Trade unionism

Wage-earners' movements to promote pay and working conditions for the benefit of members. Active in all the industrialized nations, trade unions were usually hampered by the state and employers, and confrontation was common. Mass trade unionism for unskilled workers emerged through strike action toward the end of the 19th century, for example, in the the Great Railroad Strike (USA, 1877) and the Match Girls' Strike (Britain, 1888). The League for Founding Labor Unions became active in Japan from 1897.