ABSTRACT
In 1885 the Trade Unions affiliated to the Trades Union Congress had in all only half a million members: in 1890 they had nearly 1,600,000: in 1895 their membership had fallen again to one million. Even after the decline from the peak of 1890, membership had been doubled. The whole character of the Trade Union movement had been profoundly changed. The miners, who organized their new Miners’ Federation of Great Britain in 1888, expanded their membership at a great rate, and enrolled many of the less skilled workers as well as the hewers. The cotton operatives’ Unions drew together in 1887 in the United Textile Factory Workers’ Association, and began to press for improved factory legislation and the eight hours day. Many of the older Trade Union leaders shook their heads, and predicted that the ‘New’ Unionism would perish within a few years as completely as the similar, but much smaller, movement of the early ’seventies had passed away.
