ABSTRACT
Craft Unions which had hitherto taken up a more militant attitude came more and more to adopt the policies and methods of the ‘new model’ Unions. As the original leaders of the ‘new model’ Unions dropped away, new men, such as J. D. Prior of the Carpenters, George Howell of the Bricklayers, and Henry Broadhurst of the Stonemasons, took their places, and followed the same policies, even in an exaggerated form. In 1881 Henry Mayers Hyndman founded the Democratic Federation, which became the Social Democratic Federation, and adopted a policy and programme of Marxian Socialism. As trade improved from 1887 onwards there came a stirring among the less skilled workers. The year 1889 began a new period in Trade Union history. The less skilled workers had made some attempt to organise during the boom of the early ‘seventies; but the subsequent depression had swept their efforts away.
