The crisis of social democratic trade unionism in Western Europe

Martin Upchurch, Graham Taylor and Andrew Mathers (eds), Ashgate, 244 pages, hardback, £55.00

The relationship of trade unions to politics remains a vital concern for labour movement activists today.

In northern Europe, the pattern of labour movement development has been marked by an organic relationship between a socialist or social democratic party and the trade unions. This book examines four national examples.

These are the Swedish model of “unparalleled intimacy” between the SAP and the LO union confederation; the German model of “informal alignment” between the SPD and DGB confederation; the UK model of formal affiliation between the Labour Party and unions; and finally the French model of fragmentation, with several union centres and competing political affiliations.

The book’s strength is its comparative approach, identifying common elements in the party-union nexus as well as the contrasts. Social democratic ideology has generally embraced an historic settlement of welfare capitalism, with social democratic governments committed to modifying market forces.

Although dominant in the two decades following the Second World War, this ideology was eclipsed by neoliberalism from the late 1970s, resulting in a changed party-union relationship.The book explores the implications of these changes and makes a valuable contribution to a seminal concern for union activists.