BRITISH LIBRARY 
OF POLITICAL AND 
ECONOMIC SCIENCE 


LONDON SCHOOL OF 
ECONOMICS AND 
POLITICAL SCIENCE 



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Ci. D. II. COl [ ts Chic hcle Proft:'> or of Social ancl 
P > litic~tl Tl1 't'~r) at 0 rord anJ Pr ., itL nt or th 
abian So ·it.:t \' . 

A Bi t 'r TP .. C l ~() l 
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Thi..., r amrhlct is b.l cd in p.trt lH1 a t:>ric-.; l f artidcc;; 
whi ch appt:.l red in Trillfll( .t rl) in !l)5() . 


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I I, D.trtnwulh S r: ·t. ~.\\'. 1 



No1c.-T hi\' flu11 f '·' :. I1A. c all pubI i cations ( 
t1'..: FA !?!A 1 ' .)0 1i 1 } ·, rL·pre ent. · not tire colic 
l i\ c \'icn· of t/.L .)·(wier_ but only the view of tl 

•:"i,fua! 
H'ho prepared it. The rc:spon~ibility ( 
'ty i.\ lim 't r/ to ep,ll()\'l -? tla· puhlicatiol1 l.\.m ·• • ·ort/z of con. idcH lio.'l H'ith
•ur lot," ,,. · 
I. • 

0 ~ "'' 'I--H1 'u rv .iIS VI 
ADE U !OJ' 
G. D. . COLE 
1. TI-IE \VAGES QU -S 'IOI~ 
-. 
') 
T-IL 
-,0 b a1n with, i anything wrong? If the only purpos~ of a Trade Union ~ 
-is to trike the b,st possible bargain on its mcm r~' behalf in the matlcr 
wage , working hour~. and phy ica] conditions of employment, I do n t 
ink thcr i much ami s. The pre ent leader· of the Trad nion , by and 
·ge, arc comp lent negotiators and hon st m n wh h av found them~clve 
tring t 1e pa t sixteen year -that is, since I 940,-in a p osition of unprece-. 
_n tccl bargaining strenath, but also in one of v r c nsiderabl difficult . It\ b en \ ithin ts1ei1 power at any tim , than s to full em yment, to .'act 
~her wage and a horter workin k than they have actually attcmpt·'d 
· ecure; but in pra tice wha l they have cur~;d ha amounted to a qu~tchidt:rable improvement in real a well as in money wage , a moderate 
juction in lh length of the stan ar working ' c ', and ther'with an 
provem ·nt in overtime earnino-. 
I 
rnings isc 
A compar c with O ctober 1938, the last prvwar year, averag w e ·Iy 
·ning_ in the indu trits cover d by th Ministry of Labour return· had ri en 
242 p r c nt in April I9.55, and wage-rate :clu:ivc f overtime and pi c~;
··rk p.•yrncnt by abLut 145 pt..r ent. Actual hour w r ·ed had increased 
::r the <:.elm~ p riou by rallr·r under ha lf-an-hour a.\\ c ·; but average hourly 
·ning· hLtd irh:rc.ls._cJ by 2-W p'r cent -almo-..t a much~.... wee ·Iy carnin·~·-. 
inl b 'CLtll men, \\ ho a mor ... highly p.-tid , work m re crtim t un 
m n or ju cnilc . 
f cour-..t:, thc.... c i rLre.t-..~.., in mon~y wag~ h.1 t.: been largely c . .1n ell c1 
higher l)'> t of II\ in~. Ac ordin" t the oftlcial in lic.~s, the o t of living 
by a.b 1ut :o r ·r c~nt b"t\\e ·n 193~ an l Jl).n <LlJ, on a new basi o[ cal-
;ltiln, by about 50 p 'r Lent b 'tween 19-J.7 and 1955 that i · to ay by ab )u 
p rccnt in a11. 1 h · .: fl•·ur~_-. . I .knc)w, ar ·eril Ltsly mi~lcadinn, e .pt •.:i lily 
lh ~ p-.:riod 1938-1 ·l-J.7. Uut '\e n if th" actu.. l ri:c from 193) to 195) ,..; 
at\\! lt \._r ] 50 per ''llt, \\ ich I h Id to b.., a ra·rcr Lstim:lk. th~ ith.·rc ~ 
non~.y earn in~ i · ;I! ln:-P '"'· y aLc.lJ, •.l l tlt.1t in'· l "-r<.. · Lnly a l!t 
r t • ·l1ind. 
0 ~ "'' 'I--H1 'u rv .iIS VI 
ADE U !OJ' 
G. D. . COLE 
1. TI-IE \VAGES QU -S 'IOI~ 
-. 
') 
T-IL 
-,0 b a1n with, i anything wrong? If the only purpos~ of a Trade Union ~ 
-is to trike the b,st possible bargain on its mcm r~' behalf in the matlcr 
wage , working hour~. and phy ica] conditions of employment, I do n t 
ink thcr i much ami s. The pre ent leader· of the Trad nion , by and 
·ge, arc comp lent negotiators and hon st m n wh h av found them~clve 
tring t 1e pa t sixteen year -that is, since I 940,-in a p osition of unprece-. 
_n tccl bargaining strenath, but also in one of v r c nsiderabl difficult . It\ b en \ ithin ts1ei1 power at any tim , than s to full em yment, to .'act 
~her wage and a horter workin k than they have actually attcmpt·'d 
· ecure; but in pra tice wha l they have cur~;d ha amounted to a qu~tchidt:rable improvement in real a well as in money wage , a moderate 
juction in lh length of the stan ar working ' c ', and ther'with an 
provem ·nt in overtime earnino-. 
I 
rnings isc 
A compar c with O ctober 1938, the last prvwar year, averag w e ·Iy 
·ning_ in the indu trits cover d by th Ministry of Labour return· had ri en 
242 p r c nt in April I9.55, and wage-rate :clu:ivc f overtime and pi c~;
··rk p.•yrncnt by abLut 145 pt..r ent. Actual hour w r ·ed had increased 
::r the <:.elm~ p riou by rallr·r under ha lf-an-hour a.\\ c ·; but average hourly 
·ning· hLtd irh:rc.ls._cJ by 2-W p'r cent -almo-..t a much~.... wee ·Iy carnin·~·-. 
inl b 'CLtll men, \\ ho a mor ... highly p.-tid , work m re crtim t un 
m n or ju cnilc . 
f cour-..t:, thc.... c i rLre.t-..~.., in mon~y wag~ h.1 t.: been largely c . .1n ell c1 
higher l)'> t of II\ in~. Ac ordin" t the oftlcial in lic.~s, the o t of living 
by a.b 1ut :o r ·r c~nt b"t\\e ·n 193~ an l Jl).n <LlJ, on a new basi o[ cal-
;ltiln, by about 50 p 'r Lent b 'tween 19-J.7 and 1955 that i · to ay by ab )u 
p rccnt in a11. 1 h · .: fl•·ur~_-. . I .knc)w, ar ·eril Ltsly mi~lcadinn, e .pt •.:i lily 
lh ~ p-.:riod 1938-1 ·l-J.7. Uut '\e n if th" actu.. l ri:c from 193) to 195) ,..; 
at\\! lt \._r ] 50 per ''llt, \\ ich I h Id to b.., a ra·rcr Lstim:lk. th~ ith.·rc ~ 
non~.y earn in~ i · ;I! ln:-P '"'· y aLc.lJ, •.l l tlt.1t in'· l "-r<.. · Lnly a l!t 
r t • ·l1ind. 

\VH:\T IS \ 'RO 1G \\ l rH fflF. 11' -\DE . '10 ~S? 

Another \vay of loo ~ing at the situation is in terms of the hare of wa~cs 
in the national product and in the total of per"onal income., excludin(7 SL'Ch 
el"'menL a re crvcd prL)fits. The share of\ raoc-in the total national pnxluct 

f all kind was rouohly 37 p r cent in 1938 and 39.2 per cent in 1954. lt was 
high t in 19-ft, when it reac ed 40 p r cent, an h::1~ ince ftuctu::1t cl b tween 

38.7 per cent and 39.7 pc:r cent, without any teady ten ncy either \Vay. ln 
termc;; or their sh::1re in the total of per. onal income_ the wage-worker, ha vc 
done rather b tter. Their hare was 37.9 perc ,nt in 1938 and 42.4 per cent in 
1954--thc highe t point yet re£lched, though only a small improvement on 
the 4 I .6 per cent of 1948. '\'hat t 1cs~ fi~t:re.s _ ww is that hy bo.th t c:~l.'3 
1hc m·~·n shift to t tc "or ..;.crs' at' ~m1agc oc:enne between 1933 and l9•h,, 
.and that si cc 19-H~ thcr has bet'l! o furH er a' ance ir1 the wor ·crs· s 1are. 
1nflation Pro uce. es1raint 

In face L)f this, is it p ~siblc to ay that the Trade Union_ have done a 
good job in recent years? Why have they not used their power to continue the 
.advance in the proportion of total wealth-creation paid to the \·Vagc-worker-? 
The main reason ha been that the Trade Union leaders have been afraid 
that to press for higher and hioher wage · would involve an inflationary ri r 
jn prices and a crisis in the balance of payment that would make it impossibl 
to pay for the foodsturfs and materials from abro d that are needed tc 

maintain full employment. In this I feel sure they have been correct, on the 
.a sumption that the e onomic system as a w 1ole would continue to operate 
much a" it actually do ' now. f'or, as things arc, hi~her wages and higher 
profit go t<. gcthcr, and higher \Va gcc;; cannot be got at the expcn<>c of profits, 
but on\\ 111 term-. \\ hich kad tn inflation Mtd thu b 1th increase living costs 

' 

-


and de -rc:a'-C e·q orh and the pl)\\t:f tn p.ty ft)r imp 1rt->. There is a ICIOll<> 
circle, whi ·It can be brL)ken only by a fundamental change in the economic 
system ac;; a w ole. 

ln fact, up to the pre. cnt, the majnr part of incrca ·eel productivity has 
been going, not into the spendable income. of the dividend receiver , but 
into investment either out of the reserved pr )fits of bu inc s or out of taxation 
used to finance public capital expenditure--for example, on houses, chools, 
roa s, and other pu 1lic .ef\'icc. . Thi expenditure i necessary-inde d, it 
ought to be much higher than it is if industrial equipment i to be kept 
p roperly up to date and social s rvice-are to advance at a satisfactory pace. 
The Trade Union leaders arc well aware that Great Brit~ in ca1 not afford to 

fall b"-hind in either of rhc">c respects, and th<.st until 'e have put a great effort 
into mec1 anising industri' 1 e uipmcnt an( ckvek1ping th~ capital eq tipmcnt 
of th social service. there cannot b ~ ntuch rL"'lOm for improving real wages, 
at any rak unless mean can be found of preventing e ery v..·ugc-incrca"e from 

r.d prcvcPt!on l.r rnt ;10 l l) pr.tc:i ·c , designed specific~ ly to 
being passed n to the consumer in higher prices. 
B·:t 11'1\V, ac;; nY\.tters stand to-day, can this be prevented? Not by Trade 
Ulli H, ~~.:~ion; fc):the 
Umun'> rpvc: no contro over prices. O nly by trict 

pnc ·-L: )!ltrol"> c. 


WHAT IS W ONG WITH TI IE 1 RADE UNIONS ? 

squeeze the profit-makers and explicitly limit dividends and keep clown 
interest rates. It cannot be done at all under the,_ o-called 'free economy' 
which the Torie. have been trying to bring back ince their return to office in 
1951. Moreover, even if price· and monopolies were brought under etTective 
control, the need would rcmain to invest, in. teacl of spending on con ·umption, 
a very large part of the total product: so that working-class, as well a other, 
spending would have to be held down in order to enable the British economy 
to bring its methods thoroughly up to date. The great difference would be, 
not that the wage-e:uners could have much more to spend in the irnmcdiate 
futur'-, but that the benefits of higher productivity, as they are ;,c!Jievcd, 
could be passe on to the workers instead of being approvriatt:d by capitali-t 
inve tor. throu h reserved profits, as they are at pr sent. 

ce in~ U iJ the }lressure 

Trade Union leaders, whose business it is to have such facts as these in 
mind, cannot properly b blamed for not havino pre sec hard for the highe-:.t 
wage they could exact at the cost of letting inflation rip; for erious inflation 
would hit the wor ·er. a elisa trous blow. The leaders, however, cannot afford 

. ' 

on this orouncl to refrain from wage-pres ·ure that \Vill at any rate prevent the 
wor er ' share in the total of personal incomes from actually falling off. They 
have at lea t to meet any mea ure which threaten this-e.g. the Tories recent 
financial manoeuvres with equivalent vvage-clemands; and any failure 
to do this would soon lose them their members' confidence and lead to a ran ,and-
file revolt. I do not, however, feel that they can be char ed, so far, with 
any grave failure on thi account. 

T hat i, not to say that I believe the leadership of the Trade Union's to 
have been equally wise in other re pects. Subsequent sections of this pamphlet 
will _'how 'here I thin, it ha gone rung. \-Vhnt I 1:1 sa ·ing in tni:; o 'ening 
section is t at in respect of . gcs the Tn de Unions have mar !1°C< tn ho 

p .to 110\''t' t e su stan'-ia acvantag s gainc during the war yc~1rs, an 
cou d ot have t.m n uc : 2Hcr .than t 1is un ess there h3 be n a fro~1t::.. 
rtc n ca·Jitalism as a sysl.em---an nttac ( rc iring po itical '.l"lcti.on of a 
drastic odaHs ldn . 

2. I-IA'T IS RIGI-IT vVITl-I I'HE TRADE UNIONS 
EFORE I begin di~cussino what I believe to be the shortcominP"s of the 

Trade Union movement I want to make clear that I have a deep admiration 
for its achievement ·. o mov ment in the country elicits from it 
mem crs anythimr :lpproaching the same amount of devoted voluntary 
-:;ervice or· acts high a proportion of its c ·~ential work done by volunteers 

ho lab ur for it because they believe in it and without any pro p ct of 
·per ·onal ad antage OVt.::l their fellow-member . othing that I all have to 

'ay about the widcspr .t apathy am ng Trade Unionists i.' inCl)nsistent \\ ith 

this notable f;tct, on \\hid1 the strength and vitdlity of th~ ntire mo\cOPiit 


\\ l I \T ~~~ \\ t{(J~Ll I,TfH T! IE '! R \DE NI001. ? 

dep~n l. Hmvc'v er well the paid offki.:ds serve their Unions-and the great 
m 1jority of them arc C()tllpetcnt. hardwor ·ing and faithful st.:rvants of their 
munbcrs--thc b:tsis of Trade Cnivn pO\\ r is in the unpai cay-to-day ser ·ice 
of the lc'..:~tl adi\ i'ts \v!to :1tt ··nd branch meeting', . crvc as hop steward~ 
CL)mmittec mcm Y'rs, and take the trouble to under 'tand how their Unions 
""·ork. and to maskr the problems\\ ith which they arc rt.: uired to deal. 

1'v1L st of these activi ·ts, I rejL icc to ay, arc animated by loyal y, not only 
to th ir own Unions, but to the wider wor · ing-clas · movement a wt:ll. They 
:He Socialists · s \Vcll as Trad Unionists, and play their part politically as well 
as on the work.shop t1oor. They have every rca ·on to be proud of \ 'hat they 
have achicv 'd; and the shortcomings of whi ·h I ·hall have to spea, are not at 
all their fault. It i larg ly owing to them that the Trade Unions have b"en abk 
so greatly to add to their po\\ er and prestig during the year~ since 1939; and 
I h:1ve nothincr but praise for them. 

ut~if) ~u·ng Ac Jicvch1~.·-ts 

Trade Union oftl.ciab to de er 'C on th whole to be congratulated on 
their uccessfuJ efTort · to imprL) ~~ the tatu · and conditions of the organised 
wor ·ing class. M personal memory goe bac-not only to the bad time· of 

. the depres:i· n in tl e 1930s, but furth r to the year of· Labour unrest ' before 
the \Vorld war of 191-l. Nowad· ys I occasionally hear youno-Trade Unionists, 
who have no clear memory o[ either of these periods, denying that there ha~ 
been ·my re~d improvemnt in the condition or the: \VOrkers, or even sur.g .... sting 
that it has got worse be 'au~e of the increasing' contradictions ' of capitali..;m. 
\Vhat nonsense! 

Since 191--J., and inc ccd since 1939, there ha · been an enormou · improve-
m~.;nt in the posi ion of the worker:::., not only in re. pcct o( standards f living, 
but even more in o 'ial and economic status; and with this has gone an 
imrnense advance in Trad"' Union pO\\ er and pre;:,ti0 t:. What above all else 
haq made these advance· possible has been full employment, which has 
ior..:ed the employing cia'>:::. to treat the worker with much greater consideration 
(or fear of losing his services and not being able to repbce him, and ha 
thus radic<dly changed the character of workshop relations and the behaviour 
of managers and su ervi ·ors in their handling of human problems. With this 
has gone a far-reaching change in the worker·' own attitudes; (or they arc no 
lor.gcr haunkd, a so many of them used to be, by the fear o[ unemploym~nt 
and by the continual in ~curity of their conditions of life. They can now ::-.tand 

up for their right:::. with far less risk:. than u ·ed to he involved; and mo~t of 
them ar' \vel! aware or the hangc and know how much they owe to Trade 
Unionism for helping to bring it about. · 

efcn :· g Flli Enn ~OYI tent 
It is precisely for thi.:; reason that there i o much blk nowadays, in 
rc<\Ctionary circle·, about ' overfull employment ', and so much csire to bring 
l <.tc · u situation in which workers will once more be hunting for carce jo s 
in~tc-ad of emplo ers hunting for \vorkers, so that the old · di ·ciplinc' can be 


\VIl A{ IS \vRO:--lu WlTII rtll. HADL NIO. S? 

-restore and the conce.-sion'\ that hav had to be made can be can ·clled in the 
interest-of the exploiting classes. But despite these desires, both employer· 
and Govcrnm nt have so far hesitated, in face of tl e strength of Trade 
U nioni. m, to challenge it to direct combat, and have limited thcmsc vcs to 
attempts to whittle away the w rkers' gains by such indirect means as the 
removal of f )Od ubsidie , the rai in o( rents, and the 'credit ·qucczc ' 
desi n cl tore. trict the demand for labour. 

If the Trade Union· were to accept these indirect attacks without. offering 

;the mo. t lively resistance, the champions of ca itali m would soon seck to 
press them further and to shove the wor ·ing class back to the inferior status 
land condition from which it has begun to emerge. The gains that have been 
~made are till insecure: their preservation dep ncl on the maintenance of a 
;nghtin spirit in the Trade Unions-on the absolute refu a! to give up \Vhat 
they have won and do()'g d determination to u every chance of advancing

I 

to f urthcr victorie . 
1 Thi , ho·wcvcr, ·annot be achi vcd merely by pre~ ing for waO'e-advdnces, 
'for, as we saw, such claims, pressed too far, may help to destroy the very 'full 
employment ' on which the Trade U nions' power so largely depend . The 
Government's attempts to bring about a re-di tribution of real in omes to 
the detriment of the workers need to be met by political as well as by indu trial 
action-by carryin the Labour Party back to politi al po vcr with a 
pro rammc for maintaining full employment, reducing rate of interest, and 
curing the disequalibrium in the balance of payments by controlling im orts 
and nsurin priority for those forms of ex enditurc, on both capital go )ds 
and consumers' goods, that arc most useful socially and for the improvement 
of economic efficiency, whether or not they are also most profitable to the 
capitalist class. 

In I strial I esponsibii'He 

At the same time it is necc sary to r cognise that the standard of life in 
Great Britain depends absolutely on British industry keeping pace with the 
growth of technical eftlcicncy in other parts of the world, and that thew r 'ers 
however hostile they may be to capitalism, cannot afford to allow British 
industry to fall behind. The Trade Union leader , in stre sing the need for 
the hi~hest pos iblc p roductivity, arc not being false to their mem r ' 
interc·t : on the contrary, they are doing only what is indis cnsablc to safeguard 
the interc t , and they bav a right to look for the fulle. t . u port in 

\ the campaion for hi h r output at the lowe t cost com atibl with ood \:X.'a es 
and condition of work. 
1 he vvorkcr cannot afiord to inn ore the fact that the crisi-throu h which 
the British econ )ll1Y is pa sing is a real cri is that can be cured only by putting 

ritish indu try in a p sition to sell the xports that arc needc to pay for t 1e 
imp rts without which fuJI em )loyment cannot be m'lintaincd or the standard 
of livin be pr"vented from falling. In such a ituation there is no room for 
form· of militanc which, in making trouble for the em lo 'er , at t 1e Slme 


\\'H ·\1 h \vRO 'G \\'I ill 'fll t. 1'Rt\T)[ u, ION ? 

time drrlll::l bC production and w 1r ·en Great Britain's position in t e world 
market. The Tr,1de Unions have to look for ay. and means of dcf nding 
their member-' intcrc. ts that will not have this effect. IE the empk)ycr and 
the G .'crnmcnt attack them, they have to fight back; but they mu t be at 
the same time ready to co-operate in mt::a~ures designed to impro ·e productivity 
and must a v id all forme;; of ' trouble-making ' calculated to ham er 
Briti ·h industry in its om . ctitiv dl' )rt. 

Thi mean that, in the pr s nt situation, it is necessary to attack capitali:
m political! ', rather th:.tn inclustri,:lly, in order to get a G overnment that 
will put the w rking-class claims fir\t, will break down the capitali t monorl 
lie that han1per production, and will prevent scarce capital from being 
fritter("c.l away on luxury output \vhilc urgent claims arc left unsatisfied, Trade 
Unionism alone cannot aCCl mpli~h such ta ks; but it can, if it will, powerfully 
reinforce the Labour Party as an instrument for their achievement, both by 
a much more intensive effort at the political and economic edu ation of it 
n embers and by in i~ting that the Labour Party's programme hall be 

tifiC'ned up for a much more determined advance towards Sociali m and 
planned control of the economy as a whole. 

Tory"Yoting Tra e Unioni;ts 

The need for such a cam aion i.;; evident in view of the fact that in 
re nt (1enera1 Elections 'ell oyc · onc-thir of the manual worker who have 
cast their votec.; have voted for Conservative candidates. No one know how 
many of these Conservative working men and women are Trade Unionists; 
but clearly a great many of them must be, and it is no credit to the Trade 
Unions that such a situation should exist and so little attempt be made by 
the Unions to correct it. Of cour e, many more Trade Unionist vote Labour 
than vote Con. ervative, and the Trade Unic,ns clo, at election time. ma ·e orne 
att... mpt to throw their oroani ed weight on the 'ociali t side. But between 
elections they d far too little to edu ·ate their member politically: and even 
at election time they fall a long way short of mobili. ing their full re ource 
for the potitical struggle. 

Thi~ i.;; fol ly'. from their l1\VI1 point or viC\V; for the maintenance of the 

great advanccc:; thf:'y have helped tn bring about depends fully a much on 

how the country· i..; governed a) on anything they can achieve b_· indu trial 

bargaining or stril--.e action. Jn a later section of thi. pamphlet I shall how 

ho\v tcnuou..; the cxi ·tino lin ·s between the Trade Union rank and file and the 

Labour Party are and shall suggc~t ways of str n~lhcning them. The main 

an ·w~r. ht1\ ever. must be in term.;; t)r a great Trade U nion campaign of 

economic and political education: and in failing to launch such a campaign' 

the 1 raclc Unions, de<;pite the imrnen"e service. they have rendered t the 

wor ·er , are showing a disastrous lack of forc ·irrht. Only an educated demo


cracy can c!Te-:tively exercise power; but it i. no le.s true that an educated 

democracy i'> needed for winning pO\\ Cr and for preventing the great gain of 

tbc pa,:,t two decade-frorn being frittered a\'vay. 


WHAT IS RONG WJ1H TH£ R\DE tJ. 'IO.L ? 7 
3. APATI-IYC:AND CE:t'fTR ALISATION ~ 
HERE are at present about 9} million Trade Unionists, of whom more 

than 8 million arc afliliated to the Trades Union Congrc~s, a"i compared 
with 6 million and 4~ million in 1938. The number of Trade Unionists has 
thus increa cd by more than one hal[, v.hcreac:; the number of Trade Union-s 
has been fallin(Y sharply-in the T.U.C. from 216 in 1 93~ to lRJ in 1955. 
Individual Unionc:; have been getting bigger, ac:; a cons~quencc both of 
amalgamations and of successful recruiting of new members. Over the same 
period, Trade Union bargaining has been gettin(Y more centrali">cd, as well 
as spreading over a wider fl eld. 

ran-·h Interest Lost 

In mo:.;t induc;tries to-day, wage-rate and general conditions are settled 
by nation-wide bargainin or arbitration, which applic to large masscc:; of 
workers. Thi~ type of bargaining is ncces arily done by quite small groups 
of full-time national official· and executive r1\cmber , o that the 
local branches ancl . hop organi ·at ions of the workers have only a 
remote part in it, though the member may be called upon to vote for or 
aga inst a particular agreement, eith r directly by referendum or through some 
sort of delegate onference. The result is that the average Trade Union 
branch or district has much less say than it u cd to ha in bargaining about 
such matters and has come to deal much le with the fixing of \vage-ratc and 
general working conditions than with applying national agr em nt · to local 
circumstances and traditions. Such application, moreover, ha · toy be done 
largely in each separate establi ·hment, throuoh shop steward and shop 
committee., rather than in a whole town or di trict: so that the branch or 
the district committee has lost power both to the centre and to the wor ·place 
organisation-abo c all, in engineering and in coal-minino. T he e changes 
tend to make branch meetings both less important an les interc. ting than 
they used to be when bar ainin(Y was larg ly local and a go-ahead branch or 
district committee could affect local wa (Yc and condition · much more directly 
than it can to-day. 

The ri:e in membership has had another irnportant efiect. Trade Unions, 

v. hen they had fewer member ·, con i ·ted ITHlinly of those workers who were 
keener and more active than the re t. But no\.vadays a great n1any wor ·er 
belong to a Trade Union not b cause they are keen on it but becau c tltcy 
have to in order to get ~r hold their jobs. It is a natural consequence that 
the pro ortion of apathetic members has increased. 
Dcvo ution 0 c Answ 'l' 

Thirdly, it mu t n l be forgotten that Trade Union·, like many other 
boclic., have to face the competition of many m 1re ri al attractions than \Vere 
open to their members in past years. Trade Union bran h meetina need" to 
be more intere ·ting and important th"m fonn~::rl in order to induce more t an 


,., ' ~

... 

n ... • a.


Pf-'~·E:~ _'CU PI" t H'HLr;:f'·; 

16 7 CoLO.. 1.\L -r !Z \DI·. uI 1!0, 1S 

\Valtcr D wen. 
1/ 6 

16R rv·. Clllt 'I RY OF Pee.. ·o: llC POL1L Y. 

Robin :rvran i'. 
2/6 

IGtl REl ORM OI· T!I E LOt..D3 

Lord Chorle ', Bc:rn:ud Cric ·, D. Chapman. 1.P. 2/


170 P OLICY I·OR THE BUILnlNG { NDUS'T .!"?. ,· 

Kenneth Albert 
I I


171 NEW 
~ .f~NSIONS [·OR THE O LD 
Brian Abei-Smith a11d Peter T ov.nsen 1/ 6 

172 T HE N ...-V TOWNS. 
Norman 1-.Iac :r"nzi~ l/6 

173 /\ Soc! ALJS r EoucATI00! roucy 

H. D. Hughes 
l /6 
174 RENT' A :0 SoriAL Poll Y 

David E cr"~ ~Y· 
2/


175 FOOD P OLICY 

I'\ orman \Vood 
1/ 6 

176 P LA:---. 
roR ·r ilE :\Ir'CRAf· r l,...;ou. ·rR Y 

Frank Be. \Vick, LP. 
1I


177 T HI.:. F TUIZE 0 -: RETA lUK'G 
Richard Evcl) 2/6 

J7'f: h , 1.\:":CL 'G LOCAL GOVLR0:~!1?:'\ l 

A. H. Hanson 
1 16 
-. 

179 T HE 
\Vr:.sT l NDL\1 • JN BRJ r I'\ 

Clarence Senior and Dougb ).1<!nlcy 
1/ 6 

180 L EASETlOLD E. f· R:\. 'CH I~·E:'\1E . I 

Arthur Sl~ctl!ngton, 1 f .P. 
2/


181 P LAN FOR COTIO. 
· .T ohn t-.1urray 1/6 

T R1 C S -v· . 

295 A. tr:RTCA FoRErc•.: Por rcY 
Elaine \Vindri h 


296 Poucy A 'D tYEAPo:..;.., 1:--.: I II!· N ucrx.\R, G! . 
Iv!icbacl Stewart, 't\!.P. 1/


2lJ7 l3FA"! IUCE 'D SIDNEY '\:Vr.nB 
.M arg,,tret Cole 3/6 

2<.J8 SOCL-\Ll':-~1 A, D T HL 1 EW 0 ESf'OI1S\! 

I . H. S. Crossnnn. ,J.P. 
1/6 
29<:> P LA'r 
I·OR SmPuun DING 
f·. T . Willey; Ivf.P. { 


\

300 SocJAJ I~ , AND NATin;"AUS-\ no:-~ · 
Hugh Gaits 'ell, }.l.P. 2/ 


. 

j 

0 •· >: 1 i.t lt>n.lon by Dt·lunpurl l'rcYS I it[. H'l:! 
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