Labour movement

The Labour movement or Labor movement (see spelling differences), or, respectively, labourism or laborism, are general terms for the collective organization of working people developed to represent and campaign for better working conditions and treatment from their employers and, by the implementation of labour and employment laws, their governments. The standard unit of organization is the trade union.

In some countries, especially the United Kingdom and Australia, the labour movement is understood to include a formal political wing, usually as a political party known as a "labour party" or "workers' party". Many individuals and political groups otherwise considered to represent ruling classes may be part of and active in the labour movement.

Contemporary labourism developed in response to the depredations of industrial capitalism at about the same time as socialism. However, while the goal of labourism was to protect and strengthen the interests of labour within capitalism, the goal of socialism was to replace the capitalist system entirely.

Union Movement

The Union Movement was a far right political party founded in Britain by Oswald Mosley. Where Mosley had previously been associated with a peculiarly British form of fascism, the Union Movement attempted to redefine the concept by stressing the importance of developing a European nationalism rather than narrower country-based nationalisms. The UM has therefore been characterized as an attempt by Mosley to start again in his political life by embracing more democratic and international policies than those with which he had previously been associated.

Mosley's post-War activity

Having been the leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) before World War II, it was expected that Mosley would return to lead the far right afterwards. However Mosley initially remained out of the post-War political arena, instead turning to writing, publishing his first work, My Answer (1946), in which he argued that he had been a patriot who had been unjustly punished by his internment under Defence Regulation 18B. In this and his 1947 follow up, The Alternative, Mosley began to argue for a much closer integration between the nations of Europe, the beginning of his 'Europe a Nation' campaign that sought a strong united Europe as a counterbalance to the growing power of the US and USSR.