Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I European trade policy, 1815–1914
- CHAPTER II Commercial policy between the wars
- CHAPTER III International financial policy and the gold standard, 1870–1914
- CHAPTER IV The gold standard and national financial policies, 1919–39
- CHAPTER V Taxation and public finance: Britain, France, and Germany
- CHAPTER VI State policy towards labour and labour organizations, 1830–1939: Anglo-American union movements
- CHAPTER VII Labour and the state on the continent, 1800–1939
- CHAPTER VIII British public policy, 1776–1939
- CHAPTER IX American economic policy, 1865–1939
- CHAPTER X Economic and social policy in France
- CHAPTER XI German economic and social policy, 1815–1939
- CHAPTER XII Economic policy and economic development in Austria–Hungary, 1867–1913
- CHAPTER XIII East-central and south-east Europe, 1919–39
- CHAPTER XIV Economic and social policy in the USSR, 1917–41
- CHAPTER XV Economic and social policy in Sweden, 1850–1939
- CHAPTER XVI Aspects of economic and social policy in Japan, 1868–1945
- Bibliographies
- References
CHAPTER VII - Labour and the state on the continent, 1800–1939
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I European trade policy, 1815–1914
- CHAPTER II Commercial policy between the wars
- CHAPTER III International financial policy and the gold standard, 1870–1914
- CHAPTER IV The gold standard and national financial policies, 1919–39
- CHAPTER V Taxation and public finance: Britain, France, and Germany
- CHAPTER VI State policy towards labour and labour organizations, 1830–1939: Anglo-American union movements
- CHAPTER VII Labour and the state on the continent, 1800–1939
- CHAPTER VIII British public policy, 1776–1939
- CHAPTER IX American economic policy, 1865–1939
- CHAPTER X Economic and social policy in France
- CHAPTER XI German economic and social policy, 1815–1939
- CHAPTER XII Economic policy and economic development in Austria–Hungary, 1867–1913
- CHAPTER XIII East-central and south-east Europe, 1919–39
- CHAPTER XIV Economic and social policy in the USSR, 1917–41
- CHAPTER XV Economic and social policy in Sweden, 1850–1939
- CHAPTER XVI Aspects of economic and social policy in Japan, 1868–1945
- Bibliographies
- References
Summary
Introduction
Industrialization requires major adaptations and readjustments of the labouring population. The workers drawn into industry must learn not only new skills and techniques, they must also become accustomed to new rhythms and hours of work and submit to new forms of discipline and control. Typically, they must also change their habitual styles of life and their customary environments. All of these changes tend to involve considerable economic and psychological hardships, against which the workers seek to protect themselves. The present chapter is an historical survey of the responses of governments in the major industrial countries of the continent to the problems faced by industrial labour and to the workers' organized efforts to improve their situation. If industrialization created a need for workers to combine for the defence of their interests, it also improved their capability to create common-interest organizations. But the collective actions of workers in the form of strikes, trade unions, and political movements represented an economic threat to employers as well as a challenge to the prevailing system of power and authority. In a broader sense, the inevitable strife was a threat to economic efficiency and to social stability. The basic historical task of labour policy was therefore to provide the means and institutions which would meet the essential demands of the workers and at the same time promote efficiency and preserve law and order. Over time, labour policy necessarily mirrored the changing balance of economic and social forces and was articulated in ways which reflected the ideological commitments of the engaged parties.
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- Information
- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1989
References
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