Men of Wealth (1944) - Ludwig von Mises Institute

174 MEN OF WEALTH
At the same time, while philosophers and economists were fabricating
the theory of individualism that created the perfect climate
for their operations, another group, of which Owen was the great
precursor and evangelist, was formulating the ideals and principles
of social control in various forms, including collectivism, the theories
underlying the claims of the workers, and finally the organizations
through which the workers would challenge their masters
and over many long and bloody decades wring from them one
surrender after another. In that struggle, too, Owen was to take a
pioneering part.
XI
The labor-union movement got its first important impetus in
England in 1824, just about the time Owen departed for America.
It would not be true to say Owen had any part in this. He had
shown no interest in unionism or in militant organizations of
workers to exert pressure in collective bargaining against employers.
He was not against this, but his interest was in a more fundamental
rearrangement of society. He conceived of a system in which
all the producing persons, from managers down, would be united
in a common organization. But the plight of the workers admitted
of no such delay as would be involved in realizing this dream.
Workers were forbidden to combine. The Combination Acts dated
from the sixteenth century. They were strengthened at intervals.
The latest Act, made in 1800, forbade workmen to unite to force
an increase in wages or reduction in hours or for other purposes,
including pressure on another workman not to work. This law was
rigidly enforced, and in the distress following the war jail sentences
were invoked. Union to better the workers' lot was called "sedition."
But in 1824, under the leadership of Francis Place, the
Combination Acts were repealed and labor unions became legal.
The unions promptly united with the Radicals for parliamentary
reform. Owenites had little interest in parliamentary reform. They
were wrong in supposing that this was a futile step, since redress