Trade Unionism - The Council of Action and the Formation of the AEU and the TGWU Flashcards
The Council of Action - Background - What seemed inevitable in 1920 and what did the TUs do to combat this?
In 1920, war between Britain and Russia seemed possible over the Russo-Polish war – the socialists among the TUs were opposed to this since Russia was communist – the TUs and the Labour Party created a Council of Action, a committee for organising political action – this was supported by around 500 local councils of action
The Council of Action - Background - What did the TUs to to prevent Britain supporting Poland’s war effort?
To prevent Britain supporting Poland’s war effort, they prepared to hold strikes to disrupt British production and raised awareness of the situation among the public – as a result, 6000 protestors attended a march in London
The Council of Action - Why was the Council of Action important - How did it affect the relationship between the middle and working classes?
It raised tension between the working and middle classes – they were supporting a communist country, and some Councils of Action, such as in Birmingham, were discussing wider socialist change
The Council of Action - Why was the Council of Action important - How did the Council of Action affect the damage done by Black Friday?
The Councils of Action repaired the damage of Black Friday by building a loose network between TUs and an infrastructure for organising strikes
The Council of Action - Why was the Council of Action important - What did a gov investigation into the Council of Action show and what happened after the Russo-Polish War?
A gov investigation into the Councils of Action showed that they were not sufficiently well organised to pose a real revolutionary threat, and the gov took them less seriously – when the Russo-Polish War ended in 1921, the Council of Action lacked a purpose and ended before any real conflict could appear with the gov
The formation of the AEU and TGWU - What led to the formation of these groups?
The inability to defend workers effectively forced TUs to group together into larger, amalgamated unions which represented more trades
The formation of the AEU and TGWU - The AEU - What was the AEU?
The Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) was an alliance of 9 smaller engineering unions formed around an older organisation, the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
The formation of the AEU and TGWU - The AEU - When did it form and what was its main strength?
It formed in 1921 and included unions like the Steam Engine Makers Society – the strength of the AEU was that the members were all highly skilled craftsmen, and they could afford to pay one shilling per week – this made the AEU financially stable, with economic resources to fund strikes – this discouraged employers from getting into conflict with them
The formation of the AEU and TGWU - The TGWU - What was the TGWU, when formed, how many unions and workers?
The Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) was the largest union – it formed in 1922 from 14 unions representing 350,000 workers
The formation of the AEU and TGWU - What was unusual about the TGWU?
What was unusual was that it had a particularly wide range of trades, including dock and road transport workers, but also clerical and administrative workers
The formation of the AEU and TGWU - What was the attitude of other unions to the amalgamated groups?
However, many unions disliked the amalgamated unions, since they saw them as removing the independence of individual TUs – smaller unions met in councils of action to represent workers in their locality in industrial disputes
