THE BRITISH LABOUR PARTY AND THE TRADE UNIONS: CRISIS AND COMPACT.

British trade unionism has certain well-established characteristics and traditions that differentiate it from its European counterparts and have a strong influence over its political behavior. It is a unified movement, in the sense that it is not structurally divided on the basis of religion or politics, and it has only one organizational center, a long-standing institution, the Trades Union Congress. The Congress includes a high proportion of the unionized work force, but it has limited powers over the affiliated organizations, which jealously guard their independence in policy-making and industrial activity. These affiliated organizations, though many in number, are still less than one third of the total number of British trade unions. They overlap considerably in their fields of operation, and they exhibit a rich diversity of age, size, and structure. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the movement has tended to be constitutional in its political aspirations, seeking to win acceptance and representation within the existing political order.