ABSTRACT
British Labour leaders like Odger, Howell, and Cremer had no dispute with the order of Marxian ideas nor with the further Marxian position that it was a working-class necessity to stop by “simultaneous demonstrations” in all countries the wars, wasteful of the people’s blood and treasure, which were made by “secret diplomacy.” Yet British Labour tended always to take a “practical” view of the immediate possibilities open to the International. In 1863, for instance, bilingual placards of exhortation had been sent from London for posting in Paris. If by 1867 the international co-operation of “Labour” had advanced beyond this rudimentary stage, Marx could hardly yet have been certain how much the advance was worth. At this significant stage in Labour history occurred the Trade Union Inquiry of 1867, ordered by the Government in view of revelations that organised “outrages” had been undertaken in the course of trade disputes by some Unions in the Sheffield and Manchester districts.
