Page:George Henry Soule - Recent Developments in Trade Unionism (1921).pdf/11

 there is a clear issue and one large enough to engage the support of the entire labor movement.

The last railway strike awakened labor to the fact that all unions are really involved in a great movement such as a strike in a basic industry. The Triple Alliance itself was not inclusive enough to represent the many workers who would suffer or benefit by a great conflict which might arise between labor on one side, and employers and government on the other, whenever the railwaymen and miners go out. A number of unions began to see that the whole labor movement would have to be better organized to control such matters.

As things stood, there were a great many separate unions, each one fighting its own battles in its own way, with nothing at the top to co-ordinate their action. The British Trades Union Congress, which is the central body of all British unions, had little executive power; it was merely a loose federation holding a convention once a year, much like the American Federation of Labor. The real power remained in the separate national unions in the different trades and industries. Yet the warfare between labor and the employers was going on all the time. The labor army was like an army made up of a lot of separate regiments and divisions, with no high command to plan the campaign. The result was that the labor army was in grave danger, be-