ABSTRACT
In British, French and German countries there was both diversity and competition between different organisational tendencies. The evolution of organisation within the three labour movements depended on the balance between groups in favour of open or closed unionism and local autonomy or national integration. In Britain a type of spontaneous collectivism was the dominant force in the development of the union movement, in which union organisation was able to reflect an occupational and employment-oriented logic. The opposite was true in Germany where the weakness of spontaneous collectivism created a need for external mobilisation that often reflected the social, political and ideological projects of the organisers. The balance of forces was more equal in France producing a mixed model. Perhaps the most significant factor in explaining this is the legacy of trade socialism in the French labour movement and the role of the state in the politicisation of the organisation of the working class.
