Trade union leadership

THIS book was planned and partly written while Arthur Deakin was alive and active as the general secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union. Without his collaboration the book as it stands could not have been written. It is not a biography; it is a study of trade union leadership based primarily, but not solely, on an exam ination of one trade union leader, Arthur Deakin. At every stage support from him was necessary, and he gave it willingly. He agreed to have himself and his work scrutinized. Though he was a very busy man, at regular intervals for more than twelve months he dis cussed with me the theme of the book and the special problems which faced him. He gave me the opportunity to see him at work and he allowed me to examine the records of his Union. He did not try to exercise any influence over the formation of my opinions, and in some cases, when it was obvious that we were reasoning from different assumptions, we agreed to differ. The conclusions on all matters dealt with in the book are mine alone.

When Arthur Deakin unexpectedly collapsed and died on May Day 1955, while he was speaking at a Labour gathering, he had not seen what I had written. It would be sheer conjecture to say what his reactions to the book would have been. In many ways he disliked criticism but he was a truthful man and did not blink at indisputable evidence. Moreover, he knew that I was writing an analytical study. Had he lived to see the book completed, we would no doubt have had many more differences than we had; but I am equally sure that it would have been published in its present form. I owe Arthur Deakin a profound debt; and though this book was not written in any sense to repay it, I hope that in a small measure it will do so.

I wish to record my thanks to the Nuffield Foundation and to the Committee of the University of London Central Research Fund for the generous grants they gave me to finance the research on which the book is based.