Trades in some towns which had guild regulations
that had the force of law hung on to their customs with
difficulty.
Although there were few large factories in the country under
effective management of a capitalist, trade unionism was beginning
as two distinct classes of men were being formed in factories. The
factory owner was so high above his workmen that he found himself
on the same level as other capitalists, the banker, who gave him
credit, and the merchant, who gave him customers. Journeymen in
factories could no longer aspire to become masters of their trade
and no longer socialized with their employers. Hard and fast rules
replaced the freedom of the small workshops. Each worker had his
allotted place and his strictly defined and invariable duty.
Everyone had to work, steadily and without stopping, under the
vigilant eye of a foreman who secured obedience by means of fines,
physical means, or dismissals. Work started, meals were eaten, and
work stopped at fixed hours, signaled by the ringing of a bell.
Factory hours were typically fourteen hours or more. Organized
resistance, as usual, began not with those most ill-treated, but
with those men who had some bargaining power through their skills.
Wool-combers, who worked next to a charcoal stove where they
heated the teeth of the comb, were the most skilled of the cloth
industry were hard to replace. Since they were nomadic, they
quickly organized nation-wide.
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