Labor Movement Timeline

As early as 1718 a royal proclamation was given in opposition to the formation of any unsanctioned bodies of journeymen attempting to affect wages and employment. Despite the presumption that unionising was illegal, it continued throughout the 18th century.

Image source: Combination Act 1799

The practice of wage regulation began to decline around 1700, and in 1757 Parliament outright rescinded the Weavers Act 1756, abandoning its power of wage regulation and signalling its newfound dedication to laissez-faire economics.

Image source: Labour movement

Thomas Fyshe Palmer, Joseph Gerrald, and Maurice Margarot were transported, and, in 1794, the leadership of the London Corresponding Society was arrested and tried.

Image source: London Corresponding Society

Speech and public gatherings were tightly restricted by the Two Acts of 1795 which made certain words acts of treason, limited public gatherings to fifty people or fewer, and enforced licensing for anyone who wanted to speak in a public debate or lecture hall.

Image source: Seditious Meetings Act 1795

Forming unions or combinations was made illegal under legislation such as the 1799 Combination Act. Trade unionism in the United Kingdom illegally continued into the 19th century despite increasing hardship.

A renewed stimulus to organised labour in the United Kingdom can be traced back to the 1808 failure of the 'Minimum Wage Bill' in parliament which supporters had seen as a needed countermeasure for the endemic poverty among the working classes of industrial United Kingdom.

In 1813 and 1814 Parliament would repeal the last of the apprentice laws which had been intended to protect wage rates and employment, but which had also fallen into serious disuse many decades before. The Elizabethan Apprentice Laws lasted in England until the early 19th century, but were becoming increasingly dead letter by the mid 18th century.

An outbreak of lawlessness led to a government crackdown on agitation in 1817 known as the Gagging Acts, which included the suppression of the Spencean society, a suspension of habeas corpus, and an extension of power to magistrates which gave them the ability to ban public gatherings.

Image source: Gagging Acts

The most infamous early case of government anti-labour espionage was that of Oliver the Spy who, in 1817, incited and encouraged the Pentrich Rising, which led to the leadership being indicted on treason charges and executed.

In 1819 the social reformer Francis Place initiated a reform movement aimed at lobbying parliament into abolishing the anti-union Combination Acts. Pro-labour demonstrations culminated that year with an incident in St Peter's Field, Manchester.

Image source: Francis Place

Unions were legalised in the Combination Acts of 1824 and 1825, however some union actions, such as anti-scab activities were restricted.

With the advent of the French Revolution, radicalism became even more prominent in English politics with the publication of Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man in 1791.

Image source: Rights of Man

The working-class focused London Corresponding Society was founded in 1792. In 1797 it was outlawed by parliament, temporarily crushing the British labour movement.

In 1811 in Nottinghamshire, a new movement known as the Luddite, or machine-breaker, movement began. Strikes and riots by miners and framework knitters had occurred throughout England over the course of the 18th century, often resorting to machine breaking and sabotage.

Image source: Luddite

In 1812 the first radical, socialist, pro-labour society, the 'Society of Spencean Philanthropists', named after the radical social agitator Thomas Spence, was formed. Spence, a pamphleteer in London since 1776, believed in the socialized distribution of land and changing England into a federalized government based on democratically elected parish communes.

Image source: Thomas Spence

This radicalism increased in the aftermath of the end of the Napoleonic Wars, as a general economic downturn in 1815 led to a revival in pro-labour politics.

Chartism was possibly the first mass working-class labour movement in the world, originating in England during the mid-19th century between 1838 and 1848. Modern labour parties originated from an increase in organising activities in Europe during this period.

Image source: Chartism

The International Workingmen's Association, the first attempt at international coordination of labour movements, was founded in London in 1864.

Image source: International Workingmen's Association

In 1871 workers in France rebelled and the Paris Commune was formed, a landmark event in the history of the international labour movement.

Image source: Paris Commune

The labour movement gained major impetus during the late 19th and early 20th centuries from the Catholic Social Teaching tradition which began in 1891 with the publication of Pope Leo XIII's foundational document, Rerum novarum, advocating limits on the work day, a living wage, elimination of child labour, the right of labour to organise, and state regulation of labour conditions.

Image source: Rerum novarum

In 1891, localised labour parties were formed by trade union members in British colonies in Australasia, marking the rise of labour electoral politics.

Image source: Australian Labor Party

In 1899, the Labour Party for the Colony of Queensland briefly formed the world's first labour government, lasting one week.

Image source: Queensland Labor Party

The British Labour Party was created as the Labour Representation Committee, following an 1899 resolution by the Trades Union Congress.

Image source: Labour Representation Committee (1900)

Mary Harris Jones, better known as 'Mother Jones', and the National Catholic Welfare Council were important in the campaign to end child labour in the United States during the early 20th century.

Image source: Mother Jones

A degree of strategic biracial cooperation existed among black and white dockworkers on the waterfronts of New Orleans, Louisiana during the early 20th century.

Image source: Labor history of the United States

As core goals were achieved in many advanced economies of Western Europe and North America in the early decades of the 20th century, the labour movement expanded to issues of welfare and social insurance, wealth distribution and income distribution, public services like health care and education, social housing and in some cases common ownership.

From 1901, when six colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia, several labour parties amalgamated to form the Australian Labor Party (ALP).