The Grand National Consolidated Trades’ Union, 1833–1834: class and conflict in the early British labour movement

2018 ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Ophélie Siméon
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
National Union ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
British Labour ◽  
Fair Wages ◽  
Violent Action

This chapter re-examines the GNCTU’s emergence, workings and historical significance through a look at its divisions. As barometers of social relations, they reveal the nature, structure and purposes of political movements, and as such, they are a powerful tool to move beyond the teleogical assumptions that have plagued the study of early socialism. In 1833-34, the GNCTU aimed to unite all trades in the country and secure workers’ labour control, from production processes to fair wages and access to equitable markets. Building on growing claims for national union among the British working classes, and under the chairmanship of Robert Owen (1771-1858) the GNCTU attracted strong popular support from the spring of 1834, but was torn apart by internal rivalry between moderate, orthodox Owenites opposed to any kind of violent action, and more radical members. Historians have seen the GNCTU at best as a missed opportunity for trade unionism, at worst as a diversion of labour’s alleged true goals through the collusion with Owen’s ‘utopian’ socialism, two conceptions this chapter seeks to challenge.

scholarly journals The Organizing Model and the Management of Change

2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (4) ◽  
pp. 712-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Carter ◽  
Rae Cooper
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
National Union ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
The U.S

Summary Trade unions in nearly all developed countries are facing major difficulties in maintaining membership levels and political influence. The U.S. labour movement has been increasingly attracted to an organizing model of trade unionism and, in turn, this response has caught the imagination of some sections of other Anglo-Saxon movements, most notably in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Despite similarities in the problems that national union movements face, however, the histories and current experiences of trade unions in the various countries show marked differences. This article, based on extensive fieldwork in Britain and Australia, examines attempts to assess the importance of national contexts in the adoption of the organizing model through a comparative study of an Australian and a British union.

Taking the Lead? The Scottish Labour Movement and Spain

2020 ◽  
pp. 175-194
Author(s):  
Fraser Raeburn
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Regional Institutions ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
British Labour ◽  
Considerable Resistance ◽  
Considerable Concentration

The labour movement represented the single most important constituency for pro-Republican activism in Scotland, representing a considerable concentration of financial resources and political influence. Yet it was far from clear how far the structures of Scottish trade unionism were suited for waging a long and sustained solidarity campaign for Spain. Despite the willingness of key local and regional institutions such as Trades Councils to take the lead in organising a Scottish response to the conflict, the increasingly centralised structures of the British labour movement often acted to limit the effectiveness of more local efforts. While innovative and increasingly effective approaches emerged over the course of the Spanish Civil War, culminating in a series of successful foodship campaigns in 1938 and 1939, the Scottish labour movement also faced considerable resistance from anti-communist elements, even in traditionally radical sectors such as mining unions.

Labour and Working-Class Lives

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Working Classes ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
British Labour ◽  
History Of ◽  
Final Essay

Labour and working-class lives is a collection of essays in honour of the work and publications of the eminent and influential historian Professor Chris Wrigley. They are written by a number of leading historians – Joan Allen, Ken Brown, Malcolm Chase, Dick Geary, Kevin Jefferys, Keith Laybourn, Nicole Robertson, Andrew Thorpe, Jan Shepherd, John Shepherd, Noel Whiteside and Matthew Worley. They also draw upon a wide range of topics and offer the latest research on British labour, social and economic history. These include the study of trade unionism in relation to the Labour Party, state insurance, and the organisation of women. There are studies of both political and pressure groups, such as the Independent Labour Party, Progressive League and the Co-operative Movement. Some of the essays examine the political contribution made by figures within, or on the fringes, of the history of labour in Britain, including the Lansburys and the Herbert Gladstone. There is also a comparative study of the cultural milieu of the British and German working classes. The final essay examines the topical and almost constant question ‘Must Labour Lose?’ This collection is therefore an essential and vital contribution to the study of modern British and labour history and a fitting tribute to the inspirational work in the field made by Chris Wrigley.

Beneath Improvisation

2019 ◽  
pp. 759-780
Author(s):  
Vijay Iyer
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Black Studies ◽  
Queer Studies ◽  
Traditional Music ◽  
Institutional Racism ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
The West ◽  
Subaltern Studies ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Critical Model

Improvisation has been construed as Western art music’s Other. This chapter urges music theorists to take the consequences of this configuration seriously. The decision to exclude improvisation as inherently unstable is not neutral, but is bound up with the endemic racism that has characterized social relations in the West and that is being brought to the fore in Black Lives Matter and other recent social and political movements. Traditional music theory is not immune from such institutional racism—its insistence on normative musical behaviors is founded on the (white) phallogocentrism of Western thought. Does the resurgent academic interest in improvisation offer a way out? No, at least not as it is currently studied. Even an apparently impartial approach such as cognitive science is not neutral; perception is colored by race. To get anywhere, this chapter argues, improvisation studies must take difference seriously. Important impetus for a more inclusive critical model comes from such fields as Black studies, Women’s studies, subaltern studies, queer studies, and disability studies.

The Impact of the British Labour Party on the Dissidence of Milovan Djilas 1950–1958

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 174-187
Author(s):  
Nikola Mijatov
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
British Labour ◽  
The Impact

The article analyses the influence of the leadership of the British Labour Party on the first Cold War dissident, Milovan Djilas. Up until his dissidence in 1954, the main Yugoslav official for official relations with the British Left was Djilas. He had many contacts with the members of the British Labour Party such as Morgan Phillips, Aneurin Bevan and Jennie Lee. While many of these contacts were professional, Djilas established a firm friendship with Bevan, under whose influence Djilas gradually abandoned communism and embraced the Labour movement. When he called for another party in Yugoslavia (one similar to the Labour Party), he was condemned by Tito’s regime.

POLITICS AND VIOLENCE IN THE ‘RUSSIAN ZONE’: CONFLICT IN NEWCLARE SOUTH, 1950–7

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
GARY KYNOCH
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Racial Politics ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Youth Gangs ◽  
Student Groups ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
Contested Terrain ◽  
Political Groups

The urban townships of South Africa have been contested terrain since their inception. Different groups have struggled to control territory, various resources and political activities within the confines of the locations and, all too frequently, violence has been an integral part of these struggles. Groups as varied in composition and ideology as squatter movements, well-organized criminal outfits, student groups, vigilantes, traditional courts (makgotlas), migrant gangs, youth gangs, municipal political groups and national political movements – with much overlapping between these categories – have all at one time or another sought to impose their will on township residents and have regarded violence as an essential element in their campaigns.While much attention has been deservedly devoted to the violence employed by the state as a means of subjugating, dividing and controlling township residents, the different ways in which black urban groups struggled to assert control over their environments have received relatively little scrutiny. These processes cannot be regarded in isolation from the state's quest for control, but neither should they be subsumed by the larger focus on a revolutionary struggle. Rather, I would argue that a more informed understanding of the conditions and challenges faced by black urbanites requires study of the nature of localized power and violence within the townships. African groups pursued agendas which served their own interests and had a considerable impact on social relations and perceptions of power and authority, both within the locations and in the broader context of national/racial politics.

scholarly journals Colliery Deputies in the British Coal Industry Before Nationalization

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Ackers
Keyword(s):  
Coal Mining ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
Coal Industry ◽  
National Union ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
Union History

SummaryThis article challenges the militant and industrial unionist version of British coal mining trade union history, surrounding the Miners' Federation of Great Britain and the National Union of Mineworkers, by considering, for the first time, the case of the colliery deputies' trade union. Their national Federation was formed in 1910, and aimed to represent the three branches of coal mining supervisory management: the deputy (or fireman, or examiner), overman and shotfirer. First, the article discusses the treatment of moderate and craft traditions in British coal mining historiography. Second, it shows how the position of deputy was defined by changes in the underground labour process and the legal regulation of the industry. Third, it traces the history of deputies' union organization up until nationalization in 1947, and the formation of the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies and Shotfirers (NACODS). The article concludes that the deputies represent a mainstream tradition of craft/professional identity and industrial moderation, in both the coal industry and the wider labour movement.

Karl Marx and the British Labour Movement.

1966 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 434
Author(s):  
James Joll ◽  
Henry Collins ◽  
Chimen Abramsky
Keyword(s):  
Karl Marx ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
British Labour

Globalisation and the dilemmas of international trade unionism

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Economic Developments

This article presents the author's reflections on the possibilities of a restructuring of the international trade union movement, on the basis of a collective research project to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which seeks to open a debate within the movement over the lessons to be learned from its history as a guide for its future action. The most important question facing the trade union movement today is what is generally called 'globalisation', a phenomenon that goes back many years, both in terms of economic developments and labour struggles. From this perspective, the paper examines the basis for the existing divisions of the international labour movement, before going over the work of the ICFTU and of the International Trade Secretariats (ITSs) to achieve the regulation of the multinational corporations and of the international economy, and concluding on the prospects for unity of action in the unions' work around the global economy.

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