An organization of British trade unions. It was founded in 1868 with the purpose of holding national conferences on trade union activities. In 1871 it set up a Parliamentary Committee to advance the interests of unions with Members of Parliament. From 1889 onwards, it began to be more politically militant and in 1900 helped to found the Labour Representation Committee, known from 1906 as the Labour Party, with whom it has had links ever since. The General Council, elected by trade union members, replaced the Parliamentary Committee in 1920. The Congress can urge support from other unions, when a union cannot reach a satisfactory settlement with an employer in an industrial dispute, but it has no powers of direction. After the General Strike relations between the Congress and government (of whatever party) were cautiously conciliatory. It was closely involved in British industrial planning and management during World War II and under successive Labour and Conservative governments until 1979. In the 1980s it was faced with legislation designed by Margaret Thatcher’s governments to weaken trade union power. Since then it has continued to be mainly on the defensive.