"The field of action and usefulness will extend for you just so far as you identify yourselves more and more with the organised working classes and join with them in common in the great struggle for the liberation of the workers from want, misery and oppression."
G. Lathan
President RCA, 1912 Annual Conference.
In addition to the 1911 railway strike the period from 1910 to 1913 witnessed industrial action by seamen, dockers, miners and many others. There were also unofficial strikes by railway workers in support of the 1913 Dublin lockout. Whereas in 1909 there had only been some 301,000 workers involved in disputes, by 1911 this had risen to 952,000 reaching a prewar peak of 1,462,000 during 1912. The reasons for this upsurge were both economic and political. Wages had hardly moved between 1900-1911 whereas wholesale food prices had risen by 11.6 per cent and, despite the progressive social legislation that had been introduced in its early years, the Liberal administration had little more to offer. There were two General Elections in 1910, and by the end of the year Labour had 40 representatives in Parliament, the Conservatives 273 and the Liberals 275, with the balance of power resting with Labour and the Irish Nationalists. The Labour Party was fearful of the Conservatives regaining power and since 1906 had co-operated with the Liberals on a number of issues. Nevertheless, Labour MPs had been unable to force the Government to introduce further legislation in favour of working people, and trade unionists became more demanding.
Women, too, were on the march. The Women's Social and Political Union, formed in 1903, became more militant, and when Marion Wallace became the first suffragette to adopt the tactic of the hunger strike, this quickly became part of their campaign to achieve the right to vote. A.G. Walkden was a member of the EC of the People's Suffrage Federation but the suffragettes failed to make any real impact upon members of the RCA. Little interest was expressed in the columns of The Railway Clerk, nor indeed was women's suffrage discussed at any of the annual conferences. Only "Melissa"1 in her regular column in The Railway Clerk2 raised the issue, encouraging members to purchase Votes for Women. This paper, originally launched as a monthly in 1907, became a weekly the following year. It was a lively production; women would sell it on the street and on many occasions had to withstand insults and sneering remarks from those who opposed their campaign. There had also been a number of women's trade unions but, in the main, these were short-lived. A major exception was the National Federation of Women Workers which was formed in 1906 and played an important role during the 1914-1918 war when women entered the work force in large numbers. It merged with the General Workers' Union in 1920.
By 1910 the Association's members were agitating against the increased cost of living which had risen by 14.9 per cent since the turn of the century. The low salaries paid to railway clerks gave rise to at least 45 Memorials being presented to the railway companies to secure improvements in pay. That railway clerks were losing out was abundantly clear as Table 3 shows.
| 46.15% | of Insurance Clerks | receive over £160 p.a. |
|---|---|---|
| 44.18% | of Bank Clerks | receive over £160 p.a. |
| 43.18% | of Commercial Travellers and Salesmen | receive over £160 p.a. |
| 36.84% | of Civil Service Clerks | receive over £160 p.a. |
| 34.78% | of Law Clerks | receive over £160 p.a. |
| 27.77% | of Local Government Clerks | receive over £160 p.a. |
| 23.19% | of Mercantile and General Clerks | receive over £160 p.a. |
| 22.22% | of Telephone Clerks (other than Post Office) | receive over £160 p.a. |
| 10.34% | of Railway Clerks | receive over £160 p.a. |
Source: British Association Statistical Report 1910/RCA Annual Report 1911.
The elected members of the Line Negotiating Committees became increasingly more sophisticated in their endeavours to improve salaries and conditions of service. When they presented their Memorials to the railway companies they provided detailed information on their costs of living, including the price of food, clothing, rents etc., to justify their requests for an increase in pay. Copies of the correspondence between the committees and the directors were now often printed in pamphlet form to keep members advised of progress, and no longer were committee members secretive and frightened to be known as union members - on the contrary, their names and the positions they held on the committee were always included in the Memorial.
Propaganda was widely used to promote the Association and Walkden and his staff, along with several lay members of the Association, put their skills to good use preparing leaflets and pamphlets to publicise activities. Apart from Rouse Ye!, which set out the position of clerks on Irish Railways, The Life of a Railway Clerk was published in 1910 and copies were sent to all the railway directors in the hope that they would be convinced of the need to improve wages and conditions. By 1912, over 19,000 copies of The Railway Clerk were being printed monthly, which suggests that virtually every member of the union purchased a copy. The magazine gained considerable respect within the railway community, and R. Kenney in his history Men and Rails, published in 1913, said:
"Although the RCA has not taken up an aggressive attitude towards the companies, no other union has more relentlessly exposed their scandalous treatment of their employees. The clear and comprehensive way in which railway business is dissected and laid before its members in the monthly journal, The Railway Clerk, is admirable, and from the point of view of organisation and administration the RCA is one of the finest unions of the day."
The power of the printed word has always been recognised as being of the greatest importance in the ideological battle between Capital and Labour and it was a strike by the London Society of Compositors that led to the birth of the Daily Herald; first as a strike sheet on 25th January 1911 and then as a newspaper on 15th April 1912. The Daily Herald initially received some support from the TUC but this quickly changed when its revolutionary character became clear, and the TUC decided at its Congress in 1912 to establish its own newspaper - the Daily Citizen. The TUC and the Labour Party called for the paper to be given financial support and the RCA responded by purchasing shares worth £300 which was as much as it could afford.
3 Several branches acknowledged the launch appeal and at the RCA's 1912 London Conference, Samuel Lomax, on behalf of the EC, urged every member of the Association to take the new paper regularly and to do everything possible to assist in making it an unqualified success.4 Arthur Chandler then proposed that the Association should also support the Daily Herald and, with the backing of Ernest Townend, both recommendations were carried.
The political differences between the two papers reflected the ideological conflict within the labour movement, and eventually the RCA dropped its support for the Daily Herald and concentrated its efforts on the Daily Citizen. In March 1913, when the Daily Citizen began to experience financial difficulties, a special conference was convened by the TUC and the Labour Party to decide how it could be helped. The RCA supported a proposal that a condition of affiliation to the Labour Party and the TUC should be a payment of a half-penny (£0.208p) per member, per month, towards the Daily Citizen, but this was emphatically rejected by Congress which agreed to raise one shilling (5p) per member, per year, over a period of three years. When this failed to materialise, the TUC sent out a circular on 10th June 1914 reminding affiliates of their commitment. There was a poor response and the RCA managed to collect a mere £65.00 from its branches. Consequently, on 5th June 1915 the Daily Citizen was obliged to close.
The Association did not turn to the Daily Herald, whose politics and anti-war position found few friends within the union, but instead it recommended a new weekly called the Independent, published by the Editor of the late Daily Citizen. The Independent was dominated by articles written by trade union leaders, including one from A.G. Walkden,5 who highlighted the progress made by the union since its formation. The paper did not match the quality or range of interests of the Daily Citizen, to say nothing of the vitality and politics of the Daily Herald, and within a few months it, too, ceased publication.
The Daily Herald survived the war as a weekly paper and in 1920 the RCA's Executive decided, despite many reservations, to invest £1,000 in the paper. This provoked a sharp reaction from the membership some of whom complained that the Association was now too political.
6 William Stott devoted page upon page to the debate that ensued, passionately defending the Executive's decision. The 1920 Annual Conference merely interrupted the debate, and when only 6 of the 500 delegates opposed the Executive's policy a further £1,000 was invested in the paper. In 1922 its Editor, George Lansbury, was obliged to approach the Labour Party and TUC for financial assistance. This resulted in the TUC taking over the newspaper and after nine years of dedicated hard work, Lansbury ceased to be its Editor.
The Daily Herald became the official organ of the TUC and this was welcomed by the RCA. A journalist from the Daily Mail, Hamilton Fyfe, became its Editor and its politics soon became less radical. In 1929 negotiations took place with Odhams who agreed that joint representation with the TUC General Council should be maintained and that the general policy would be that of the TUC and Labour Party but real control rested with Odhams, who held 51 per cent of the shares. In 1930 sales of the Daily Herald reached one million and such was its success that a circulation battle began. The Daily Express and Daily Mail offered toys, cutlery, underwear and tea-sets and the Daily Herald 16 volume sets of Charles Dickens. By 1933 the Daily Herald had become the world's biggest-selling newspaper with a circulation of two million. In 1961, Odhams became the property of Cecil King, the owner of the Daily Mirror. Three years later King bought the TUC's shares for £75,000 and despite his pledge to keep the paper going for seven years, the Daily Herald was closed down in September of that year to be relaunched as The Sun. In 1969 it was sold to Rupert Murdoch and the Sun, as we know it, was born on 17th November 1969.
A.G. Walkden, in addition to his duties as General Secretary, Parliamentary Secretary and Editor, also sought to become an MP. Following discussions with a number of colleagues in the Labour party it was suggested he should contest the Wolverhampton (West) Constituency, and he was formally adopted as the prospective candidate in February 1912. Although the local Labour Party had approximately 250 members it was relatively weak and there was no full-time election agent. As a result, the RCA accepted responsibility for the appointment of an agent and by assisting the Wolverhampton Trades Council and Labour Party it ultimately became a very effective organisation. Local labour organisations, the RCA branch and the Association's EC formed a joint committee which met at frequent intervals. The committee published a monthly newspaper, The Wolverhampton Worker, and Walkden worked hard to win the constituency for Labour. He spoke at a number of union meetings to promote his candidature, including those of ASLEF, the ASRS, Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) and the Tramworkers. In his speeches Walkden supported railway nationalisation, votes for women and Home Rule for Ireland; he deplored the use of strikes but insisted that if unions lost the right to strike, they would be in a far worse position.7 As it happened, the election did not take place until 1918 and by then the world was vastly different.
Despite the known risk to their careers, many RCA members had become prominent in political life as Labour councillors and leaders of their local Trades Union Council. It was also during this period of pre-war working class militancy that the Association's motto, "Defence Not Defiance", was called into question. Walkden suggested that it was too apologetic ever to appeal to us: it leaves us cold and unresponsive: we might welcome a stimulant, but we do not want a soothing syrup.
8
The motto was, of course, a product of its day. It had been commonly used by others, including the Amalgamated Society of Engineers and the Yorkshire Miners' Association, but Walkden had judged the political mood correctly, recognising that the days of 1913 were vastly different from those of 1897. The politics of the membership had also changed. This did not mean that the RCA was now in favour of a strike policy, on the contrary, strikes were far from the thoughts of the majority of its members. Walkden's attitude on the subject was typified in a lengthy letter sent to one member in 1914 when he wrote:
"Whilst all this goes to prove that improvements in Labour conditions can be obtained by strikes, it is none the less true that other means can be adopted which can be made equally fruitful, with less suffering on the part of the workers concerned and the community as a whole."
Walkden did not entirely rule out the possibility of strikes as a means of achieving results, but he had greater faith in the possibilities of Parliamentary and Municipal action. By no other means can the instruments of production, distribution and exchange be taken from the hands of the capitalists, whose sole motive is profiteering.
9
With the exception of the RCA, (who were not invited) discussions took place during 1911 and 1912 between all the railway unions with a view to amalgamation. These negotiations, as we shall see in Chapter 9, began on 3rd February 1906 with the RCA in attendance but not, on this occasion, ASLEF. Indeed, ASLEF, like the RCA, remained unwilling to lose its identity; this left the officials of the ASRS, GRWU and the UPSS to sign the agreement which launched the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR). This took place on 14th February 1913 to the singing of Auld Lang Syne and the Red Flag.10 With a membership of 180,000 the establishment of the NUR was seen by the RCA as unquestionably one of the most important events in the railway world
and one likely to have far-reaching results.
11 To many railway workers and in particular the Syndicalists,12 the formation of the NUR was an important step towards achieving one union for the railway industry. The RCA's Sheffield branch, which was greatly influenced by Syndicalism, seized the opportunity and asked the 1913 Annual Conference to instruct the EC to hold a ballot with a view to amalgamation with the NUR, but after a lengthy discussion, "Next Business" was moved and the debate was discontinued.
Between 1910 and 1914 TUC affiliations jumped from 1,662,000 to 2,682,000. At the same time, many trade unionists, frustrated at the opportunism of some leading political and trade union leaders, turned to Syndicalism, convinced that only trade union militancy could achieve a socialist Britain. Their propaganda and literature, with its rejection of party politics, abounded. The most important was The Miners' Next Step but there were many others, including the Transport Worker and The Syndicalist Railwayman. The RCA was not immune from its influence.
The Association had been pursuing nationalisation of the railways for some time but the question of public control and accountability, other than through state ownership, had never been discussed. The Syndicalists opposed nationalisation (Chandler had done so on several occasions), and sought worker control with one union for each industry. The majority of trade union leaders had little sympathy for Syndicalism but its ideas did have some influence within the grass roots of the movement. Unlike the NUR, which adopted the philosophy of worker control, the RCA sought a wider perspective of industrial democracy, and at the 1913 Conference the President, Herbert Romeril, raised the subject for the first time.
In his address Romeril said that although a nationalised railway system had more support than at any previous period in history, many people were still unsure of how it would actually be applied. He advocated that it should be managed by a National Railway Board with three elements. One third would consist of representatives of the users of the railways, to be elected by such bodies as the Associated Chambers of Commerce; one third would be Members of Parliament, including a Minister of railways who would act as President of the Board - all appointed by the Government; the remaining third would be composed of elected railway workers.13 Romeril urged every member to give these remarks careful consideration; his proposals were not taken up by branches until 1915 when the annual conference recorded its intention to seek legislation to nationalise the railways which would be managed with the aid of an Advisory Committee upon which the employees would have elected representatives.14 The EC placed a motion to this effect on the agenda of the 1915 TUC and again in 1916; on both occasions they were carried. In 1915 the motion had the support of the NUR and at the 1916 TUC the ASLEF General Secretary, John Bromley, said:
"We railwaymen want our fellow workers to understand that it is not purely in our own self interest that we desire nationalisation. We claim that among the railwaymen's leaders there are many who understand the fundamentals of railway work and of details in organisation of the traffic equally with the managers themselves."15
The subject was discussed again at the 1917 TUC but Romeril emphasised that workers, rather than trade union leaders, should be on management boards. The demand which we are making is that the workers upon the railways should have an adequate share in the control of the business,
he declared.16 It was a point of view that was now shared by many within the railway industry but not those who sat on the company boards of management.
The Sheffield "Pioneer" branch had developed from its early moderate days of "Defence Not Defiance" to become the most radical of the Association's branches. It was not only its branch officers that supported Syndicalism, but also the majority of members. This banch was certainly not representative of the RCA as a whole but a reflection of the charisma and influence of Arthur Chandler, the Association's most prominent advocate of Syndicalism.
In 1913, Chandler had acted as the convenor of the Syndicalist Education League Conference and on 30th November 1912 he had attended a Syndicalist conference in Manchester. There were 137 delegates at the conference,17 representing 76 Syndicalist branches and 42 trade unions. Chandler had played a significant part in the debates, speaking in favour of "Direct Action" and supporting an anti-war motion proposed by Tom Mann, one of the most famous of the Syndicalists. The RCA had no objection to Chandler participating in this conference but his name, along with that of the RCA, had been used to give it publicity. The EC voiced its objections to this although it was not expressly forbidden under rule.
Within the Association Chandler was a very popular character even though very few accepted his politics. On occasions he won support across the political spectrum and he had been elected to the RCA's Annual Conference SOC. He was a prominent personality within the Socialist Fellowship although his politics were far removed from those of George Ridley. Chandler had also stood for the Presidency of the Association in 1911, 1912 and 1913, but had failed to attract more than 20 per cent of the vote; however, he had obtained more support than other notable personalities such as George Ridley, Samuel Lomax and A.J. Weaver, all of whom were members of the EC. Such was his standing that, for some years, only he and the General Secretary were elected to represent the Association at the TUC.
For some time the political views of the Sheffield branch had given the EC cause for concern particularly as it sought virtually complete autonomy. Matters finally came to a head on 26th October 1913, when the Executive came to the conclusion that enough was enough and decided to close the branch. It appealed against the decision and the first Special Conference of the RCA was held in Sheffield on 13th/14th December 1913.
The main charge against the branch was that it had made payments to other organisations without the approval of the EC, but it was their demand for autonomy, their political position, and the manner in which they operated, that were the real cause for concern. The branch did not deny that it had made such payments without approval. There were in fact three. The first had been a donation of £1.00 which had been sent to the NUC who had been involved in a strike with the Port of London Authority. The second, also for £1.00, was sent to the local Labour MP Joseph Pointer in support of his 1909 election fund; a decision which, with hindsight, was regretted by Chandler, who accepted that it wasted the Association's money.
18 Of greater political significance was the affiliation fee of £2. 7s 0d (£2.35) sent to the Sheffield Federation of Railway Trade Unions which had been formed after a strike had been called off by the NUR's EC in 1910. The Federation, influenced by Syndicalism, was determined that in future it would deal with local grievances and if necessary initiate strike action. Apart from personal charges against Chandler, the branch was also accused of publishing a list of RCA branches and their secretaries' addresses in contravention of the Association's rules. Chandler defended this point very strongly, somewhat embarrassing the General Secretary, who was obliged to admit that he, too, had done the same thing by providing the Railway Nationalisation Society with the same list.
When the special conference took place several amendments were submitted by branches in an attempt to heal the breach between Sheffield and the EC. Chandler gave his support to one that sought to get Walkden, the EC and the branch to treat each other with respect; to conform to the rules of the Association and to endeavour to work in harmony in the interests of the union. This, and the others, were all doomed to failure when Chandler said, Sheffield has always obeyed the decisions of conference; but we are not going to promise to obey all the decisions, whether they are inside or outside the rules.
Later when Chandler and his colleague, Gibson, denied the conference's right to close the branch, the delegates had heard enough, and on a show of hands of 109 to 33, and a card vote of 14,425 to 4,075, the closure was endorsed. During the debate there were outbursts of support for Chandler and his colleagues; these did not come from delegates but from members of the Sheffield branch who were present as visitors. When the vote was announced there were shouts of Are we downhearted?
followed by a thundering No!
in response. Three cheers were given for Chandler followed by the branch secretary E. Cawthorne proposing Three jeers
for Walkden. Eventually after protests by the President, who had some difficulty in dealing with the interruption, Chandler managed to calm down his vociferous supporters. It could not have been an edifying spectacle!
Those Sheffield members who chose to remain in the RCA were transferred to the Central Branch until order was restored, and no members were permitted to join another branch until they gave an undertaking to abide loyally by the rules of the Association. The branch leadership, Messrs. Chandler, Cawthorne, Gibson, Dormand and Watkins19 who had all spoken in defence of the branch, were eventually, and, it should be said, with some reluctance, expelled. An attempt was made by the Sheffield Trades and Labour Council and Joseph Pointing (so bitterly criticised earlier by Chandler) to resolve the differences, but their overtures were dismissed by the Executive. The Sheffield branch was reopened one month later on 14th January 1914 with a membership of 120 and in February it agreed to reaffiliate to the Trades Council. There was one more serious twist to this affair. The National Organiser, Joseph St. Clair Halfpenny, had also been involved and had written a number of letters on the branch's behalf encouraging opposition to the Executive. This was bad enough, but it also coincided with a further enquiry into other matters of an extremely serious character
. The details remained undisclosed but Halfpenny took the option of resigning rather than being dismissed and he eventually emigrated to Canada.20
Following the conference, Chandler and his colleagues quickly established a new union - a somewhat contradictory political decision given that their industrial philosophy was based on one union for each industry. The National Union of Railway Clerks (NURC) was launched in December 1913 and Chandler approached the NUR with a view to amalgamation. This was refused as Walkden had written to J.E. Williams, its General Secretary, on 2nd December, advising him of the closure of the Sheffield branch and asking him to instruct his members in Sheffield to refuse applications to join the NUR from recalcitrant members of the RCA. Chandler became General Secretary of the NURC and its Treasurer was Charles Evans. Mr. Cawthorne was an auditor and although the RCA's EC was a little concerned at the birth of the breakaway union, it had little to fear. There was support for the NURC from individuals in Rotherham, Huddersfield, and Liverpool and they managed to establish branches in London, Derby, Bradford and Bristol.
By January 1915 it had only 115 members but they did manage to set up a Convalescent Fund and produce their own magazine. Fourteen new members joined the NURC during 1915 and the same number left. It reached its peak in 1916 when it had 119 members, two of whom were women. When one branch closed it soon became clear that the union was not going to attract many more new members, let alone the overwhelming number of railway clerks who remained loyal to the RCA. Politically the NURC was a spent force and it was finally dissolved on 7th October 1917 - the NUR accepting its members. By this time the Sheffield RCA branch had once again reached 400 and attempted to hold out the hand of friendship to former members of the branch
,21 but this proposal was rejected by the 1917 Annual Conference. It was not until 1921 that the Sheffield storm finally abated. In September, the Sheffield branch secretary wrote to the EC suggesting that it would be helpful if they could invite former members of the branch, including the leaders of the breakaway union, to rejoin the RCA. The EC agreed and the branch prospered.
Arthur Chandler continued to play a prominent role in the affairs of the Sheffield Trades and Labour Council and represented it at the 1918 Labour Party Conference. He was elected as its President in 1917 and in the wake of the Russian Revolution he was elected to the Yorkshire Workers' and Soldiers' Council. In the Foreword to the Annual Report of the Sheffield Trades Council for 1917/18 he wrote:
"It is a thousand pities that the lead of our Russian Comrades was not followed by the proletariat of the other countries. There will be no peace until the workers take the whole matter out of the hands of the ruling class."22
Chandler, without doubt, had tremendous ability. Even as a known industrial militant and a political revolutionary, he was promoted to the post of Stationmaster at Cheltenham in 1918. The local RCA branch secretary was keen to recruit him but understandably decided to seek guidance from the EC. Still wary, the Executive decided that he should not be recruited, but if he applied to rejoin, that would be considered. This did not materialise and Chandler remained a member of the NUR. He participated in the 1919 strike and was active in the campaign to amalgamate the NUR and RCA, whilst at the same time constantly attacking Walkden's politics. At one stage, Chandler almost succeeded in pursuading the RCA Cheltenham branch to join the NUR virtually "en bloc" and the EC was obliged to call a special meeting of the branch to prevent this taking place.
Chandler continued with his work on the Midland Superannuation Fund Committee but when he stood for re-election in 1922 his address was considered to be offensive to the RCA, and Walkden complained to the NUR. This was rejected and Chandler was not only elected but topped the poll with the assistance of a local RCA branch official! He remained a revolutionary to the end, but poor health eventually prevented him from taking part in political activity. In 1924, he lay seriously ill and all problems of the past were forgotten when delegates at the Annual Conference agreed to send him a message of sympathy, together with good wishes for his early recovery. The old deep and bitter wounds had gone and he had been forgiven. Two years later, just before the General Strike, Chandler rejoined the Association and played his part in that historic event.
Five years after Osborne brought his case to the courts, Parliament passed the Trade Union Act (1913), and in September that year, members of the RCA decided their political future by ballot. The law required that the rules of the Association should provide:
When the result of the ballot was announced on 4th October 1913 it showed that 65.7 per cent of the members had participated and that 91.3 per cent of these were in favour of retaining a political fund. Of the 96 unions that held a ballot up to 15th April 1916, only two other unions, the National Sailors' and Firemen's Union and the Workers' Union had achieved a better result.
| Position | Union | For | Against | Rejected | % For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | National Sailors' & Firemen's Union | 19,879 | 329 | 690 | 95.1 |
| 2. | Workers' Union | 12,113 | 1,010 | 100 | 91.5 |
| 3. | RCA | 15,496 | 1,340 | 123 | 91.3 |
| 29. | NUR | 102,270 | 34,953 | 3,015 | 72.9 |
| 41. | ASLEF | 7,839 | 3,841 | 9 | 67 |
Source: Report of the Chief Registrar on Trade Unions 1914-1916.
This, given the background and history of the Association was a remarkable result, but its politics went much deeper than the mathematics of the ballot. Members of the Association continued to provide an invaluable source of income and political support for the Labour Party up to, and including, the present day, with a record of political levy-paying members that ranked amongst the best within the trade union movement. The politics of "Defence Not Defiance" was well and truly dead!
| Year | % Paying Levy |
|---|---|
| 1913 | 99.2 |
| 1916 | 99.8 |
| 1918 | 99.9 |
| 1919 | 99.9 |
| 1921 | 99.5 |
| 1924 | 98.1 |
| 1926 | 98.2 |
| 1927 | 97.8 |
[1]. "Melissa", the wife of A. L. Dorer, contributed articles to The Railway Clerk from 1908-1916.
[2]. The Railway Clerk February 1912.
[3]. The Railway Clerk June 1915.
[4]. The Railway Clerk June 1912.
[5]. The Independent 3rd July 1915.
[6]. The Railway Clerk September 1920.
[7]. Wolverhampton Chronicle 8th May 1912.
[8]. The Railway Clerk October 1913.
[9]. Correspondence A. G. Walkden 22nd July 1914. Modern Records Centre, Warwick University. Ref. MSS 55B/3/WEHI/2.i
[10]. The Railwaymen Page 335. P. S. Bagwell.
[11]. The Railway Clerk March 1913.
[12]. Syndicalism was, to a large extent, inspired by Georges Sorel (1847-1922). It sought to take control of society by strike action, leading to co-operative worker control of industry. It had a strong following in Britain between 1911-1914.
[13]. The Railway Clerk June 1913.
[14]. The Railway Clerk June 1915.
[15]. TUC Annual Report 1916.
[16]. TUC Annual Report 1917.
[17]. The Syndicalist December 1912.
[18]. Minutes of Special RCA Conference 1913.
[19]. T. H. Watkins (Sheffield). Prominent in Sheffield Co-operative Society; Sheffield City Councillor and Alderman.
[20]. RCA EC Minutes 7th March 1914.
[21]. The Railway Clerk June 1917.
[22]. History of Sheffield Trades and Labour Council 1858-1958.
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