1st Edition
Masters and Journeymen A Prehistory of Industrial Relations, 1717–1800
Masters and Journeymen (1980) examines eighteenth-century trade unionism through nearly four hundred labour disputes in Britain between 1717 and 1800. It uses a series of primary materials – rule books, minutes and written agreements – to identify the elements of an ‘industrial relations system’ half a century before the Industrial Revolution. There are detailed accounts of several strikes in London and the provinces and much new documentation. The book concludes with a reinterpretation of the role of the state in eighteenth-century labour relations and throws new light on the origins of the Combination Acts.
1. Disputes and Disturbances 2. Conflict and Community 3. The House of Call 4. The Rights of Craftsmen 5. A Pre-Industrial Trade Union 6. The Magistrate as Mediator 7. The State as Employer 8. The Public Interest 9. The Combination Acts 10. Epilogue: A Conservative Interpretation of Labour History
Biography
C.R. Dobson