resent the unsanitary and burdensome conditions under which they
were compelled to live and to work. So actual grievances were
added to fear of what might happen, and in their common cause
experience soon taught them unity of action. Parliament was
petitioned, agitations were organized, sick-benefits were
inaugurated, and when these methods failed, machinery was
destroyed, factories were burned, and the strike became a common
weapon of self-defense.

Though a few labor organizations can be traced as far back as
1700, their growth during the eighteenth century was slow and
irregular. There was no unity in their methods, and they were
known by many names, such as associations, unions, union
societies, trade clubs, and trade societies. These societies had
no legal status and their meetings were usually held in secret.
And the Webbs in their "History of Trade Unionism" allude to the
traditions of "the midnight meeting of patriots in the corner of
the field, the buried box of records, the secret oath, the long
terms of imprisonment of the leading officials." Some of these
tales were unquestionably apocryphal, others were exaggerated by
feverish repetition. But they indicate the aversion with which
the authorities looked upon these combinations.

There were two legal doctrines long invoked by the English courts
against combined action--doctrines that became a heritage of the
United States and have had a profound effect upon the labor
movements in America. The first of these was the doctrine of
conspiracy, a doctrine so ancient that its sources are obscure.
It was the natural product of a government and of a time that
looked askance at all combined action, fearing sedition,