ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the relationship of West European trade unionism with populism as this has developed in the post-war era in order to discuss the form of this relationship in contemporary times. It interrogates especially how the labour movement and the question of the labour-capital dichotomy has been rhetorically and substantively linked to the notion of ‘a people’ and an ‘elite’ in antagonism with each other. The chapter focuses on the political and communicative dimension of trade union activism bringing the organisational and labour relations aspects of trade union work into the analysis only when these are directly relevant. It shows how West European trade unionism oriented itself within the national political systems and the means and forms of its appeal to the workers in the golden era of Keynesian capitalism. The chapter identifies the influence or lack thereof of populist discourses, diachronically but especially in the last decade, on trade union rhetoric, politics and mobilisation.
