Transcribed from the 1873 Longmans, Green, and Co. edition byDavid Price.
ADDRESS
READ BEFORETHE
SOCIAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION
ATNORWICH.
BY
THOMAS BRASSEY, M.P.
LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1873.
p. 2LONDON: PRINTEDBY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREETSQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
In the following Address I shalldevote myself to the task of reviewing, I hope in an impartialspirit, the most recent phases of the labour movement. Thegreat advance of wages is a conspicuous feature of modern Englishindustry, and is obviously due to the rapid growth of the generaltrade of the country. The long depression following on thepanic of 1866 has been succeeded by a period of unprecedentedactivity in every branch of our export trade. The demandsupon the labour-market have far exceeded the supply; and theartisan and labourer have not been slow to take advantage of asituation which afforded to them a brilliant opportunity. Between 1866 and 1869 the value of the exports of the produce andmanufactures of the United Kingdom had remained stationary; whileit rose from £190,000,000 in 1869, to £256,257,000 in1872. Such a leap was not possible without imposing astrain upon the powers of our labouring population, which mustinevitably have led to a material alteration in the rate ofwages.
It is too often alleged that the recent advance of wages isattributable to a series of successful strikes. I maintain,on the contrary, that a strike against a falling market is neversuccessful, and that Trades Unions, as an organisation for thepurpose of raising wages, can never do more than assist theworkman to obtain an advance at a somewhat earlier date than thatat which the competition among employers would have brought aboutthe same result. I may quote the unfortunate strike inSouth Wales, at the commencement of this year, as a signalinstance of the inability of Trades Unions to cope with thesuperior resources of employers when firmly united together.
It may be worth while briefly to recapitulate the mostimportant incidents of the South Wales strike. In June1872, the miners had proposed to apply for an advance of 20 percent. on their wages. They were, however, advised by theexecutive council of their Union to limit their demand to anadvance of 10 per cent. The advance was granted, and threemonths later the men asked for an additional 10 per cent. Their application was refused, and shortly afterwards the mastersgave notice of a 10 per cent. reduction. The men thereupondesired that their case should be referred to arbitration. This request was refused by the masters, who were so fullyconvinced of the strength of their own case, that they offered tosubmit their books for the inspection of the workmen. Theminers were unwilling to avail themselves of this offer; and,encouraged by larg