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One Big Union
The One Big Union was a concept which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century amongst working class trade unionists. The idea was that all workers should be organised in one union: one big union.
When working class unions organised they initially organised as craft or trade unions. These organised workers by their job type: all those who drew pins in one union; and, all those who flattened pin heads in another. Capitalists could often divide craft and trade unionists along these lines in demarkation disputes. As capitalist enterprises and state bureaucracies became more centralised and larger, some workers felt that their institutions needed to become similarly large. A simultaneous disenchantment with the perceived weakness of craft unions caused many unions to organize along industrial lines.
Initiatives for One Big Union occurred across the world. Most notable was the attempt of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) to organise One Big Union in the United States, Canada, Australia, and other countries. The IWW has advocated the general strike as a favorite method for workers to gain control of industries.
While attempts to organise One Big Union on militant and revolutionary lines did not succeed, the unions which made the attempt like the IWW or Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) in Spain have had a great influence on the labor movement.
Later, in the mid-twentieth century, many trade and craft unions emulated the earlier attempts to form One Big Union by federating or conferring. Examples include the AFL-CIO in America, and the TUC in the United Kingdom. In Canada there was a union simply called "One Big Union." Perhaps the earliest example of an alliance of trade unions exists in the ACTU (Australia).
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