Mutually Exclusive Principles? Trade Unionism and Charity

Abstract

As pointed out in Chapter 1 the League was not founded as a trade union but eventually chose to become one in 1899. Even after this its aims were never limited to regulating industrial relations and it took a while before it fully developed its identity as a trade union. The League’s hostility towards charity, on the other hand, remained the one constant element in the organisation’s long history and its defining characteristic. Becoming a trade union had also been a way for the League to express this hostility as trade union status and charity were deemed to be mutually exclusive. The Blind Persons Act of 1920, however, forced the members of the League to reconsider their dichotomous world view. As discussed, the Act made it mandatory for organisations dedicated to the welfare of blind people to formally register as a charity before publicly appealing for donations or subscriptions, or raising money in other ways. In addition, the Blind Persons Act also cut the League off from the decision-making process at Whitehall. The Government Advisory Committee on the Welfare of the Blind was reconstituted in April 1921 so that County and County Borough Councils, Boards of Guardians and charitable organisations could advise the Minister of Health on ‘matters relating to the care and supervising of the Blind, including any questions that may be specifically referred to them by the Minister’.¹