9. The Development of Trade-Unionism and Its Relation to Social Reform.— It was one of the cardinal points of economic liberal ism that perfect freedom of contract should prevail in the economic relations of employer and employee, but in actual practice the freedom was chiefly that of the employer to reject the services of the employee. Where one party to the contract could refrain from participation with equanimity while the other party would be threatened with starvation, there could be neither freedom nor equality of contract; un organized labor was thus wholly at the mercy of the capitalistic employer. On the other hand, if the laborers could combine and withhold the services not merely of one man, but of a large number, the concern of the employer over the failure to make the labor contract could be greatly increased, while the suffering of the employees could be lessened through co-opera tion in bearing the mutual loss. The desire to meet the employer on relatively equal terms has been the central impulse in the development of modern trade-unionism. The question has often been raised as to the relation between the modern trade-unions and the older gild organi zations. It has been shown pretty conclusively that there was no genetic connection between them; in England there was a long hiatus be tween the end of the gilds and the origin of unions, and even on the Continent there is little evidence that trade-unions grew up out of previous gild organizations.
In England, trade-unionism was early pro hibited by the Combination Laws of 1799 and 1800. In 1824 Francis Place and Joseph Hume smuggled an act through Parliament legalizing organization, but this was repealed in the fol lowing year. Owen's attempt to stimulate unionism in the ((thirties" failed. In the °sixties° the cause of unionism was taken up by the so-called °Junta,° made up of Allen, Applegarth, Coulson, Guile and Odger. By acts of 1871 and 1875 organization and strikes were legalized. Though the reactionaries in the Taff Vale and the Osborne cases (1901 and 1909) tried to weaken the unions, the Liberal party in legislation following 1905 has practi cally abrogated the effects of these decisions. To-day labor organization is probably the most effective aid to the English urban proletariat. At the outbreak of the World War these unions had about 3,000,000 members. In France, an act of 1864 gave the laborers the right to organize and a later law of 1884 authorized them to strike. Since that time there has been a great increase in the number of unionists, accompa nied by a bitter struggle between those who cling to orthodox methods and those who incline to ward the greater radicalism of the Syndicalist movement. The French labor unions now boast of over 1,000,000 members. In Germany trade unionism was originally little impeded by oppos ing legislation, but it came under the ban dur ing the anti-socialist campaign from 1878 to 1890. Since then it has been little restricted. Most of the German unionists are organized in Social Democratic or "Free' unions, embrac ing about 2,000,000 members. In no other im portant country have the unionists so faithfully maintained the ideals of excellent craftsman ship which were so characteristic of the me diaeval gilds. Trade-unionism has spread to most other European countries, though in many, especially in the Romance nations, it has tended toward aSyndicalism." In the United States extensive labor organization began following the Civil War with the Knights of Labor, an organization which declined after the violent strikes of 1886. Their place was taken by the American Federation of Labor, an organization which now numbers about 2,500,000.
The policies of labor unions have centred about two main avenues of attack upon the capitalists. Matters of immediate interest, such as wage agreements with employers, are ar ranged either by peaceful collective bargaining or by more violent action, such as strikes and boycotts. For the more general advancement of the status of the proletariat they rely upon the possibility of obtaining legislation favorable to the interests of the laboring classes. Which
of these two policies is most stressed varies with different unions and in different countries, but, on the whole, it is probable that the strike policy has predominated. The degree to which the trade-unions have attempted to gain polit ical power has differed widely with time and nation. In Germany, most unionists in mem bers of the Social Democratic party; n France, orthodox unionists tend to affiliate with the socialists, while the radicals who incline toward "Syndicalism" eschew all political activity; in England, the unionists have a more or less dis tinct labor party of considerable proportions; in the United States, Samuel Gompers has at tempted to keep the American Federation of Labor out of distinct political activity, though he has several times declared his own prefer ence for candidates at Presidential elections. An accessory but very important feature of trade-unionism has been the development of fraternal and co-operative activities among members.
While the growth of organized labor has been one of the outstanding features of the so cial and economic history of the 19th century it is handicapped by many imperfections. The attempt to prevent violence through making arbitration of labor disputes compulsory has met with only temporary and local success, most notably in Australasia, though the tendencies seem to be moving in this general direction. Again, many powerful employers and associa tions of employers have even yet so little adjusted their economic orientation to the modern industrial world that they refuse to recognize the validity of the principles or the practices of labor organizations. As a result, the relations between capital and labor are too frequently of the nature of slightly mitigated industrial warfare. Finally, while there can be little doubt that labor organizations have done more than anything else to advance the material interests of the laboring classes in the last half century and hive been the most potent factor in promoting industrial democracy, yet trade unionism is bound to be unsatisfactory to those who do not believe in merely alleviating the misery of the proletariat, but hope to over throw the whole modern capitalistic order. Orthodox trade-unionism aims chiefly to im prove the lot of the laborer within a capitalistic industrial society, but accepts the implied per sistence of this order. Therefore, those who wish the institution of a society controlled by the proletariat and desire to achieve this revo lution by economic means rather than by the political methods of socialism have tended to leave trade-unionism and go over to the more radical labor movement which has found its greatest strength in "Syndicalism." 10. The Development of Syndicalism and the Radical Labor Movement.— Syndicalism, which originated as a French labor movement and has since spread to other countries, par ticularly Italy and America, is the most recent radical proletarian movement of any significant proportions to develop. Syndicalism resembles socialism in desiring to end the present capital istic economic order; it bears some similarity to trade-unionism-in believing that the economic point of attack is most likely to be most effect ive and in using labor organization as the chief instrument for gathering the forces of the pro letariat; it is like anarchism in desiring the abolition of political forms of control over mankind. It differs from socialism in reject ing the efficacy of political activity and in re fusing to accept state socialism, even in a pro letarian state; it diverges from trade-unionism in favoring, as the unit of organization, the in dustrial rather than the craft union and in aiming to get rid of the capitalistic employer altogether; and, while bearing a closer relation to anarchism than to socialism, it does not pro pose so thorough an abolition of all existing in stitutions as the anarchist desires, and it seems likely to retain a far greater amount of au thorative control over the members of the syndicalist society, even though it may try to evade this in theory by refusing to designate such control as governmental or political.