Читать книгу Economic Development in Denmark Before and During the World War онлайн

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Where a young apprentice might expect soon to become a master there was little reason for class distinctions, though, of course, there was the ever-present difference of outlook on life in the new generation and the old. But in the German guild customs, with their clubs, journeymen's houses, &c., there ​were latent germs of discontent which might rapidly develop if circumstances permitted. Indeed, all the methods now known to strikers were already in use. It was comparatively easy to prevent masters from getting workmen, and even whole towns were sometimes 'boycotted' (geschimpft), because they had in some way incurred the disfavour of the journeymen.

But many excellent customs originated by the guilds of the Middle Ages still existed. The problem of the labour market, which in our day presents so many difficulties, was then easily and naturally solved by the journeymen themselves. If no work could be provided for the journeyman in a new town to which he went, he was given food and shelter and money enough to live on until he reached the next town. This was a kind of primitive unemployment insurance. Of the guild as such, it may be said that it upheld the modern principle of the right to work. Every master had his own little group of customers and was thus protected against too sharp competition on the part of his guild fellows.