8 - The liberal capitalist starting point

Summary

ABSTRACT

This chapter traces the development of labour unions as a response to liberal capitalist structures between the late eighteenth and the middle of the twentieth century. It starts off by asking how the introduction of the factory system led to the formation of early unions and how these were different from the old guilds that had characterized the social organization of life in pre-industrial times. Thereafter, it traces their long struggle for recognition and the divisions within the union movement. The chapter discusses both the Global North and the Global South by looking at the development of labour unionism in the colonial and semi-colonial periphery before 1945.

Keywords: liberal capitalism; union genesis; union development

INTRODUCTION

There undoubtedly were a “variety of capitalisms” (Hall & Soskice 2001) that shaped industrialization processes in different parts of the world between the eighteenth century and the present day. And for much of the twentieth century, industrialization also occurred in communist regimes that postulated that they marked the transition from capitalism to communism (Stearns 2013). Yet, it still remains the case that labour unionism fundamentally began to emerge under conditions of industrialization in liberal capitalist regimes. This chapter traces their development as a response to liberal capitalist structures between the late eighteenth and the middle of the twentieth century. It starts off by asking how the introduction of the factory system led to the formation of early unions and how these were different from the old guilds that had characterized the social organization of life in pre-industrial times.

In many parts of the world, unions struggled for a long time to gain acceptance by employers and the state, often in the form of legal rights and policy. This chapter traces this struggle among some of these industrializing countries from the nineteenth century to the end of the Second World War. The fight of unions for legal recognition and legitimacy was accompanied by debates surrounding the best way to organize that came to focus upon two contrasting principles – organizing by craft or organizing by industry. At the same time, ideological divisions between unions emerged, with socialism, syndicalism, Christianity, liberalism and communism being the main contenders for unionized workers’ loyalty