1.
Trade union
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The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with employers. The most common purpose of these associations or unions is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment and this may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies. Unions may organize a section of skilled workers, a cross-section of workers from various trades. The agreements negotiated by a union are binding on the rank and file members, originating in Great Britain, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution. Trade unions may be composed of workers, professionals, past workers, students. Trade union density, or the percentage of workers belonging to a union, is highest in the Nordic countries. The trade unions aim at nothing less than to prevent the reduction of wages below the level that is maintained in the various branches of industry. That is to say, they wish to prevent the price of labour-power from falling below its value, yet historian R. A. the other the aggressive-expansionist drive to unite all labouring men and women for a different order of things. The 18th century economist Adam Smith noted the imbalance in the rights of workers in regards to owners. In The Wealth of Nations, Book I, chapter 8, Smith wrote, We rarely hear, it has said, of the combination of masters. But whoever imagines, upon this account, that masters rarely combine, is as ignorant of the world as of the subject. Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labor above their actual rate When workers combine, masters. As Smith noted, unions were illegal for many years in most countries, there were severe penalties for attempting to organize unions, up to and including execution. This pool of unskilled and semi-skilled labour spontaneously organized in fits and starts throughout its beginnings, Trade unions and collective bargaining were outlawed from no later than the middle of the 14th century when the Ordinance of Labourers was enacted in the Kingdom of England. In 1799, the Combination Act was passed, which banned trade unions, although the unions were subject to often severe repression until 1824, they were already widespread in cities such as London. Sympathy for the plight of the workers brought repeal of the acts in 1824, by the 1810s, the first labour organizations to bring together workers of divergent occupations were formed. Possibly the first such union was the General Union of Trades, also known as the Philanthropic Society, the latter name was to hide the organizations real purpose in a time when trade unions were still illegal. The Association quickly enrolled approximately 150 unions, consisting mostly of textile related unions, but also including mechanics, blacksmiths, and various others
2.
Longford, Coventry
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Longford is a ward in the north of Coventry, West Midlands, England. The population of the Ward as taken at the 2011 census was 18,538 and it is covered by the Coventry North East constituency and bounded by the wards of Holbrooks, Henley, Upper Stoke and Foleshill. In the north of the ward is the Ricoh Arena, home to Coventry City Football Club, also part of the complex is Arena Park a Retail Centre including a Tesco Extra. Riley Square shopping centre is another shopping centre in the ward, Longford is also served by two libraries, Arena Park Library and Bell Green Library. The 2001 UK Census found that there were 17,601 people living in Longford, Longford has an area of 472 square kilometres. The number of people who were unemployed in Longford was 522 according to the Office for National Statistics in June 2006,12,409 people were of a working age. The largest employer in the ward in 2004 was Henley College, Foxford School and Community Arts College is the areas secondary school. Primary education is provided by Grangehurst Primary School, the area is referred to as early as the 15th century, stating that there were houses and cottages in the areas of Longford and Foxford however these had not developed to form hamlets. A census in 1730 stated that there were only 20 houses in Longford and Foxford, Longford began to develop in the mid-18th century when the ribbon weaving industry and a flourishing coal mine at Hawkesbury encouraged workers and their families to move into Longford. It was now on the route from the mining districts of Nuneaton. The Coventry Canal passes through the area, on the towpath is a sculpture named The Stone Sofa, by Tim Shutter. Unveiled on May 31,1997, it was commissioned by Groundwork Coventry as part of the Coventry Canal Art Trail, the sculpture is 1.4 metres high,2.4 metres wide and approximately one metre deep and carved out of solid sandstone. The Oxford Canal was started in the area in 1769 and the first 10 miles were completed by 1771, the two canals passed alongside each other from Hawkesbury to Longford as the Coventry Canal Company and the Oxford Canal Company were unable to agree on tolls. Following a court injunction taken out by the Coventry Canal Company, the current junction of the canals is Hawkesbury Junction. Foxford School and Community Arts College Salem Baptist Church, Longford
3.
Suburb
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A suburb is a residential area or a mixed use area, either existing as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city. In some areas, such as Australia, China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and a few U. S. states, new suburbs are routinely annexed by adjacent cities. In others, such as Arabia, Canada, France, and much of the United States, Suburbs first emerged on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of improved rail and road transport, which led to an increase in commuting. Suburbs tend to proliferate around cities that have an abundance of adjacent flat land, the English word is derived from the Old French subburbe, which is in turn derived from the Latin suburbium, formed from sub and urbs. The first recorded usage of the term in English, was made by John Wycliffe in 1380, in Australia and New Zealand, suburbs have become formalised as geographic subdivisions of a city and are used by postal services in addressing. In rural areas in both countries, their equivalents are called localities, the terms inner suburb and outer suburb are used to differentiate between the higher-density suburbs in proximity to the city center, and the lower-density suburbs on the outskirts of the urban area. The term middle suburbs is also used, Suburbs, in this sense, can range from areas that seem more like residential areas of a city proper to areas separated by open countryside from the city centre. In large cities such as London, suburbs include formerly separate towns and villages that have been gradually absorbed during a growth and expansion. In the United States and Canada, suburb can refer either to an residential area of a city or town or to a separate municipality or unincorporated area outside a town or city. The earliest appearance of suburbs coincided with the spread of the first urban settlements, large walled towns tended to be the focus around which smaller villages grew up in a symbiotic relationship with the market town. The word suburbani was first used by the Roman statesman Cicero in reference to the large villas, as populations grew during the Early Modern Period in Europe, urban towns swelled with a steady influx of people from the countryside. In some places, nearby settlements were swallowed up as the city expanded. The peripheral areas on the outskirts of the city were generally inhabited by the very poorest, by the mid-19th century, the first major suburban areas were springing up around London as the city became more overcrowded and unsanitary. A major catalyst in suburban growth came from the opening of the Metropolitan Railway in the 1860s, the line joined the capitals financial heart in the City to what were to become the suburbs of Middlesex. Harrow was reached in 1880, and the line extended as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles from Baker Street. Unlike other railway companies, which were required to dispose of surplus land, in 1912, it was suggested that a specially formed company should take over from the Surplus Lands Committee and develop suburban estates near the railway. However, World War I delayed these plans and it was only in 1919, with expectation of a housing boom. The term Metro-land was coined by the Mets marketing department in 1915 when the Guide to the Extension Line became the Metro-land guide and this promoted the land served by the Met for the walker, visitor and later the house-hunter
4.
Coventry
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Coventry is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. Historically part of Warwickshire, Coventry is the 9th largest city in England and it is the second largest city in the West Midlands region, after Birmingham, with a population of 345,385 in 2015. Coventry is 95 miles northwest of central London,19 miles east-south-east of Birmingham,24 miles southwest of Leicester and 11 miles north of Warwick. Coventry Cathedral was built after the destruction of the 14th century cathedral church of Saint Michael by the German Luftwaffe in the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940, Coventry motor companies have contributed significantly to the British motor industry. The city has two universities, Coventry University in the city centre and the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts. The Romans founded a settlement in Baginton, next to the River Sowe, and another formed around a Saxon nunnery, founded c. AD700 by St Osburga, that was later left in ruins by King Canutes invading Danish army in 1016. Earl Leofric of Mercia and his wife Lady Godiva built on the remains of the nunnery, in time, a market was established at the abbey gates and the settlement expanded. By the 14th century, Coventry was an important centre of the cloth trade, the bishops of Lichfield were often referred to as bishops of Coventry and Lichfield, or Lichfield and Coventry. Coventry claimed the status of a city by ancient prescriptive usage, was granted a charter of incorporation in 1345, the plays that William Shakespeare witnessed in Coventry during his boyhood or teens may have influenced how his plays, such as Hamlet, came about. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Coventry became one of the three main British centres of watch and clock manufacture and ranked alongside Prescot, in Lancashire, in the late 19th century, Coventry became a major centre of bicycle manufacture. The industry energised by the invention by James Starley and his nephew John Kemp Starley of the Rover safety bicycle, by the early 20th century, bicycle manufacture had evolved into motor manufacture, and Coventry became a major centre of the British motor industry. Jaguar is owned by the Indian company, Tata Motors, with many of the citys older properties becoming increasingly unfit for habitation, the first council houses were let to their tenants in 1917. With Coventrys industrial base continuing to soar after the end of the Great War a year later, numerous private and council housing developments took place across the city in the 1920s and 1930s. The development of a southern by-pass around the city, starting in the 1930s and being completed in 1940, Coventry suffered severe bomb damage during the Second World War. There was a massive Luftwaffe air raid, part of the Coventry Blitz, firebombing on this date led to severe damage to large areas of the city centre and to Coventrys historic cathedral, leaving only a shell and the spire. More than 4,000 houses were damaged or destroyed, along with three quarters of the citys industrial plants. More than 800 people were killed, with injured and homeless. Aside from London, Hull and Plymouth, Coventry suffered more damage than any other British city during the Luftwaffe attacks, following the raids, the majority of Coventrys historic buildings could not be saved as they were in ruinous states or were deemed unsafe for any future use
5.
Birmingham
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Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England lying on the River Rea, a small river that runs through Birmingham. It is the largest and most populous British city outside London, the city is in the West Midlands Built-up Area, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,440,986 at the 2011 census. Birminghams metropolitan area is the second most populous in the UK with a population of 3.8 million and this also makes Birmingham the 8th most populous metropolitan area in Europe. By 1791 it was being hailed as the first manufacturing town in the world, perhaps the most important invention in British history, the industrial steam engine, was invented in Birmingham. From the summer of 1940 to the spring of 1943, Birmingham was bombed heavily by the German Luftwaffe in what is known as the Birmingham Blitz. The damage done to the infrastructure, in addition to a deliberate policy of demolition and new building by planners, led to extensive demolition. Today Birminghams economy is dominated by the service sector and its metropolitan economy is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a GDP of $121. 1bn, and its six universities make it the largest centre of higher education in the country outside London. Birmingham is the fourth-most visited city in the UK by foreign visitors, Birminghams sporting heritage can be felt worldwide, with the concept of the Football League and lawn tennis both originating from the city. Its most successful football club Aston Villa has won seven league titles, people from Birmingham are called Brummies, a term derived from the citys nickname of Brum. This originates from the citys name, Brummagem, which may in turn have been derived from one of the citys earlier names. There is a distinctive Brummie accent and dialect, Birminghams early history is that of a remote and marginal area. The main centres of population, power and wealth in the pre-industrial English Midlands lay in the fertile and accessible river valleys of the Trent, the Severn and the Avon. The area of modern Birmingham lay in between, on the upland Birmingham Plateau and within the wooded and sparsely populated Forest of Arden. Birmingham as a settlement dates from the Anglo-Saxon era, within a century of the charter Birmingham had grown into a prosperous urban centre of merchants and craftsmen. By 1327 it was the third-largest town in Warwickshire, a position it would retain for the next 200 years, by 1700 Birminghams population had increased fifteenfold and the town was the fifth-largest in England and Wales. The importance of the manufacture of goods to Birminghams economy was recognised as early as 1538. Equally significant was the emerging role as a centre for the iron merchants who organised finance, supplied raw materials. The 18th century saw this tradition of free-thinking and collaboration blossom into the phenomenon now known as the Midlands Enlightenment
6.
Annie Besant
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Annie Besant was a British socialist, theosophist, womens rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self-rule. In 1867, Annie at age 20, married Frank Besant, a clergyman and she then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society and writer and a close friend of Charles Bradlaugh. In 1877 they were prosecuted for publishing a book by birth control campaigner Charles Knowlton, the scandal made them famous, and Bradlaugh was elected M. P. for Northampton in 1880. She became involved with union actions including the Bloody Sunday demonstration and she was a leading speaker for the Fabian Society and the Marxist Social Democratic Federation. She was elected to the London School Board for Tower Hamlets, in 1890 Besant met Helena Blavatsky and over the next few years her interest in theosophy grew while her interest in secular matters waned. She became a member of the Theosophical Society and a prominent lecturer on the subject, as part of her theosophy-related work, she travelled to India. In 1898 she helped establish the Central Hindu College and in 1922 she helped establish the Hyderabad National Collegiate Board in Mumbai, in 1902, she established the first overseas Lodge of the International Order of Co-Freemasonry, Le Droit Humain. Over the next few years she established lodges in many parts of the British Empire, in 1907 she became president of the Theosophical Society, whose international headquarters were in Adyar, Madras. She also became involved in politics in India, joining the Indian National Congress, when World War I broke out in 1914, she helped launch the Home Rule League to campaign for democracy in India and dominion status within the Empire. This led to her election as president of the India National Congress in late 1917, in the late 1920s, Besant travelled to the United States with her protégé and adopted son Jiddu Krishnamurti, who she claimed was the new Messiah and incarnation of Buddha. Krishnamurti rejected these claims in 1929, after the war, she continued to campaign for Indian independence and for the causes of theosophy, until her death in 1933. Annie Wood was born in 1847 in London into a family of Irish origin. She was proud of her heritage and supported the cause of Irish self-rule throughout her adult life and her father died when she was five years old, leaving the family almost penniless. Her mother supported the family by running a house for boys at Harrow School. However, she was unable to support Annie and persuaded her friend Ellen Marryat to care for her, Marryat made sure that Besant had a good education. She was given a sense of duty to society and an equally strong sense of what independent women could achieve. As a young woman, she was able to travel widely in Europe. There she acquired a taste for Roman Catholic colour and ceremony that never left her, in 1867, at age twenty, she married 26-year-old clergyman Frank Besant, younger brother of Walter Besant
7.
John Bright
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John Bright, Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, one of the greatest orators of his generation and a promoter of free trade policies. He is most famous for battling the Corn Laws, the Corn Laws were repealed in 1846. Bright also worked with Cobden in another free trade initiative, the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty of 1860 and this campaign was conducted in collaboration with French economist Michel Chevalier, and succeeded despite Parliaments endemic mistrust of the French. Bright sat in the House of Commons from 1843 to 1889, promoting trade, electoral reform. He was almost a lone voice in opposing the Crimean War and he was a spokesman for the middle class, and strongly opposed to the privileges of the landed aristocracy. In terms of Ireland, he sought to end the privileges of Anglicans, disestablished the Church of Ireland. He coined the phrase Mother of Parliaments, Bright was born at Greenbank, Rochdale, in Lancashire, England – one of the early centres of the Industrial Revolution. His father, Jacob Bright, was a much-respected Quaker, who had started a mill at Rochdale in 1809. Jacobs father, Abraham, was a Wiltshire yeoman, who, early in the 18th century, moved to Coventry, Jacob Bright was educated at the Ackworth School of the Society of Friends, and apprenticed to a fustian manufacturer at New Mills, Derbyshire. John Bright was his son by his wife, Martha Wood. Educated at Ackworth School, she was a woman of great strength of character, There were eleven children of this marriage, of whom John was the eldest surviving son. His younger brother was Jacob Bright, an MP and mayor and his sisters included Priscilla Bright and Margaret Bright Lucas. John was a child, and was sent as a day pupil to a boarding school near his home. A year at the Ackworth School, two years at Bootham School, York, and a year and a half at Newton, near Clitheroe, completed his education. He learned, he said, but little Latin and Greek, but acquired a great love of English literature, which his mother fostered. In his sixteenth year, he entered his fathers mill, in Rochdale, Jacob Bright was a leader of the opposition to a local church-rate. Rochdale was also prominent in the movement for reform, by which the town successfully claimed to have a member allotted to it under the Reform Bill. John Bright took part in both campaigns and he was an ardent Nonconformist, proud to number among his ancestors John Gratton, a friend of George Fox, and one of the persecuted and imprisoned preachers of the Religious Society of Friends
8.
Socialism
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Social ownership may refer to forms of public, collective, or cooperative ownership, to citizen ownership of equity, or to any combination of these. Although there are varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them. Socialist economic systems can be divided into both non-market and market forms, non-market socialism aims to circumvent the inefficiencies and crises traditionally associated with capital accumulation and the profit system. Profits generated by these firms would be controlled directly by the workforce of each firm or accrue to society at large in the form of a social dividend, the feasibility and exact methods of resource allocation and calculation for a socialist system are the subjects of the socialist calculation debate. Core dichotomies associated with these concerns include reformism versus revolutionary socialism, the term is frequently used to draw contrast to the political system of the Soviet Union, which critics argue operated in an authoritarian fashion. By the 1920s, social democracy and communism became the two dominant political tendencies within the international socialist movement, by this time, Socialism emerged as the most influential secular movement of the twentieth century, worldwide. Socialist parties and ideas remain a force with varying degrees of power and influence in all continents. Today, some socialists have also adopted the causes of social movements. The origin of the term socialism may be traced back and attributed to a number of originators, in addition to significant historical shifts in the usage, for Andrew Vincent, The word ‘socialism’ finds its root in the Latin sociare, which means to combine or to share. The related, more technical term in Roman and then medieval law was societas and this latter word could mean companionship and fellowship as well as the more legalistic idea of a consensual contract between freemen. The term socialism was created by Henri de Saint-Simon, one of the founders of what would later be labelled utopian socialism. Simon coined socialism as a contrast to the doctrine of individualism. They presented socialism as an alternative to liberal individualism based on the ownership of resources. The term socialism is attributed to Pierre Leroux, and to Marie Roch Louis Reybaud in France, the term communism also fell out of use during this period, despite earlier distinctions between socialism and communism from the 1840s. An early distinction between socialism and communism was that the former aimed to only socialise production while the latter aimed to socialise both production and consumption. However, by 1888 Marxists employed the term socialism in place of communism, linguistically, the contemporary connotation of the words socialism and communism accorded with the adherents and opponents cultural attitude towards religion. In Christian Europe, of the two, communism was believed to be the atheist way of life, in Protestant England, the word communism was too culturally and aurally close to the Roman Catholic communion rite, hence English atheists denoted themselves socialists. Friedrich Engels argued that in 1848, at the time when the Communist Manifesto was published, socialism was respectable on the continent and this latter branch of socialism produced the communist work of Étienne Cabet in France and Wilhelm Weitling in Germany
9.
William Morris
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William Morris was an English textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist. Associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement, he was a contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he played a significant role in propagating the early socialist movement in Britain. Born in Walthamstow, Essex, to a wealthy family, Morris came under the strong influence of medievalism while studying Classics at Oxford University. Webb and Morris designed a home, Red House, then in Kent. In 1861, Morris founded a decorative arts firm with Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Webb, and others, in 1875, Morris assumed total control of the company, which was renamed Morris & Co. Although retaining a main home in London, from 1871 Morris rented the rural retreat of Kelmscott Manor, greatly influenced by visits to Iceland, with Eiríkr Magnússon he produced a series of English-language translations of Icelandic Sagas. In 1877 he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings to campaign against the damage caused by architectural restoration, in 1891 he founded the Kelmscott Press to publish limited-edition, illuminated-style print books, a cause to which he devoted his final years. Morris is recognised as one of the most significant cultural figures of Victorian Britain, though best known in his lifetime as a poet, founded in 1955, the William Morris Society is devoted to his legacy, while multiple biographies and studies of his work have seen publication. Many of the associated with his life are open to visitors, much of his work can be found in art galleries and museums. Morris was born at Elm House in Walthamstow, Essex, on 24 March 1834. Raised into a wealthy family, he was named after his father. His mother was Emma Morris, who came from Woodford Hall in Woodford, Essex and he also took rides through the Essex countryside on his pony, and visited the various churches and cathedrals throughout the country, marveling at their architecture. His father took him on visits outside of the county, for instance to Canterbury Cathedral, the Chiswick Horticultural Gardens, and to the Isle of Wight, where he adored Blackgang Chine. In February 1848 Morris began his studies at Marlborough College in Marlborough, Wiltshire and he despised his time there, being bullied, bored, and homesick. He did use the opportunity to many of the prehistoric sites of Wiltshire, such as Avebury and Silbury Hill. At Christmas 1851, Morris was removed from the school and returned to Water House, guy, Assistant Master at the nearby Forest School. In June 1852 Morris entered Oxford Universitys Exeter College, although since the college was full and he disliked the college and was bored by the manner in which they taught him Classics
10.
Henry George
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Henry George was an American political economist, journalist, and philosopher. His most famous work, Progress and Poverty, sold millions of copies worldwide, George was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a lower-middle-class family, the second of ten children of Richard S. H. George and Catharine Pratt George. His father was a publisher of religious texts and a devout Episcopalian, George chafed at his religious upbringing and left the academy without graduating. Instead he convinced his father to hire a tutor and supplemented this with avid reading and attending lectures at the Franklin institute. His formal education ended at age 14 and he went to sea as a foremast boy at age 15 in April 1855 on the Hindoo, bound for Melbourne and Calcutta. He ended up in the West in 1858 and briefly considered prospecting for gold, in California, George fell in love with Annie Corsina Fox, an eighteen-year-old girl from Sydney who had been orphaned and was living with an uncle. The uncle, a prosperous, strong-minded man, was opposed to his nieces impoverished suitor, but the couple, defying him, eloped and married in late 1861, with Henry dressed in a borrowed suit and Annie bringing only a packet of books. The marriage was a one and four children were born to them. Foxs mother was Irish Catholic, and while George remained an Evangelical Protestant, on November 3,1862 Annie gave birth to future United States Representative from New York, Henry George, Jr. Early on, even with the birth of future sculptor, Richard F. George, which remained required reading in California schools for decades. George climbed the ranks of the Times, eventually becoming managing editor in the summer of 1867, George worked for several papers, including four years as editor of his own newspaper San Francisco Daily Evening Post and time running the Reporter, a Democratic anti-monopoly publication. The George family struggled but Georges increasing reputation and involvement in the newspaper industry lifted them from poverty, Georges other two children were both daughters. The first was Jennie George, later to become Jennie George Atkinson, Georges other daughter was Anna Angela George, who would become mother of both future dancer and choreographer, Agnes de Mille and future actress Peggy George. George began as a Lincoln Republican, but then became a Democrat and he was a strong critic of railroad and mining interests, corrupt politicians, land speculators, and labor contractors. He first articulated his views in an 1868 article entitled What the Railroad Will Bring Us and this had led to him earning the enmity of the Central Pacific Railroads executives, who helped defeat his bid for election to the California State Assembly. One day in 1871 George went for a ride and stopped to rest while overlooking San Francisco Bay. He later wrote of the revelation that he had, I asked a passing teamster, for want of something better to say, what land was worth there. He pointed to some cows grazing so far off that they looked like mice, and said, I dont know exactly, like a flash it came over me that there was the reason of advancing poverty with advancing wealth
