TRADES UNIONISM

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2369, 27 January 1915, Page 7

TRADES UNIONISM

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m MESEBM. ATMSOWS LECTURE , i The Australasian organiser of tie Workers' Educational Association (Mr. Meredith Atkinson) delivered a lecture in the Town Hall last evening on "The Growth of Trades Unionism." He was assisted by ■his' colleague, Mr. David I Stew ait. 'Sto \ecta«rs <m\y arrived Vy ' the Sydney boat at about a quarter to eighty and .were taken straight to the Town Hall. The Trades Hall had wirelessed them in the afternoon to be prepared'for such an emergency. At noon' to-day they will be officially welcomed by . the Mayor. The object of their visit to New Zealand is to establish bfanchqs of. the association. At the lecture the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) presided, and introduced the speaker. He said that the association Btood for the improvement of the people. Mr.; Atkinson was .received with apand he thanked the audience, for the kindly welcome extended to him. He said that the tour he had undertaken in Australia had been a great success, and that he had been assured that similar success • would attend' the New. Zealand tour also. His lecture, he went on to say, would be about "The History of Trades Unionism." He wished to destroy at the outset the' impression that trades unionism grew out of the merchant guilds. These guilds did not inolude workers; they were composed of merchants who did not pool their, resources, but combined their interests. Finally, in the ordinary evolution ,of trade, the merchant guilds became submerged by the craft guilds. There were apprentices in those days, and every apprentico. then could look .forward to . one day becoming a master craftsman. That condition of affairs existed till the 15 th century, when changes occurred, and there arose for the first time a dependent class, which eventually banded together in . a common defence against a superior class. ' Trades unionism, though inevitable, had been hastened into robust existence by the factory system. It was probably in 1565 that the first strike occurred. The real beginning of trades unionism was the journeymen's societies of the sixteenth century. But the factory system was the very natural sphere in which trades unionism grew. The! seventeenth century saw .much done to oppose the combination of workers, but in the following century the restrictive measures were removed, from the Statute Book, arid trades unionism then went ahead rapidly. One of the oldest trades unions in existence was the Hat Finishers' Union, which lived through air efforts to suppress it. In the eighteenth .century, and .well on into the; nineteenth century, the _ children of the worktrs. received practically no education, and at about tnose> times the prisons of England were frequently filled with'strikers./ Speaking of the influence of.. Robert Owen, who believed in the workers controlling their productions, Mr. Atkinson said that it oould now be seen that, ih Owen's day-the-time was-.not ripe for big federations. By 1860 a strong trade union system was built up, but in 1870 the laws of England were disgracefully oppressive. of the workers. Agitation resulted in the complete amendment of the law in 1875, and trades unionists , were .placed'on. the level of .an ordinary citizen in . relation to their employer. The final phases of trades unionism-came in the late seventies : and the early eighties. The new unionists grouped "themselves and do tefmined .to/ fight ofcr. .fsfcj greater sgdj. vances than the" old' unionists. _had sought. About this time Socialism made its appearance in trades unionism,, and-it began to affect union policy : in many ways. In later days the unskilled unions had grown to wonderful strength, and became before long the advance'guard. , As to Syndicalism, he said that his impression was that the great mass of English trades to-day were not that advanoed, and were really conservative in their thought. However, what did the amalgamations which had of late been seen, mean, if they_ did. not mean Syndicalism ? He believed there would be a big general strike in Great Britain- in-, the next few years. Ifr. Atkinson's opinion was that Syndicalism had very little influence as a dcctrine .on' the British trades unionist movement. Syndicalism was against lie spirit of the ordinary trades unionist, and he did not think" that Syndicalism itxrald' ever grow, in England as it had •grown in America. Mr. David Stuart spoke of the great need of an educated democracy, and urged the acceptance of the association's scheme. He said that great success had befallen the movement in Australia. The task was not to pick out the brainy/man, but to reach .the democracy as .a whole.