LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. Under this head are included those more or less prolonged associations of productive workers, whose prin cipal purpose is the improvement of the condi tions of employment. The labor organization is thus differentiated on the one hand from the strike—a temporary association—and on the other hand, from friendly societies and socialist organizations, which, though frequently recruited exclusively from the ranks of labor, are chiefly devoted to other ends than the improvement of the conditions of employment. Among labor organizations two distinct classes are discernible —those organized on the trade or occupational principle and those which transcend occupational hounds and attempt to amalgamate in a single, homogeneous organization, all classes of labor. The former—the trade union—is treated in de tail in the article on TRADE UNIONS, where a further discussion of the relation of the trade union to the general labor organization is given. The latter class alone is considered in the pres ent article, and for brevity the term labor o• ganization will he restricted to this group, the lion-trade organizations.
In England the first great wave of labor or ganization came about 1830. The repeal of the Combination Acts in 1824 had been followed by an unprecedented activity among trade unions, which resulted in an outburst of strikes that were as generally unsuccessful as they were vio lent and costly. The conviction became general among wage-earners that the old trade union was too exclusive in membership and too conservative in policy; and this conviction was increased by the socialistic agitation of Robert Owen, Wil liam Thompson, and others. In 1829 a Grand General Union of the United Kingdom was es tablished among the textile workers. in 1830 some twenty organized trades united in the for mation of the National Association for the Pro tection of Labor. In January, 1834. came Robert Owen's Grand National Consolidated Trades Union.
The character of this organization was strik ingly similar to that of the Knights of Labor. Both began as secret organizations with elabo rate ritual and fantastic ceremonies, and both abandoned at a subsequent period the policy of extreme secrecy. Both admitted trade unions as a unit, hut both placed the greater emphasis upon amalgamation, and established local unions of mixed membership, known in the Grand Na tional Consolidated as 'miscellaneous lodges.' Both laid special emphasis upon the organization of women and unskilled laborers, both looked forward to the supersession of the wage system by some scheme of •ooperative production. and
both conducted disastrous experiments in co operation. Finally, both grew with unhealthful rapidity; "within a few weeks the union ap pears to have been joined by at least half a mil lion members." The Grand National had eontemplated a uni versal strike as the first step toward general eo operation, hut the strikes it inaugurated proved unsueeessful. and in August. 1834, it was transformed into the British and Foreign Con solidated Association for Industry. 1Tumanity, rind Knowledge. This in turn spent its strength in cooperative experiments, and from that time until the appearance of the new unionism, Eng lish labor organizations were chiefly, though not exclusively, characterized by the attempt to fas ter cooperative production.
With the reawakening of English socialism in the early eighties came another determined assault upon the conservative methods of the old trade unions. The feeling became prevalent among those trade unionists who were also so cialists that the progress of the masses was actually hindered by the aristocratic exclusive ness of the skilled trades, where unions were in clined to build up extensive systems of insur ance benefits and avoid politics. particularly socialism. Among labor leaders the struggle centred largely about the control of the Trade Union Congress; in the world at large, the ef forts of the new unionists were characterized by the attempt to organize the unskilled workers of the cities, with the ultimate object of forming a large party in favor of nomicipal ownership, and later of introducing municipal socialism. ln London the efforts of the new leaders—John Burns, Tom Mann, Benjamin Tillet, and other -were crowned with unexpected success. In 1888 the match girls organized and won a strike. in 1889 the gas-stokers were organized into the Gasworkers' and General Laborers' Union, and succeeded in winning all eight-hour day with a slight increase of wages. In 1889 came the fa mous strike of the London dock laborers,'which, under the able leadership of John Burns, and with the generous support of the puldie. resulted in an epoch-making victory. The result of these successes was the complete victory of the new unionists in the Trade Union Congress, and a large crop of organizations among the unskilled workers, all of which are marked by the eommoo characteristics of low dues, few or no insurance benefits, aggressive trade policy, political activ ity, and a strong leaning toward socialism.