ABSTRACT
The antecedents of the Federation of British Industries (FBI) are found in concern over the rising power of the trade unions and over the decline of British dominance in overseas trade. The National Association of Manufacturers in the United States had looked upon FBI as a conversion to its objectives and organization principles. This chapter shows the objectives and the nature of the alignments sought, in carrying out those objectives: the attitude toward organized labor; relations with the government in peace times; and the quality of the "cooperation" with government in times of war emergency. In contrast to the last war, when "the controllers were selected in the main from outside the industry to be controlled" in "this war industry is controlling itself". Readers familiar with the literature will recognize in the entire range of German and continental cartel controls, as well as an underwriting of a good many of those newer controls formally recognized only in overtly Fascist countries.
