London Trades Council

The first meeting of the London Trades Council was on 18 May 1860 in Shaftesbury Hall, Aldersgate Street. The Council had been established as a result of a campaign for a nine hour day in the building trade, and was intended "to cheer, instruct and advise in any trade difficulty", (Short History of the London Trades Council, 1935, Acc/3287/02/007), but became increasingly involved in political activity, particularly under two of its Secretaries - George Odger (1862-1872), and George Shipton (1872-1896).

There were trade councils in many industrial areas in the country at this time, but it was the London council which through its links with them and their equivalents abroad was considered to be the leader of British trade unionism. By the early 1870's the Trades Union Congress had been formed and it gradually took over many of the trade councils' functions and political impetus, although the latter remained in existence within the Congress framework. In 1945 Julius Jacobs became Secretary, and for the next seven years the Council became a voice for the Communist Party, distanced from the rest of the trade union movement. The result was expulsion from and deregistration by the Trades Union Congress in 1952; followed by the drawing up of a new constitution, election by the Trades Union Congress of a new committee, and a move into new offices in Rosebery Avenue. The Council is no longer in existence.