Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/866

 836 TKADES UNION English model (Gewerkuereine) began to ap- pear in Germany in 1868. The laws prohibit- ing combination had been repealed in Prussia two years before, and a law passed permitting employers and workmen (excepting agricultu- ral laborers) to arrange terms in their own way, provided they abstained from physical compulsion, insults, and defamation. A simi- lar law was passed by the parliament of the North German confederation in 1869. The same year Dr. Max Hirsch formed a plan to unite the working classes of Germany into one confederation under a central direction. The local branches of all the trades within certain limits elect some central branch (if in a large town) or the branches of some central place, and commit to such branch or branches the election of a general council, which exercises the chief executive power, while the legislative power is committed to an assembly of branch delegates. These local or district federations are united in a nation- al federation, with a legislative assembly com- posed of their several delegates, and a cen- tral executive committee elected by the as- sembly. There is also an officer known as the union attorney, who, besides being the chief business manager of the confederation, has the special task of disseminating its princi- ples. Unlike the English trades unions, which sprang from small affiliations spontaneously formed by the working men, the system of the German GewerTcvereine originated with a mem- ber of the professional class, and existed in its completeness as an idea before the local unions had come into being. The number of members embraced in the German unions is therefore not as great as might be expected, in view of their elaborate organization. In 1869 it was stated at 30,000, comprised in 267 local socie- ties existing in 145 towns, and representing the following trades: miners, masons and stone cutters, potters, carpenters, shipwrights, cabi- net makers, shoe and harness makers, tailors, weavers, painters and lithographers, gold and silver smiths, machine builders, and metal workers. Besides these, the confederation in- cluded societies of factory operatives and other workpeople belonging to no special trade. By 1872 the number of trades had increased from 13 to 18, and the number of branches from 267 to 350 ; but the membership had fallen off to the extent of nearly 10,000, which was at- tributed in part to the war with France, and in part to the discouragement which followed the failure of the great strike of 1869 among the miners at Waldenburg in Silesia, which had been supported by the confederation. The increase of membership in 1873 and 1874 was about 2,000. There are large numbers of Ger- man trades unions devoted to the socialistic doctrines of Lassalle, who hold aloof from the confederation organized by Hirsch, and stig- matize its leaders as " harmony apostles." The growth of trades unions among the socialist workmen is greatly checked by the action of the police, who break up large numbers of such societies every year, for interference in politics. In France the legal position of the working class with respect to the right of combination is but indistinctly defined. In 1864 the law upon this subject was so modified as to make coalition no longer a crime, and to give to workmen the right of striking as well as that of holding public meetings. But the law of 1791, which prohibits societies composed of persons of the same trade or profession, was still in force. As the authorities had long tol- erated associations formed in contravention of the law, the workmen now organized "soci- eties of resistance," similar to those trades unions which are organized for trade purposes alone. Many of these were afterward affiliated with the international association. (See INTER- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION.) In 1868 the govern- ment intimated that the various trades in Paris would be permitted to organize under the di- rection of syndical chambers, on condition of abstaining from politics. In 1875 there were about 100 such syndicates among the employ- ers, and about 70 among the workmen. The latter were refused the privilege of forming a central committee, while the employers' syndi- cates have both a central committee and a newspaper organ. In Belgium trades unions have become prominent within a few years past, and have made several vigorous strikes at the manufacturing centres. Switzerland has flourishing trades unions, which resemble the English societies, but several related trades are usually represented in one organization. They embrace both trade and benefit purposes, and take part in politics. The strikes among the Swiss unions from 1868 to 1873 inclusive varied from a few days to several months. In a fair proportion of cases the objects of the workmen were attained. In Italy trades unions have existed since about 1865, and several strikes have occurred. The strictness of the combination laws has depended a good deal on the pleasure of the tribunals charged with their execution. Coalition to raise or lower wages is made criminal only when entered into " unjustly or abusively," or " without rea- sonable cause." There are trades unions in other European countries, but they exercise little influence on industrial relations, and no- where on the continent are these organizations so powerful as in the United Kingdom. While the laws of the continental countries repress combinations to raise wages, they encourage provident and mutual aid societies. Though the working men of the United States have enjoyed unrestricted liberty of combination, the trades unions of this country do not com- pare with those of the United Kingdom in membership, resources, or discipline, nor in the extent to which they have combined bene- ficial objects with trade purposes. The follow- ing table comprises the principal unions with a national organization ; all of these, except the miners' union, have branches in Canada :