ed at a
salary (since it is to be expected that no manufacturer will employ such
persons), and a committee collects the weekly contributions and watches
over their expenditure for the purposes of the association. When it
proved possible and advantageous, the various trades of single districts
united in a federation and held delegate conventions at set times. The
attempt has been made in single cases to unite the workers of one branch
over all England in one great Union; and several times (in 1830 for the
first time) to form one universal trades association for the whole United
Kingdom, with a separate organisation for each trade. These
associations, however, never held together long, and were seldom realised
even for the moment, since an exceptionally universal excitement is
necessary to make such a federation possible and effective.

The means usually employed by these Unions for attaining their ends are
the following: If one or more employers refuse to pay the wage specified
by the Union, a deputation is sent or a petition forwarded (the working-
men, you see, know how to recognise the absolute power of the lord of the
factory in his little State); if this proves unavailing, the Union
commands the employees to stop work, and all hands go home. This strike
is either partial when one or several, or general when all employers in
the trade refuse to regulate wages according to the proposals of the
Union. So far go the lawful means of the Union, assuming the strike to
take effect after the expiration of the legal notice, which is not always
the case. But these lawful means are very weak when there are workers
outside the Union, or when members separate from it for the sake of the
momentary advantage offered by the bourgeoisie. Especially in the case
of partial strikes can the manufacturer readily secure recruits from
these black sheep (who are known as knobsticks), and render fruitless the
efforts of the united workers. Knobsticks are usually threatened,
insulted, beaten, or otherwise maltreated by the members of the Union;
intimidated, in short, in every way. Prosecution follows, and as the law-
abiding bourgeoisie has the power in its own hands, the force of the
Union is broken almost every time by the first unlawful act, the first
judicial procedure against its members.

The history of these Unions is a long series of defeats of the working-
men, interrupted by a few isolated victories. All these efforts
natu