The Centenary of the British Trades Union Congress, 1868-1968

Abstract

The occasion of the centenary of the British Trades Union Congress in 1968 draws attention to the unique position which the British body holds among central trade union organizations. In no other country has a central union organization survived for so long without either being displaced from its role as the prime national representative body for organized labour or experiencing permanent splits in its ranks. Of course, the length of the TUC's life can be explained in part by the fact that Britain was the first nation to industrialize and give rise to the necessary and sufficient conditions for trade unionism. The ability of the TUC to survive, however, cannot be explained by this fact. In most countries, except where central union organizations have not been protected and perpetuated by the use of state power, ideological divisions have produced two or three or even four competing bodies. In Britain there has rarely ever been the possibility that this might happen.