ABSTRACT
A comparative study of different types of trade unionism in the textile industry is fraught with difficulties. In Lancashire, trade unionism is an old phenomenon, going back to the start of the nineteenth century for spinners and to the 1850s for weavers, but it became a permanent mass movement only in the 1880s. Trade union activities and workers' disputes were dominated by the question of wages. Trade unions were organised to lobby for wage increases. The nature of trade unionism in the cotton industry was strongly influenced by the method of payment of the workers – the wage list. The local organisation of unions reflected the complicated politico-administrative structure of the region: textile workers in the Bremen region belonged to four local branches of the Deutscher Textilarbeiteiverband (DTAV). Like the other federations, the textile federation, the DTAV, simultaneously housed three hierarchical levels: central leadership, district committees and local sections.
