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Combining efforts: 200 years of trade union history
A SMALL exhibition on trade union history at the London School of Economics (LSE) library is worth a visit. Certainly, if you're in Holborn anyway then it's worth having a gander.
The main good thing for me is the actual manuscript of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists - Robert Tressell's socialist critique of working-class life in a small town in England.
The exhibit starts at the Combination Act of 1799, “An Act to prevent Unlawful Combinations of Workmen”, which prohibited trades unions and collective bargaining. It continues with the Tolpuddle Martyrs, transported to Australia in 1834 for “taking an illegal oath” in forming an agricultural workers' union.
The union rule book of the match girls, whose 1888 strike launched modern trade unionism in England and further afield, is on display. There are exhibits on the general strike of 1926; Jayaben Desai and her role in the Grunwick strike of 1976; and the 1968 strike by women at Ford's Dagenham over pay grades that started the impetus for the Equal Pay Act of 1970. To close there is a bunch of stuff about the NALGO gay-rights campaign on the Isle Of Man, when the union decided to hold its annual conference there.
I saw nothing on the Wapping dispute with Rupert Murdoch over the Times, nor on dock labour, nor... nor... But what there is should be of interest to anyone concerned with the history of the trade union movement.
It's on until 31 January 2026 at 10 Portugal St, London WC2A 2HD (Open Street Map).
Combining Efforts: 200 Years of Trade Union History