AFTER the great defeat of 1834, the Trade Union movement fell
back upon the individual Societies which had been drawn into the
successive attempts to form a 'General Union'. Some large
Societies survived; but in most trades national organization dis-
appeared, and only local bodies remained. The Builders' Union
broke up, only the stone-masons maintaining a strong national Society,
though a shadow of national organisation continued among the
Carpenters and Joiners. The first large-scale revival occurred in
1842, in connection with the great strike movement already de-
scribed in Section XV (see Section XV, 7). During this period the
miners succeeded in establishing a National Association, which lasted
till the end of the I840s, and then broke down. Meanwhile, the
attempt to create a 'General Union' had been renewed in 1845, with
some temporary success.

A new phase set in with the creation of the Amalgamated Society
of Engineers in 1850-1851; for the A.S.E. set a new standard of
stability with its high contributions and benefits, its centralisation
of control, and its moderate policy. This 'new model' was imitated
in other trades, e.g. by the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and
Joiners in 1861. In the meantime, considerable progress had been
made in securing Trade Union recognition and rights of collective
bargaining in the cotton and hosiery trades, and also in the building
industry in some areas. The London Trades Council, reorganised
and put on a stable basis in 1860, acted as a central agency for the
movement, especially for the skilled crafts, during the 1860s, until
its place was taken after 1868 by the Trades Union Congress. The
miners' movement revived on a large scale in the 1860s, under the
leadership of Alexander Macdonald; and there was also a revival
of the agitation for factory reform. In the main, the development of
Trade Unionism during this period was confined to skilled workers, who alone were able to establish durable combinations of the new
type. The Reform Act of 1867, by enfranchising the skilled workers

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