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More Trade Unionists The present year marks a change in the fortunes of the trade union movement for the better. Its membership at the end of last year reached the lowest total since 1915. The figure was 4,384,000, contrasting with 4,441,000 in 1932, 4,621,000 in 1931, and 8,346,000 in 1920. The movement has suffered two severe set-backs. The first, a very formidable one, was caused by the General Strike. The second was caused partly by the general discredit of Labour in the crisis year of 1931, and partly by the con- tinued influence of the trade slump. But at last it seems that the tide has turned. For full official figures we must wait till the end of the year ; but nearly all the unions report a larger number of new members than lapses, the National Union of Railwaymen, for example, and the Amalgamated Engineering Union, each showing a net increase of more than 10,000. At the end of the year it is certain that the general membership throughout the country will be considerably up. This is satisfactory, not only because it reflects the improvement in trade but because it indicates greater stability in trade unionism and more confidence in a movement which in the main is highly beneficial to industry.
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