ABSTRACT
membership of trade unions is open to persons irrespective of their political views or associations, and during the nineteenth century many British trade union leaders believed strongly that the movement should keep to industrial action and leave party politics alone. They considered that this would preserve the unity and ensure the effectiveness of the movement, both in its membership and concentration of effort. This did not prevent trade unions from influencing measures before Parliament which directly affected the interests of the workers, and by having no party affiliations they could, according to circumstances, support whichever Government or party would promise them the best terms. This is still the policy of trade unions in the United States, whereas in Great Britain the nineteenth-century attitude has been abandoned and the trade union movement has been closely identified with the Labour Party. In Australia and New Zealand the evolution has been similar to that in Great Britain.
