Thelabour movement[a] is the collective organisation ofworking people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of thetrade union orlabour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considered an instance ofclass conflict.
The labour movement developed as a response tocapitalism and theIndustrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, at about the same time associalism.[1] The early goals of the movement were theright to unionise, theright to vote,democracy, safe working conditions and the40-hour week. As these were achieved in many of the advanced economies of western Europe and north America in the early decades of the 20th century, the labour movement expanded to issues of welfare and social insurance,wealth distribution andincome distribution,public services likehealth care and education,social housing andcommon ownership.
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
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The labour movement has its origins in Europe during theIndustrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, whenagricultural andcottage industry jobs disappeared and were replaced asmechanization andindustrialization moved employment to more industrial areas likefactory towns causing an influx of low-skilled labour and a concomitant decline in real wages and living standards for workers in urban areas.[3] Prior to the industrial revolution, economies in Europe were dominated by theguild system which had originated in theMiddle Ages.[4] The guilds were expected to protect the interests of the owners, labourers, and consumers through regulation of wages, prices, and standard business practices.[5] However, as the increasingly unequal and oligarchic guild system deteriorated in the 16th and 17th centuries, spontaneous formations ofjourneymen within the guilds would occasionally act together to demand better wage rates and conditions, and these ad hoc groupings can be considered the forerunners of the modern labour movement.[6] These formations were succeeded by trade unions forming in the United Kingdom in the 18th century. Nevertheless, without the continuous technological and international trade pressures during the Industrial Revolution, these trade unions remained sporadic and localised only to certain regions and professions, and there was not yet enough impetus for the formation of a widespread and comprehensive labour movement. Therefore, the labour movement is usually marked as beginning concurrently with the Industrial Revolution in theUnited Kingdom, roughly around 1760-1830.[7]
InEngland the guild system was usurped in its regulation of wages byparliament in the 16th century with the passage of theElizabethan Era apprentice laws such as theStatute of Artificers 1562 which placed the power to regulate wages and employment in the hands of local officials in each parish.[8][9] Parliament had been responding to petitions made by Englishweavers in 1555 who asserted that the owners were "giving much less wages and hire for weaving of clothes than they did in the past."[10] This legislation was intended to ensure just compensation for workers throughout the country so they could maintain a "competent livelihood". This doctrine of parliamentary involvement remained in place until about 1700 at which point the practice of wage regulation began to decline, and in 1757 Parliament outright rescinded theWeavers Act 1756,[which?] abandoning its power of wage regulation and signaling its newfound dedication tolaissez-faire economics.[8][11]
The Elizabethan Apprentice Laws lasted in England until the early 19th century, but were becoming increasinglydead letter by the mid 18th century.[12] Consequently, from 1760 on, real wages began to fall and food prices began to rise giving increased motivation for political and social agitation.[13] As the guild system became increasingly obsolete and parliament abolished the old medieval labour protections, forswearing responsibility for maintaining living standards, the workers began to form the earliest versions of trade unions.[14] The workers on the lowest rungs found it necessary to organise in new ways to protect their wages and other interests such as living standards and working conditions.[15]
There is no record of enduring trade unions existing prior to the 18th century.[16] Beginning from 1700 onward there are records of complaints in the United Kingdom, which increase through the century, that show instances of labourers "combining" together to raise wages had become a phenomenon in various regions and professions.[17] These early trade unions were fairly small and limited in scope and were separated from unions in other geographical areas or unions in other professions.[18] The unions would strike, collectively bargain with employers, and, if that did not suffice, petition parliament for the enforcement of the Elizabethan statues.[18] The first groups in England to practice early trade unionism were theWest of England wool workers and the framework knitters in theMidlands.[19] As early as 1718 a royal proclamation was given in opposition to the formation of any unsanctioned bodies of journeymen attempting to affect wages and employment.[20] Despite the presumption that unionising was illegal, it continued throughout the 18th century.[20]
Strikes and riots by miners and framework knitters occurred throughout England over the course of the 18th century, often resorting to machine breaking and sabotage.[21] In 1751 wool-combers inLeicestershire formed a union which both disallowed hiring non-members and provided aid for out-of-work members.[21] In theSpitalfields area ofLondon, weavers went on strike and rioted in 1765, 1769, and 1773 until parliament relented and allowed justices in the area to fix wage rates.[22] Artisans and workers would also create small craft clubs or trade clubs in each town or locality and these groups such as thehatters in London,shipwrights inLiverpool, orcutlers inSheffield could use their clubs to unionize.[21] Workers could also use the ubiquitousfriendly societies, which had increasingly cropped up British society since 1700, as cover for union activities.[23]
In politics, theMPJohn Wilkes used mass appeal to workers through public meetings,pamphleteering, and the popular press, in order to gain their support as he advocated for an increase in the voting franchise, popular rights, and an end to corruption.[24] When he was imprisoned for criticizingKing George III, his followers protested and were fired upon by the government at theMassacre of St George's Fields in 1768, which resulted in a round of strikes and riots throughout England.[24] Other notable radicals at the time includedJohn Jebb,Major Cartwright, andJohn Horne.[25]
With the advent of theFrench Revolution, radicalism became even more prominent in English politics with the publication ofThomas Paine'sThe Rights of Man in 1791 and the foundation of the working-class focusedLondon Corresponding Society in 1792.[26] Membership in the society increased rapidly and by the end of the year it may have had as many as three thousand chapters in the United Kingdom.[27]
Fearful of this new EnglishJacobinism, the government responded with wide-scale political repression spearheaded byprime ministerPitt the Younger.[28][29] Paine was forced to flee the country after his work was deemed to beseditious, booksellers selling Paine's or other radical works were arrested, the Scottish reformersThomas Muir,Rev. Thomas Fyshe Palmer,Joseph Gerrald, andMaurice Margarot weretransported, and, in 1794, the leadership of the L.C.S was arrested and tried.[30][31] Speech and public gatherings were tightly restricted by theTwo Acts of 1795 which made certain words acts of treason, limited public gatherings to fifty people or fewer, and enforced licensing for anyone who wanted to speak in a public debate or lecture hall.[32] In 1797 the L.C.S was outlawed by parliament,[33] temporarily crushing the British labour movement.[34] Additionally, forming unions or combinations was made illegal under legislation such as the1799 Combination Act.[35][36] Trade unionism in the United Kingdom illegally continued into the 19th century despite increasing hardship.[37][38] Determined workers refused to allow the law to entirely eradicate trade unionism. Some employers chose to forgo legal prosecution and instead bargained and cooperated with workers' demands.[36]
The Scottish weavers ofGlasgow went on strike around 1805, demanding enforcement of the old Elizabethan laws empowering magistrates to fix wages to meet the costs of living; however, after three weeks the strike was ended when the police arrested the strike leaders.[39] A renewed stimulus to organised labour in theUnited Kingdom can be traced back to the 1808 failure of the 'Minimum Wage Bill' in parliament which supporters had seen as a needed countermeasure for the endemic poverty among the working classes of industrial United Kingdom.[40] After the failure of the Minimum Wage Bill displayed the government's commitment to laissez-faire policy, labourers expressed their discontent in the form of the first large scale strikes in the new factory districts.[40][41] Agitation did not end until it was agreed that weavers would receive a 20% increase in wages.[42] In 1813 and 1814 Parliament would repeal the last of the apprentice laws which had been intended to protect wage rates and employment, but which had also fallen into serious disuse many decades before.[43][44]
The United Kingdom saw an increasing number of large-scale strikes, mainly in the north. In 1811 inNottinghamshire, a new movement known as theLuddite, or machine-breaker, movement, began.[45] In response to declining living standards, workers all over theMidlands started to sabotage and destroy the machinery used in textile production. As the industry was still decentralized at the time and the movement was secretive, none of the leadership was ever caught and employers in the Midlands textile industry were forced to raise wages.[46]
In 1812 the first radical, socialist, pro-labour society, the 'Society of Spencean Philanthropists', named after the radical social agitatorThomas Spence, was formed. Spence, a pamphleteer in London since 1776, believed in the socialized distribution of land and changing England into a federalized government based on democratically elected parish communes.[47] The society was small and had only a limited presence in English politics. Other leaders suchHenry Hunt,William Cobbet, andLord Cochrane, known asRadicals, rose to the head of the labour movement demanding the lowering of taxes, the abolition of pensions and sinecures, and an end to payments of the war debt.[48] This radicalism increased in the aftermath of the end of theNapoleonic Wars, as a general economic downturn in 1815 led to a revival in pro-labour politics. During this time, half of each worker's wages was taxed away, unemployment greatly increased, and food prices would not drop from their war time highs.[49][50]
After the passage of theCorn Laws there was mass rioting throughout United Kingdom.[49] Many working-class papers started being published and received by a wide audience, including Cobbet's "Weekly Political Register,Thomas Wooler'sThe Black Dwarf, andWilliam Hone'sReformists's Register.[48] In addition, new political clubs focused on reform, calledHampden Clubs, were formed after a model suggested by Major Cartwright. During a speech by Henry Hunt, a group of Spenceans initiated theSpa Fields riots. This outbreak of lawlessness led to a government crackdown on agitation in 1817 known as theGagging Acts, which included the suppression of the Spencean society, a suspension ofhabeas corpus, and an extension of power to magistrates which gave them the ability to ban public gatherings.[51] In protest of the Gagging Acts, as well as the poor working conditions in the textile industry, workers in Manchester attempted to march on London to deliver petitions in a demonstration known as theBlanketeers march, which ultimately failed.[52]
From this point onward the British government also began using hired spies andagent provocateurs to disrupt the labour movement.[53] The most infamous early case of government anti-labour espionage was that ofOliver the Spy who, in 1817, incited and encouraged thePentrich Rising, which led to the leadership being indicted on treason charges and executed.[53]
In spite of government suppression, the labour movement in the United Kingdom continued, and 1818 marked a new round of strikes as well as the first attempt at establishing a single national union that encompassed all trades, led byJohn Gast and named the "Philanthropic Hercules".[53] Although this enterprise quickly folded, pro-labour political agitation and demonstrations increased in popularity throughout industrial United Kingdom culminating in 1819 with an incident in St. Peter's field, Manchester, known as thePeterloo Massacre. The British government responded with another round of draconian measures aimed at putting down the labour movement, known as theSix Acts.[54]
In 1819 the social reformerFrancis Place initiated a reform movement aimed at lobbying parliament into abolishing the anti-union Combination Acts.[55] Unions were legalised in the Combination Acts of 1824 and 1825, however some union actions, such as anti-scab activities were restricted.[56]
Chartism was possibly the first mass working-class labour movement in the world, originating in England during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1848. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:
Eventually, after Chartism died out, the United Kingdom adopted the first five reforms.[57] The Chartist movement had a lasting impact in the development of the political labour movement.[58]
In the United Kingdom, the term "new unionism" was used in the 1880s to describe an innovative form of trade unionism. The new unions were generally less exclusive thancraft unions and attempted to recruit a wide range of unskilled and semi-skilled workers, such as dockers, seamen, gasworkers and general labourers.[59]
TheInternational Workingmen's Association, the first attempt at international coordination, was founded in London in 1864. The major issues included the right of the workers to organize themselves, and the right to an 8-hour working day. In 1871 workers in France rebelled and the Paris Commune was formed. From the mid-19th century onward the labour movement became increasingly globalised:
Labour has been central to the modern globalization process. From issues of the embodied movement of workers to the emergence of a global division of labour, and organized responses to capitalist relations of production, the relevance of labour to globalization is not new, and it is far more significant in shaping the world than is usually recognized.[60]
The movement gained major impetus during the late 19th and early 20th centuries from theCatholic Social Teaching tradition which began in 1891 with the publication ofPope Leo XIII's foundational document,Rerum novarum, also known as "On the Condition of the Working Classes," in which he advocated a series of reforms including limits on the length of the work day, a living wage, the elimination of child labour, the rights of labour to organise, and the duty of the state to regulate labour conditions.
Throughout the world, action by labourists has resulted in reforms andworkers' rights, such as the two-dayweekend,minimum wage, paidholidays, and the achievement of theeight-hour day for many workers. There have been many important labour activists in modern history who have caused changes that were revolutionary at the time and are now regarded as basic. For example,Mary Harris Jones, better known as "Mother Jones", and theNational Catholic Welfare Council were important in the campaign to endchild labour in theUnited States during the early 20th century.
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Historicallylabour markets have often been constrained by national borders that have restricted movement of workers. Labour laws are also primarily determined by individual nations or states within those nations. While there have been some efforts to adopt a set of international labour standards through theInternational Labour Organisation (ILO), international sanctions for failing to meet such standards are very limited. In many countries labour movements have developed independently and represent those national boundaries.
Modern labour parties originated from an increase in organising activities in Europe andEuropean colonies during the 19th century, such as theChartist movement in the United Kingdom during 1838–48.[61]
In 1891, localised labour parties were formed, by trade union members in British colonies inAustralasia. In 1899, the Labour Party for theColony of Queensland briefly formed the world's first labourgovernment, lasting one week. From 1901, whensix colonies federated to form theCommonwealth of Australia, several labour parties amalgamated to form theAustralian Labor Party (ALP).
TheBritish Labour Party was created as theLabour Representation Committee, following an 1899 resolution by theTrade Union Congress.
While archetypal labour parties are made of direct union representatives, in addition to members of geographical branches, some union federations or individual unions have chosen not to be represented within a labour party and/or have ended association with them.
Many individuals and political groups otherwise considered to represent ruling classes may be part of, and active in, the labour movement.[citation needed]
Labour festivals have long been a part of the labour movement.[62] Often held outdoors in the summer, the music, talks, food, drink, and film have attracted hundreds of thousands of attendees each year. Labour festival is a yearly feast of all the unionism gathering, to celebrate the fulfillment of their goals, to bring solutions to certain hindrances and to reform unjust actions of their employers or government.
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A degree of strategic biracial cooperation existed amongblack and white dockworkers on the waterfronts of New Orleans, Louisiana during the early 20th century. Although the groups maintained racially separate labour unions, they coordinated efforts to present a united front when making demands of their employers. These pledges included a commitment to the "50-50" or "half-and-half" system wherein a dock crew would consist of 50% black and 50% white workers and agreement on a single wage demand to reduce the risk of ship owners pitting one race against the other. Black and white dockworkers also cooperated during protracted labour strikes, including thegeneral levee strikes in 1892 and 1907 as well as smaller strikes involving skilled workers such as screwmen in the early 1900s:
Negroes in the United States read the history of labour and find it mirrors their own experience. We are confronted by powerful forces telling us to rely on the good will and understanding of those who profit by exploiting us [...] They are shocked that action organizations, sit-ins, civil disobedience and protests are becoming our everyday tools, just as strikes, demonstrations and union organization became yours to insure that bargaining power genuinely existed on both sides of the table [...] Our needs are identical to labor's needs: decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures [...] That is why the labor-hater and labor-baiter is virtually always a twin-headed creature spewing anti-Negro epithets from one mouth and anti-labor propaganda from the other mouth.
— Martin Luther King, Jr,"If the Negro Wins, Labor Wins", December 11, 1961[63]
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With ever-increasing levels of international trade and increasing influence of multinational corporations, there has been debate and action among labour movements to attempt international co-operation. This has resulted in renewed efforts to organize and collectively bargain internationally. A number of international union organizations have been established in an attempt to facilitate international collective bargaining, to share information and resources and to advance the interests of workers generally.
Political ideologies:
Topics:
National movements
If 'labourism' sought to protect and defend the interests of labour in relation to this system, 'socialism' sought to change the system itself...
the Craft Guild was looked upon as the representative of the interests, not of any one class alone, but of the three distinct and somewhat antagonistic elements of modern society, the capitalist entrepreneur, the manual worker, and the consumer at large.
