Note 180 — Chapter XXI · LABOR AND LABOR PROBLEMS

The labor union movement began in England because it was there that the Industrial Revolution first brought in the factory system. At the outset the formation of unions was bitterly opposed by the employers and laws were enacted declaring such organizations to be illegal. In the closing years of the eighteenth century any English worker who joined an organization, in order to secure better wages or fewer hours of labor, was liable to be arrested and punished by the courts. In due course the labor organization movement spread to America, where also it encountered strong opposition during the first half of the nineteenth century. Attempts to secure better wages by forming labor associations were held to be conspiracies in restraint of trade and those who openly took part in the organization movement were frequently imprisoned. After 1830, however, the opposition began to grow less intense and by 1870 it had become generally recognized that labor organizations were here to stay. In one state after another they began to receive legal recognition and today the right of the workers to organize for the promotion of their own interests is not denied in any part of the country.