Great Britain 1851

Synopsis

The formation of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) in 1851 was soon seen as a major event in British and world trade union history. Trade unions were in their infancy, but now previously competing unions of skilled workers had united to form a new and larger organization. The ASE became effective, despite the fact that, initially, many potential members had doubts and employers attempted to break it through a lockout. The ASE was one of an influential group of skilled workers' unions that were central to the labor movement between the decline of Chartist political radicalism in the late 1840s and the rise of socialism and the new unionism of the 1880s. It concentrated on developing an effective industrial and political strategy, and its leaders set new standards of administration. The union soon became a symbol of mid-Victorian unionism...