First World War: Trades Union Congress Library
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) Library contains a small but significant collection of pamphlets published during the First World War relating to the justification for the war, it’s purpose, conscription, the rights of women war-workers, and the risks and realisation of exploitation of workers on the homefront.
This includes a large collection of pacifist literature, mainly pamphlets and booklets, with a significant number covering the initial immediate period before the War in 1914, and 1915, from The Labour Press, The Council for the Study of International Relations, The Fabian Society, The Independent Labour Party, Labour and War series of pamphlets, Union of Democratic Control.
Many look at the causes of the War and attempt to enable readers to understand why there was war, and take steps towards a lasting peace through internationalism. Some of these are from women’s groups including the Women’s International League, which organised a meeting of women in Europe to try and stop the war in 1914. Many of the pacifists were persecuted, and E D Morel writes about his time in prison.
IMAGE: War and Peace monthly magazine published largely by peace campaigner Norman Angell (who won the Nobel prize for Peace in 1933) (Box JX 1974) | Truth & the War by Edmund Dean Morel, 1916. (Box D 526).
There are pamphlets from the great thinkers of the time such as George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Christabel Pankhurst, and H G Wells. Some cover the position of religion in war, with the Rationalist Society questioning the role of Christians, and some looking at the persecution of Jews in Russia.
There is also significant pro-war literature from HMSO, the Daily Mail, British Supremacy, Camps Library and groups such as the Victoria League with titles such as An Infantryman on Strikes.
IMAGE: The Tragedy of Jews in the European War Zone published in 1914 by the International pressure group Russian Jews Relief Fund. (Box D 526) | Briton’s First Duty published by the National Service League. (Box UB 343).
Much of the collection covers the Home front and the role of the unions in the war, including that of the TUC in the War cabinet. Literature illustrates the role of various affiliated unions in core industries during the War, the Amalgamated Engineers Union’s monthly journal covers the entire period; others cover heavy industries such as coal mining steel. Transport and shipbuilding includes those working on railways, canals, harbours and docks. Content covers the munitions industry, and the health of munitions’ workers including HMSO reports on fatigue, chemical poisoning and the effect on women.
The collection includes reports from the War Emergency Workers’ National Committee (WEWNC) which was established to help create policies on the effects of the War on working class living standards, including widespread rent increases due to war profiteering, especially in munitions towns.
IMAGE: Some publications encourage the intervention of the USA in the War, others were sceptical, including the above published by Elbert Hubbard. Elbert and his wife Alison died when the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Ireland in 1915. (Box D 511) | Conscription Enters the Workshops published in 1916 suggested profits were being made as part of the war effort (Box UB 343).
Strikes during the War
The TUC raised an astonishing £94,000 to support the Dublin Transport Strike. Smaller scale actions such as the Cleator Mill factory in Cumbria which produced khaki for uniforms, in which 250 women, members of the National Federation or Women Workers, and 20 boys went out on strike for 6 weeks and successfully got recognition of their union and an improvement in their wages and conditions (see Gertrude Tuckwell Papers).
IMAGE: Cleator Mill strike committee, April 1915 (TUC/GT/Box 38)
The collection reflects the increase in women in the workforce, consequently groups such as the WEWNC and the Women’s Labour League tried to protect women from exploitation and abuse, including the common practice of sweated labour and widespread drunkenness.
We have several reports from the Society of Women Welders (Box HD 6073)
The collection includes post-war reconstruction, the hope for change leading to economic and social improvement and moves towards equality, and the disenchantment when this wasn’t realised. There are publications from the National Union of Ex-Servicemen.
There are a number of boxes covering post-war occupation of Germany, the accusations of war crimes and the calls for reparations and for disarmament.
IMAGE: Propaganda relating war crimes committed by the German army in France and Belgium (Box D 626) | The Peace that Failed, published in 1920 by the Union of Democratic Control a non-partisan pressure group convinced of the untransparent influence of the military over decision making before and during the War (Box D 700)