The uneven pace at which this process works in different places and in various trades has prevented a clear recognition of the law of the movement.

The following steps, not always taken however in precisely the same order, mark the progress-- 1.

Workers in the same trade in a town or locality form a "Union," or limited co-operative society, the economic essence of which consists in the fact that in regard to the price and other conditions of their labour they act as a complex unit.

Where such unions are strongly formed, the employer or body of employers deals not with individual workmen, but with the Union of workmen, in matters which the Union considers to be of common interest.
2.

Next comes the establishment of provincial or national relations between these local Unions.