labour movement
labour movementA term applied descriptively to include all organizations representing workers who sell their effort in the labour-market. A labour movement may be divided heuristically into its industrial and political wings: the former consists of trade unions as well as other voluntary associations seeking narrowly defined economic objectives, such as higher wages, greater industrial democracy, or industrial education; the latter comprises one or more political parties attempting to influence or control state power on behalf of labour. Historically, labour movements have been very fragmented. While trade unions and political parties have a formal structure and a clear leadership, the ‘movements’ that they form are looser networks of individuals, organizations, and groups. There is a long-running theoretical debate about this because of the...
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