The Time 22 December 1916
|
|||||
|
We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people. Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house] Authors
Arts, Tech & CultureCivil LibertiesCommentary
EconomicsSamizdatistas |
8 comments to Those lovely trade unions |
Who Are We?The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling. We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe. CategoriesArchivesFeed This PageLink Icons   |
|||
All content on this website (including text, photographs, audio files, and any other original works), unless otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons License. |
|||||
Trade unions actually championing the interests of their members?
It’s a bit rich wanting the state to restrict overseas labour whilst presiding over a global empire.
Weren’t the unions crucial to the development of apartheid in SA?
Off-topic somewhat, but one thing that jumps out is how rubbish Linotype-set hot lead text was. Compare the visual quality of that piece with any modern-day newspaper. Bearing in mind the legendary “Spanish practices” that existed in the printing trade right up till the Eighties, is it any wonder Mr. Murdoch moved production out of Fleet Street?
“Weren’t the unions crucial to the development of apartheid in SA?”
I believe so. IIRC, the “Colour Bar” was introduced there shortly before the First World War.
This may not be fair. It could be a rubbish microfilm of linotype-set text. I’ve had to work with microfilm images, and they were a lot worse than the originals.
The British Empire was a bit weird – for example both Australian and Canadian colonies were allowed to put up tariffs against British goods, yes British goods. What sort of Empire is that? And where were the taxes and tribute going back to London?
As for the unions – of course they were racist. That was normal for unions till quite recently.
The scale of the use of overseas labour in WW1 is perhaps one of the most under-stated aspects of that war. Here is a British Library paper on the matter.
Meanwhile, up in the Northeast, in Birtley (Gateshead) there was a Belgian colony running an ammunition factory during the war.