ABSTRACT
In nearly every considerable industrial centre, unless it is given up almost entirely to a single industry, and in many quite small places as well, there is a Trades Council—that is, a federation for industrial purposes of Trade Union branches within the area. Sometimes—in many Lancashire towns, for example—the Trades Council and the Divisional Labour Party are the same body, combining both industrial and political functions. The Trades Councils were at one time affiliated to the Trades Union Congress, of which indeed they were the actual founders. The first Trades Union Conference was summoned by the Glasgow Trades Council in 1864, and thereafter for some time Congress met at the invitation of the Trades Councils in the leading towns, and delegates from the Trades Councils played a prominent part. Most Trades Councils have very little money and very little power. They depend for support on such contributions as they can collect from the local Trade Union branches.
