These societies had
no legal status and their meetings were usually held in secret.
And the Webbs in their "History of Trade Unionism" allude to the
traditions of "the midnight meeting of patriots in the corner of
the field, the buried box of records, the secret oath, the long
terms of imprisonment of the leading officials." Some of these
tales were unquestionably apocryphal, others were exaggerated by
feverish repetition. But they indicate the aversion with which
the authorities looked upon these combinations.
There were two legal doctrines long invoked by the English courts
against combined action--doctrines that became a heritage of the
United States and have had a profound effect upon the labor
movements in America. The first of these was the doctrine of
conspiracy, a doctrine so ancient that its sources are obscure.
It was the natural product of a government and of a time that
looked askance at all combined action, fearing sedition,
intrigue, and revolution. As far back as 1305 there was enacted a
statute defining conspiracy and outlining the offense. It did not
aim at any definite social class but embraced all persons who
combined for a "malicious enterprise." Such an enterprise was the
breaking of a law. So when Parliament passed acts regulating
wages, conditions of employment, or prices of commodities, those
who combined secretly or openly to circumvent the act, to raise
wages or lower them, or to raise prices and curtail markets, at
once fell under the ban of conspiracy.
Pages:
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31