In many countries there is a tendency to encourage and to recognise the principle of joint representation of workers and employers on State bodies—a tendency seen in the Joint In dustrial Councils in Great Britain. Organised employees and employers are represented on the International Labour Organ isation, and the right of association is guaranteed by the Treaty of Peace.
Socialist ideas were in many countries an important factor in giving a constructive purpose to the trade union movement. In France, the influence of Socialist doctrines in developing the aims of trade unionism is clearly seen, though in the opening years of the loth century, there was a break between the Socialist Party and the Confederation Generale du Travail, and the latter body at its Conference in 1906, whilst affirming that it included "all workers consciously taking part in the struggle to abolish the wage-earning system and the employers," declared that it stood "apart from all political schools of thought." In Germany, so long ago as 1854 a Federal Council decree was directed towards the dissolution of all unions pursuing Socialist aims. The Anti-Socialist Act of 1878, though not aimed at the trade unions, did as a matter of fact, result in the dissolution of a number of organisations. At the present time however, the great majority of the trade union membership in Germany be longs to the Socialist trade unions.
In Belgium again, the close association of the political and trade union elements has been one of its chief characteristics, and the Trade Union Committee, which was set up by the Socialist Congress in 1898, controls the bulk of the trade union member ship.
One striking difference between what may be called the British type of trade unionism and the continental type is the intrusion of religion into the movement in some European coun tries. In the three countries referred to, the trade union move ment is divided not only by political differences, but by religious differences. For example, in Germany the trade unions fall into clearly defined groups—the General Federation of Trade Unions (comprising the Socialist unions), the three federations of Christian workers (the German Federation of Christian Trade Unions, the Federation of Salaried Employees, and the Feder ation of Unions of Civil Servants) and the Federation of National Trade Unions (which repudiates Socialism). There is also a
Communist Union of Hand and Brain Workers. At the end of 1925 the General Federation of Trade Unions had a membership of 4,182,511; the Christian unions claimed 582,319 members, and the national unions 157,571 members.
In France the Confederation Generale du Travail about the same time had a membership of 553,770. The Confederation Generale du Travail Unitaire, which has been a prey to Com munist controversy, was credited with 505,000 members, whilst the Confederation of Christian Workers was reported to have a membership of approximately 120,000.
In Belgium in 1925 the Trade Union Committee had a mem bership of 594,988, the Christian unions about 18o,000, whilst the neutral unions contained only a few thousand workers.
The table shows the growth of membership in over 20 coun tries from 1910 to 1919 and covers all the most important countries in the world except Russia, where figures are not available for the pre-war years, and China, Japan and India, where trade unionism was little developed before the War.
Reliable estimates are available for the following 20 countries (United Kingdom, Germany, U.S.A., France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Serbia). The total trade union membership was at the end of 1910, 10,835,000; 1914, 13,222,000, 1919, 32,680,000.