Keith
I was delighted when Al opened this thread and have no intention of nausing it up with your nonsense
Owen was not advocating widespread Trades Unionism - he would have been breaking the law had he done do
He was experimenting with a Utopian ideal in order to run a business
We are discussing |Trades Unionism, not philanthropy
The period 1789 to 1848 was know as 'The Age of Revolution = that was when the Unions came into being in an embryonic form
THe ruling classes were scared shitless at what had happened in France and they stamped on anything that might lead to such excesses - read Billy Budd
The navy had revolted in 1798 which brought the reality of what could happen to Britain
The Peterloo Massacre in 1819 led to an awareness that it was necessary for working people to combine
The Chartists, Luddites, rick burners, the Rebecca riots and tollgate protests in Wales, the Luddites and rick burners, the Poaching Wars and Enclosures protests.. all part of the birth of Trades Unionism
Marxs published The Communist Manifest in 1848 - that threw the cat right among the pigeons
Your Victorian gentlemen were social reformers - they were not breaking the law by advocating Trades Unionism, far from it, they were part of neutralisng the threat of revolution by bribing the few.
Easily settled - name some of these philanthropists who gave birth to Trades Unionism and link us to some of their aims.
If you don't, hopefully you will be ignored and allow us to discuss reality in peace
Jim Carroll