The house of Industry : a new estate of the realm

FACTORS OF VICTORY 95

in the task of separating the political from the economic and conferring upon industry its own self-government, the Labour Party will find both a rejuvenating and a unifying principle.

INDUSTRIAL LABOUR

Wuen, forty years ago, the Trades Union Congress met under the wary guidance of Henry Broadhurst, it was composed exclusively of craft unions. A large proportion of the delegates wore frock coats and top hats and seldom if ever lost their dignity. The Broadhurst régime marked a distinct stage in the history of Congress. Up to that point it was the creation of skilled industries. Trade Unionism had not grown without martyrdom, imprisonments, proscription and suffering. It was, under Broadhurst, a largely Liberal influence, accepting Jaissez-faire and suspicious of Government interference.

Then, like a bolt from the blue, came the great Dock Strike, one of the most dramatic events in Labour’s dramatic history. The upshot was the admission to Congress of ‘‘ unskilled ’’ dockers, while other “‘ unskilled unions ’’ soon followed. A few more years were enough to teach the main lesson that the difference between skilled and unskilled was the varying degrees of union organisation. During the war the truth of this was acutely felt by the craft unions, the Amalgamated Engineers in particular.