B. C. Roberts

The Fourth Estate, 1939–57

The voice of the T.U.C. in the 1930s had been a voice in the wilderness. Neither on the issue of unemployment, nor on that of resistance to the Dictators, had the Government heeded its advice. The occupation of Prague by Hitler, in March 1939, at last altered Government policy so far as the external threat was concerned. Belatedly a stand was made against further Fascist aggression, and preparations were speeded up in readiness for the war that now seemed inevitable. The frustrations of the T.U.C. leadership were not at an end, however, for while they had supported resistance and rearmament, they expected that when the Government finally moved to put the nation on a warlike footing it would do so in consultation with them. Given its commitment to resist Fascism the Council was anxious to assist in such preparations, and at a special conference of executives held in London in May 1939 it presented detailed proposals for the organisation of labour in wartime, including the active participation of the unions in the solution of the problems of labour supply. It also proposed the setting up of a tripartite National Advisory Council to the Ministry of Labour, composed of unionists, employers, and civil servants.

An Example to the Nation, 1931–9

The period between 1926 and 1931 had been one of reorientation for the T.U.C. Most of the radical proposals for internal change in the trade-union movement had been quietly dropped, so that increasingly their only advocates were found upon the extreme Left. Advocacy of massive co-ordinated industrial action and revolution became virtually synonymous, and the General Council set its face against both. Instead of proposing structural reform and a transfer of power to the centre, the General Council had sought to extend its influence in the movement by giving a more realistic definition of policy objectives, and in its handling of the economic problems of the day it certainly acquired a new sophistication and maturity. Undoubtedly the influence of Bevin and Citrine was decisive in this respect, although the part played by Arthur Pugh, and by Milne-Bailey as head of the Research Department, should not be overlooked.

A Break with the Past, 1914–21

The period 1914–21 was one of the most eventful in the history of British trade unionism. It was a time of trade union growth and structural change, of mounting industrial conflict, and of ideological ferment. The stimulating force behind these developments was of course war, and the aftermath of war. Before 1914 labour had rarely been in short supply in Britain, so that the bargaining power of trade unions was in normal times strictly limited. This of course was particularly true of those unions catering for unskilled or semi-skilled workers. The war turned this situation on its head. Unlike previous conflicts in which Britain had been engaged, the war which began in 1914 was of so total a character as to require almost complete mobilisation of the nation’s manpower resources. As the demand for men to fill the ranks of the armed services mounted inexorably, so the resources of labour at home became scarcer. The domestic economy, with its depleted supply of manpower, had not only to continue to provide the population with basic necessities, but had also to meet the demands of the burgeoning armies for more and more munitions. The pressure on manpower was thus acute, not only was the regular labour force that remained absorbed into full employment, but thousands of women entered the labour market to do the jobs for which men could no longer be spared.

Consolidation and the Lib-Lab Alliance, 1868–94

The first Trades Union Congress had undoubtedly been a considerable success, but George Howell, who was to become Secretary, stated over twenty years later, ‘it was hardly expected even by the most sanguine of the promoters of the gathering that the one then being held would really constitute the first of a continuous series, though that was the dream and the hope of the originators of the movement’1

The First Trades Union Congress, 1868

The Congress organised by The Manchester and Salford Trades Council at the Mechanics Institute, Manchester, on 2 June 1868, to discuss ‘the present aspect of trade unions’ has been followed in almost unbroken annual succession over the last hundred years. Today the T.U.C. is recognised on all sides as a body that represents the collective opinions of the great bulk of employees. Its status is such that it is consulted by all governments on every issue that is of public concern to workpeople; its representatives sit on a great variety of public committees and councils; it speaks on behalf of British trade unions in the international labour field. The views of the trade unions that are gathered and formulated at the annual congress are now given practical expression through a General Council that meets monthly, and the General Secretary, assisted by a permanent staff of national officers who carry out their duties from Congress House, one of the most modern and impressive buildings in the centre of London.

The Emergence of the Labour Movement, 1894–1914

Shortly before the Trades Union Congress accepted the new standing orders the Liberal Government was defeated and the Conservatives returned to office to remain in power for ten years. During their first year the new Government carried out a recommendation of the Royal Commission on Labour, which had reported in 1894, by passing a Conciliation Act. This Act gave the Labour Department of the Board of Trade power to encourage the formation of voluntary Joint Conciliation Boards and to use its ‘good offices’ to bring the parties in a dispute together, and to appoint conciliators and arbitrators at the request of the parties. The Act brought the State into the settlement of disputes, but without giving it any power to impose terms on either party.

On the Brink, 1921–6

In 19214 85.9 million working days were lost in industrial disputes, a figure surpassed only once in British history, in 1926, and then only in the unique circumstances of a general strike. The bitter climate of industrial relations during 1921 is perhaps not difficult to explain. Since the end of the war the unions, strengthened by amalgamation and federation, and inflated by vast membership increases, had pushed up money wages and cut the length of the working day. Labour’s offensive continued long after the brief post-war boom collapsed, and money wages did not reach their peak until early in 1921, when prices and employment levels were already falling at an alarming rate. In these circumstances the labour offensive led directly into a capitalist offensive, as employers sought to force down labour costs and so recover their profit margins. But the unions were strongly entrenched in industry and determined to retain as far as possible their post-war gains. Head-on clashes between capital and labour thus occurred along almost the entire industrial front, the most dramatic being the national lock-out in the coal industry.

The Challenge of Change, 1957–68

During the last decade of the century of its existence the T.U.C. has been dominated by the problem of coming to terms with rapidly changing economic, social and political conditions. The role of the T.U.C. in contemporary Britain is of immense significance; no national institution is in a position of greater social importance. The contribution to the welfare of society which the T.U.C. has the opportunity to make cannot be overrated, yet in spite of its supremely important role, the power it represents and the fact that there lies behind it a hundred years of remarkable achievement, the T.U.C. begins its second century of life under a question mark.

Facing the Facts, 1926–31

After the calling off of the General Strike, the General Council was immediately faced with the problem of how to explain its decision to the movement. It was at first proposed to convene a conference of executives during the summer of 1926, but with the Miners’ lock-out still continuing, and with the movement bitterly divided over the Council’s decision, the conference was postponed with the Miners’ agreement. Thus, when the 1926 Congress met at Bournemouth the events of May had still not been debated. The General Council reported to Congress that it intended to postpone an inquest until after the termination of the mining dispute. This was expecting a good deal of restraint from Congress delegates, and the decision was challenged by Jack Tanner of the Amalgamated Engineering Union. Tanner raised an important point. The General Council, he argued, was elected by Congress and was responsible to it; it had no right to withhold information or prevent discussion of so vital an issue.