Before strikes became headlines, they were arguments on paper. Work, power, and dignity collide. In The labor movement: the problem of to-day, reformer George E. McNeill maps the roots and reach of organised labour, from medieval guilds to the modern trade union movement. Clear-eyed and practical, this labor history book surveys why workers band together, what they demand, and what employers fear. Written at a moment when labour organisation was reshaping politics, it records the language and logic of the era, linking shop-floor grievances to law, citizenship, and economic thought in Europe and America. Moving between industrial Europe labor and gilded age america, McNeill weighs wages and profits, hours of labour, and the functions of capital with the urgency of a public debate. He considers Chinese labor and competition, the promise and limits of arbitration and profit sharing, and the long view of co-operation in a cooperative movement history. The discussion of knights of labor principles captures a formative American experiment in solidarity, while the moral and educational dimensions of the labour question keep the focus on civic life, not slogans. Read it as a labour studies textbook in miniature, a workers rights reference for activists and students, or a public domain classic for collectors who want the complete text edition of a key nineteenth-century voice. Republished by Alpha Editions in a careful modern edition, this volume preserves the spirit of the original while making it effortless to enjoy today -- a heritage title prepared for readers and collectors alike.