I am beginning to wonder whether ‘free collective bargaining’ is still compatible with the traditional practices of parliamentary democracy. I am equally beginning to wonder, what, if this is indeed the case, parliamentary democracy can do about it.

Traditionally, trade unions have been regarded and consequently studied as components of a system of industrial relations. Manifestly they may also be regarded as components in a system of political relationships. In this context many union practices which are regarded as normal in the industrial sphere take on a problematical, sometimes even a mysterious aspect.

A MAJOR CLAIM OF THE TRADE UNION MOVEMENT IN THIS DIFFICULT time in Northern Ireland is that they have ‘prevented the spread of riot and disturbance into the workplace’. The claim has been consistently made and with growing emphasis since the troubles began, and Norman Kennedy at last year's annual conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions called it the one beacon of hope, this ‘maintaining unity of the workers, Catholic and Protestant, on the shop floor’ in what he described as largely a conflict of worker against worker, of a working-class community divided along sectarian lines. This is associated with a related claim that trade union recommendations on social and political change have a special legitimacy because the leadership is close to the people who are involved in the conflict. This political role, essentially non-party, is seen to be more significant and extensive than the traditional political activity of the trade union movement.

THIS ARTICLE ATTEMPTS TO DISCUSS A NUMBER OF QUESTIONS RELATED to the development of a working-class movement of dissent under non-democratic conditions. In this discussion particular attention will be given to the consequences of economic development. It is not that economic development will be considered as a cross-culturally invariant factor in the explanation of social and political conflict and dissent, but that given i) a non-democratic political context and ii) social and economic conditions allowing for working-class movements whose open manifestation is hence restricted by the political set of constraints, the effects of economic development upon such contradictory conditions, and the way they influence the pattern of development of the working-class movement will be especially considered.

ELECTIONINS THE FEDERAL STATES (Länder) OF WEST GERMANY are frequently interpreted as indicators of national political opinion in much the same way as by-elections in Britain are examined for pointers to trends in the fortunes of the major political parties. Similar factors seem to operate in both cases: a general swing against the party in office; a tendency to see these elections as confidence votes with consequent effects on the morale of the government and opposition parties; and the use of them to register a protest vote since voters are free of the responsibility of having to choose a national government. National ministers intervene in both countries to speak on behalf of local candidates in order to enhance their parties’ chances, while the mass media usually view these elections in national terms, for interest tends to focus more on the impact of the elections on national politics than on any serious estimation of the actual part played by national issues during the course of the election campaigns.