ABSTRACT
At the end of 1913, on the eve of the Great War, the Trade Unions of the United Kingdom had rather more than four million members. Total membership had risen by a quarter of a million, mining membership had fallen by well over 350,000, and textile membership by nearly 70,000. The printing and paper trades had more than doubled their membership; distribution and commerce showed an even larger proportionate rise, and the public services group had also come near to doubling its strength. A very different picture is presented if 1936 is compared with the post-war peak of 1920. The divergencies between Trade Union structure and the classification of industries and occupations under the unemployment Insurance scheme make it impossible to arrive at any general estimate of Trade Union strength in different industries to the numbers eligible for membership. Manifestly, there is need for a crusade for the recruitment of new members to the Trade Unions.
