490 Chapter 25
by great landowners) nor their liberal opposition (typi-
cally dominated by industrialists and manufacturers)
did much to address the problem. Consequently, labor
unrest and labor movements grew. These took two dif-
ferent forms: (1) associations of workers in the trade
unions, seeking to persuade employers to grant better
wages and working conditions, and (2) political move-
ments, usually socialist, seeking to create governments
that would govern in the interest of the laboring class.
Trade union movements grew slowly because they
were illegal. In some countries, the legislation abolish-
ing the monopolies of medieval guilds (such as the
Chapelier Law of 1791 in France) also blocked unions.
The traditional privileges of guilds survived in parts of
Europe, however. German governments were still try-
ing to legislate the principle of Gewerbefreiheit(the free-
dom to practice an occupation) in the 1850s; Denmark,
Sweden, and Russia adopted such laws in the 1860s. In
other countries, legislation explicitly banned trade
unions, as a series of Combination Acts did in Britain.
Changes in the Combination Acts in 1824–25 permit-
ted the first legal unions, although they could neither
strike nor restrain business. Other laws also restricted
workers, as the “Tolpuddle martyrs” discovered in 1834
when they were convicted of the crime of taking a se-
cret union oath. Nonetheless, British trade unionism
grew during the 1840s, and the prosperity of the 1850s
accelerated this growth (see document 25.1). The
Amalgamated Society of Engineers, a union of mechan-
ics founded in 1850, created a model of successful orga-
nization, based on collecting dues and offering services.
Such unions of skilled labor (sometimes called “the
labor aristocracy”) flourished during the 1850s
and 1860s, culminating in a potentially powerful
alliance of unions—the Trades Union Congress—
founded in 1868.
Continental Europe trailed Britain in labor organiza-
tion. The revolutions of 1848 stimulated a German labor
movement, but few organizations survived the political
repression of the 1850s. It was the late 1860s before
stronger unions appeared in Germany, and these were
created by the workers’ political movement. A variety of
workers’ societies, such as traditional journeymen’s soci-
eties (compagnonnages), competed in France despite the
Chapelier Law. Napoleon III felt paternalistic sympathy
for French workers and approved liberal laws of 1864–68
legalizing their associations. When he died in exile years
later, representatives of labor unions were the only
French delegation at Napoleon III’s funeral.
A second workers’ movement, focusing on political
activity, developed alongside trade unionism. This
DOCUMENT 25.1
The Program of an Early Trade
Union: The Drapers, 1845
A draper is a dealer in cloth, such as the cloth that might be
used for curtains (or “drapes”). Sometimes the term also in-
cluded dealers in clothing and other dry goods. As a conse-
quence of the industrialization of textile manufacturing, there
was a great expansion of the drapers’ business and rapidly
changing conditions of work. Drapers consequently made one
of the first efforts to found a union during the industrial age.
The following is the program of the drapers’ union of 1845 in
Britain.The object of this association shall be to obtain an
abridgment of the hours of business in the linen
and woolen drapery, silk mercing, hosiery, haber-
dashery, lace and other trades, with a view to the
physical and moral and intellectual improvement
of those engaged therein:- by appealing to the public to abstain from
shopping in the evening, by means of pub-
lic meetings, sermons, lectures, tracts, and
the press. - by representing to employers the evils aris-
ing from late hours of business and the ad-
vantage which would accrue from closing
their shops at an early hour. - by impressing upon the minds of assistants
the importance of using the time at their
disposal in the improvement of their men-
tal faculties, by the aid of literary institu-
tions, lectures, and libraries, and by urging
upon them the desirableness and advan-
tages of industry in business, correctness of
behavior, and intellectual acquirements. - by employing only such means as are of a
peaceful and conciliatory nature, and by re-
fusing to sanction or adopt any measure
having a tendency to coerce or injure the
interests of employers....
“Rules of the Metropolitan Draper’s Association” (London,
1845). In Ludwig Schaefer et al., eds., Problems in Western
Civilization.New York: Scribner’s, 1965.