Trade unions and emigration, 1840-80

Bibliographic Data

ID4268261
AuthorsRoger V Clements (corresponding author)
Year1955
Volume9
Issue2
Pages167
Publication date1955-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-4728 • E-ISSN: 1477-4747
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2172166
OpenAlexW4242938459
LanguageEN
Citations received8

It was long held that between 1845 and 1880 British trade union leaders were dominated by the dogmas of classical economists. This hypothesis has been challenged on the grounds that the “Junta” ruled but a part of the trade union movement, and that the rest had lost little of its militancy and class loyalty.1 It may be added that this was true, fundamentally, of trade unionism as a whole. The history of strikes and of restrictive practices, the expressed views of trade unionists, their animadversions on political economy, as well as the contemporary failure of other sections of society to recognise this supposed complaisance of the labour movement, further discredit the theory.2 However, the Webbs suggested that the provision of emigration facilities by unions was the purest example of the alleged new outlook, and after several writers had incorporated the idea in their works, recent research has attempted to substantiate it.3 Briefly this thesis claims that union leaders habitually favoured the emigration of their members, desiring to accommodate their policies to the teachings of economics regarding the rule of the “law” of supply and demand in the labour market

Business · Demographic economics · Economics · Emigration · Labour economics · Law and economics · Loyalty · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Trade union · Australian History and Society · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

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