Cole saw the trade unions as being critical to progress, but to realise their role they needed to change and the issue of trade union structure therefore became fundamental. He considered in this volume that trade union structure was a central problem of the labour movement – he described British trade unionism as a movement bereft of ideas and policy. He discusses the evolution in the trade unions to cover not only wages and working conditions but the organisation and control of industry.

The World of Labour: A Discussion of the Present and Future of Trade Unionism

Cole, G.

Reference

Routledge

This book represents an important stage in the development of an indigenous theory. The argument is presented with the special qualities of cogency and perception which have given the author a lasting influence within the labour movement.

Self-Government in Industry

Guild Socialism Restated is G D H Cole’s fullest and most systematic account of his vision of industrial and political reorganization. The introductory chapters of the volume develop the theme of democratic citizenship in relation to industrial society. Cole contends that neither capitalism nor state socialism can adequately meet the fundamental requirements of democracy because neither provides institutions through which active citizenship can be achieved. He insists that the latter can only be realized in the realm of industrial relations. The central chapters of the book develop a view of socialist organization in which citizenship is a vital ingredient in every arena – from that of the workplace to national policymaking.

Guild Socialism Restated

This volume is representative of the historical works of a particular period (1923-29) when there was a hiatus in the output of Cole the theoretician. It is an extraordinary contribution to labour history and is among the finest of his historical works.   

The Life of William Cobbett

This volume was Cole's first major work of political economy in almost a decade and it effectively positioned him as a mainstream Fabian who sought to stabilize capitalism before progressing socialism by essentially statist means. Influenced by J A Hobson and Maynard Keynes the imperative for Cole became the formulation of a strategy which would mitigate the suffering of the masses and lay the basis for socialist advance.

The Next Ten Years

Originally written as a series of pamphlets and at a time of high unemployment, this volume discusses free trade, monetary policy, wages and employment, economic theory and social legislation.

Economic Tracts for the Times

This volume compares the planning of economic conditions under the very different political systems of Soviet Russia, Fascist Germany and Italy and Democratic America, with some discussion of partial economic planning in Great Britain. It includes a broad survey of the successive phases of the Five Year Plans in the Soviet Union, the "New Deal" in the United States, and the diversion of the German economic activity to war preparation under the Nazi Four Year Plan. The author discusses the essential conditions for successful economic planning.

Practical Economics: Studies in Economic Planning

This book is largely based on What Marx Really Meant which was written by Cole and published in 1934. It is a revaluation of Marx’s essential ideas and methods in relation to contemporary social structures and developments and considers the bearing of Marx’s theories on the structure of social classes, which altered greatly since he formulated his account of them.

The Meaning of Marxism

This volume sets forth as simply as possible the theoretical foundations which underlie the practical policies of democratic Socialism. This involves both a repudiation and a refutation of the assumptions of the older classical economists who believed in laissez-faire, and a careful differentiation of the economics of democratic Socialism from the neo-classical doctrines associated with the name of Maynard Keynes.

Socialist Economics

This volume traces the attempts made after the Napoleonic Wars to link up all the numerous local and sectional Trade Societies into a single comprehensive ‘General Trades Union’ – attempts which culminated in the short-lived Grand National Consolidated Trades Union formed under Robert Owen’s influence in 1833. Based on materials not previously used by historians, this book throws new light on the development of Trade Unionism, particularly in the North of England, during these critical years.

Attempts at General Union: A Study in British Trade Union History 1818–1834

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Books by Cole, G.