"The Societies of Europe" is an eight-title series of historical data handbooks on the development of Europe from the 19th to the 20th century. The series is a product of the Mannheim Centre for Social research, a body dedicated to comparative research on Europe and one of the leading social research institutes in the world. It is a collection of datasets giving a clear and systematic study of long term developments in European society. The data is presented statistically and is clearly comparative. This volume relates to the development of trade unions in Western Europe.