ABSTRACT
The Chartist and strike movements of 1842 constituted the last point in British history when a revolution in the nature of government, economy and society seemed not only imperative but actually achievable to many of the population. The National Association of United Trades (NAUT) had four main objectives: mutual assistance, protection and solidarity for the trades; monitoring labour issues in Parliament; provision of arbitration and conciliation in industrial disputes; and producer co-operation and land settlement. The relationship between later Chartism and trade unionism therefore took another institutional turn in the autumn of 1848 with the formation of the National Association of Organized Trades for the Industrial, Social and Political Emancipation of Labour (NAOT). The NAOT appeared to be aligning itself with protectionists, and occasioned the final and, in retrospect, fatal rupture of Chartism. The Amalgamated Society of Engineers was the product of recent amalgamation in the engineering trades.
