Agricultural trades unionism in Shropshire 1900-1930
This thesis traces the growth and distribution of agricultural trades unionism in Shropshire and evaluates and explains developments using four key variables. After a discussion of the sources used and a description of union development involving the National Union of Agricultural Workers (NUAW) and Workers' Union (WU ), four chapters measure the relative importance of the variables which guide the whole study. These are the role of the local and national leaderships, the wider labour movement, the Shropshire agrarian economy and the domination of a conservative cultural ideology. It is found that leaderships were moderately important. It is shown that the relative strength of the NUAW village activists accounts for the longevity of that union compared to the rival WU, and that while the personal interest of national leaders in the county strengthened unionism, their inability to compromise led to destructive competition. It is shown that the wider labour movement, although existing in Shropshire, was of little importance to agricultural trades unionism, aside from a fruitful relationship between the NUAW and organised railwaymen. It is also shown that although variations in types of farming were of importance
Mansfield, Nicholas
History
Agricultural trades unionism in Shropshire 1900-1930. This thesis traces the growth and distribution of agricultural trades unionism in Shropshire and evaluates and explains developments using four key variables. After a discussion of the sources used and a description of union development involving the National Union of Agricultural Workers (NUAW) and Workers' Union (WU ), four chapters measure the relative importance of the variables which guide the whole study. These are the role of the local and national leaderships, the wider labour movement, the Shropshire agrarian economy and the domination of a conservative cultural ideology. It is found that leaderships were moderately important. It is shown that the relative strength of the NUAW village activists accounts for the longevity of that union compared to the rival WU, and that while the personal interest of national leaders in the county strengthened unionism, their inability to compromise led to destructive competition. It is shown that the wider labour movement, although existing in Shropshire, was of little importance to agricultural trades unionism, aside from a fruitful relationship between the NUAW and organised railwaymen. It is also shown that although variations in types of farming were of importance
agricultural trade_unionism shropshire trace growth distribution agricultural trade_unionism shropshire evaluate explain development use four_key variable discussion source_use description union development involve national union agricultural workers workers union measure relative_importance variable guide whole study role local_national leadership wider labour_movement shropshire agrarian_economy domination conservative cultural ideology find leadership important show relative strength village activists account longevity union compare rival personal interest national leader county strengthen inability compromise lead destructive competition show wider labour_movement although exist shropshire little importance agricultural trade_unionism aside fruitful relationship organise also_show although variation type farm importance