Such guilds and such journeyman's fraternities as may have
survived were practically helpless against parliamentary rigor
and state benevolence. In the domestic stage of production,
cohesion among workers was not so necessary. But when the factory
system was substituted for the handicraft system and workers with
common interests were thrown together in the towns, they had
every impulsion towards organization. They not only felt the need
of sociability after long hours spent in spiritless toil but they
were impelled by a new consciousness--the realization that an
inevitable and profound change had come over their condition.
They had ceased to be journeymen controlling in some measure
their activities; they were now merely wage-earners. As the
realization of this adverse change came over them, they began to
resent the unsanitary and burdensome conditions under which they
were compelled to live and to work. So actual grievances were
added to fear of what might happen, and in their common cause
experience soon taught them unity of action. Parliament was
petitioned, agitations were organized, sick-benefits were
inaugurated, and when these methods failed, machinery was
destroyed, factories were burned, and the strike became a common
weapon of self-defense.
Though a few labor organizations can be traced as far back as
1700, their growth during the eighteenth century was slow and
irregular. There was no unity in their methods, and they were
known by many names, such as associations, unions, union
societies, trade clubs, and trade societies.
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