. The experience of workers in State-owned industries, notably in the Post Office, suggested that this was inadequate to fulfil trade union aspirations, and between 1911 and 1921 most of them altered it to a demand for &ldquo;nationalization of industry, with control by the workers engaged therein,&rdquo; amounting in some cases to a demand for a National Guild

(see ). The establishment of a National Guild was part of the official programme of the Union of Post Office Workers (founded in 1920). Perhaps the fullest exposition of the new demand was made by the Miners' Federation in its programme presented to the Coal Commission in 1919, but by the autumn of 1921 it had only been translated into action in the building industry. The unprecedented shortage of houses following the war encouraged the Building Trade Unionists of Manchester to form a Building Guild, which offered to produce houses at cost price for the City Council, themselves controlling and providing the labour, guaranteeing full pay in sickness and bad weather to all members of the Guild, and relying upon the credit of the municipality to obtain the necessary materials. The example proved infectious, and after many experiments had been made in different towns, the National Building Guild was formed in 1921, with a number of branches, prepared to undertake work upon the same terms for local authorities or private companies or persons. In every case the Guild was initiated by the local branches of the Building Trade Unions, and none but trade unionists were admitted to membership.

The Progress of British Trade Unionism, 1910-9.

(M. I. C.)

From 1898 to 1904 craft unions in the United States grew in importance, and made substantial gains by aggressive action. In 1905 with a slackening of business prosperity came a loss of faith in trade unionism as the one sure solution of the problems of the working class. The American Federation of Labor had organized the skilled trades but the unskilled had been practically neglected. The crafts seemed unable to cope with the trusts and with an open-shop campaign which drew employers together. Attempts were made to capture the American labour movement for a more radical class struggle. In 1905 the Industrial Workers of the World were organized. A movement to organize the building trades into an industrial union was resisted by the American Federation of Labor, but resulted in the establishment in 1908 of the Building Trades Department of the Federation. In 1909 the United Mine Workers announced their championship of the principle of collective ownership of the means of production. In 1911 the machinists followed. From 1903 we find increasing tendency toward concerted movements of the railway crafts. In 1908 the Railway Employees' Department was formed in the American Federation of Labor to include all the railway unions affiliated with the Federation. In 1916 the four railway brotherhoods, not affiliated with the Federation, acted together to demand the eight-hour day. In 1912 the national convention of the Federation voted down the minority report of the Committee on Education in favour of the principle of industrial unionism, 72 for and 264 against; voting strength, 5,929 for and 10,983 against. The two miners' unions voted solidly in favour of the change. Others in favour were the bakers and confectioners, iron, steel and tin workers, printing pressmen, railway carmen and journeymen tailors. In 1912 labour was weak economically but strong politically, due to its support of the Democratic party, then coming into power. Public hearings before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations in 1914 brought industrial conditions into the light of public opinion; for the first time a commission representing the Government not only pronounced the trade union movement harmless to the best interests of the country, but gave its unqualified approval to labour organization as an institution indispensable in a democracy. The return of business prosperity in 1916, coincident with the sudden decrease of immigration, gave labour a new economic advantage. In 1917 the Government asked and won coöperation of organized labour in producing military supplies. Organized labour was given recognition on Government committees, and the policy of boards which represented the Government in its relations with its employees was to recognize trade union standards of working conditions. The leadership of the American Federation of Labor was strengthened by the attitude of the Government; possibly it was weakened by the fact that the War Labor Board dealt with groups of disaffected workers in the local unions rather than with the national officers, and so made for decentralized control in the unions. After the Armistice labour was again on the defensive, and the increasing number of the unemployed were more ready than they had been to listen to the philosophy of the radical, who can always promise a steady job and a pay envelope every week in the Utopian state. The membership in the relatively conservative American Federation of Labor increased nearly threefold between 1910 and 1920. In 1910 there was a paid-up membership of 1,562,112; in 1915 1,946,347; and 1920 4,078,740. If we include also the membership of organizations suspended from the Federation, the total for 1920 was 4,509,213. Outside the Federation are the four brotherhoods of railway employees with a membership of over 400,000, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, 200,000, the Amalgamated Textile Workers, 40,000;

and other smaller independent organizations. There are five industrial departments in the American Federation of Labor— building trades, metal trades, railway employees, union label trades, and mining. The six largest of the affiliated unions are the United Mine Workers', the Carpenters' and Joiners', the Machinists', Electrical Workers', Railway Carmen, and the Ladies' Garment Workers.

The National Women's Trade Union League of America was founded in 1903 for the purpose of investigating and giving publicity to conditions of women in industry, and to undertake educational work for wage-earning women, to promote labour legislation and improved labour standards, and to aid trade unions in organizing women. The League stands also for the eight-hour day and the 44-hour week, for a living wage, and for equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. The League is indorsed by the American Federation of Labor and the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress and is represented at their conventions by fraternal delegates. It claims 600,000 trade union women, and has also a large membership of men. It publishes Life and Labor, and maintains a training school for organizers. Its headquarters are in Chicago.

The decade 1910-20 saw a movement develop to unionize the teachers as a trade group. The first teachers' union was organized in Chicago in 1902, following the failure of the Teachers' Federation to gain consideration from the school board. As the board insisted that it had no money to pay a &ldquo;living wage,&rdquo; the teachers investigated city finances, and found that many wealthy corporations had been evading taxes due to the city. In the struggle to force the payment of taxes the teachers received aid from organized labour. Then, at the invitation of the Chicago Federation of Labor, the teachers affiliated with that body. In 1916 the Board of Education dismissed those teachers who had been prominent in trade union activity. In order that these teachers might be reappointed, the union withdrew from the city Federation of Labor. In 1914 the teachers of Cleveland voted to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor, but were prevented by the Board of Education. In 1916 teachers' unions in a number of cities united to form the American Federation of Teachers and affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, but forbade recourse to strikes. The official publication is the American Teacher. The first trade union of librarians in the United States was formed in New York City, in 1917, to demand salary increases and a regular system of promotions. In 1918 the Boston Library Employees' Union was organized and affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Union organizers were active without success at the 1919 and 1020 conventions of the American Librarians' Association.

(Author:John Rogers Commons)