Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Social Movements - 1. Labour Questions and Social politics - Organization of Workmen and Employers. By O. Järte and B. Nyström
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organization of workmen and employers.
643
cases from social-democratic organizations: thus was laid the foundation
of the close connection and collaboration that still subsists between the trade
unions and the political Labour movement in Sweden. The years of
depression in the eighties, and the pressing-down of wages which thereby
ensued, likewise conduced to make the workmen realize the advantages
of trade organization, and thereto accrued the experience gained from
the earlier and more advanced trade unionism of Denmark and Germany.
Modelled on those prototypes, Swedish trade unionism conforms to
the Anglo-Germanic type of the Labour movement. Thus the workers
engaged in a certain trade combine in a local trade anion; the latter,
in turn, may consist of several sections or "workshop clubs"
(verkstads-klubbar), according to the nature of the particular trade and the size
and character of the establishment in which the workers are employed.
The trade unions in turn are, as branches (avdelningar), combined in
federations (fackförbund). Most of the federations have formed a common
central organization, the "Landsorganisation" (General Federation of
Swedish Trade Unions), which principally acts as a kind of
reinsurance establishment in lock-outs and defensive strikes embracing
more than 3 % of the members of the federation in question. The
connection between trade unionism and the social democracy consists
in the fact that the local branch of the political party, namely the
arbetarkommunen (workmen’s commune), consists of the trade unions
in the locality. Any trade union can by a bare majority resolve whether
it shall join the "workmen’s commune"; the minority has the right to
enter a reservation, and thereby obtain exemption from the payment
of contributions to the pajty. The federations and the
"Landsorganisationen" have now no connection whatever, as regards organization, with the
Social Democratic Party, except the personal union that arises from
the fact that numerous officials of the trade unions hold responsible
positions in the Party, and social-democratic seats in the Riksdag and the
municipal councils.
The first federation, that of the Typographers, was formed as early as 1886.
It was succeeded by several others in rapid succession, especially during the
spell of prosperity and the great advance of Swedish industry in the låte
nineties. When the "Landsorganisation" started into action in 1899, it embraced
19 trade federations, with 692 branches comprising altogether 37 523 members.
A number of other federations with 26 678 members did not join the
"Lands-organisation". The entire numerical development of the Swedish trade union
movement is shown by the subjoined summary:
Year Number of
3l/l2 members
1890 . . . ... 8 392
1895 . . . . . . 15191
1900 . . . . . . 65 829
1905 . . . . . . 104 080
1906 . . . . . . 179 644
1907 . . . . . . 230 667
1908 ............212 901
1909 ............147 891
1910 ............117 981
1911 ............113 898
191 2......121509
1913 ............135 977
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