Journal articles on the topic 'Trade-unions – Great Britain'

This article examines disabled people’s employment in Great Britain and France. In both countries, they are far less likely to be employed than non-disabled people, but the gap is wider in Britain than in France. Possible explanations for the wider gap in Britain include weak enforcement mechanisms, judicial resistance and the lack of an institutional role for trade unions, resulting in an implementation gap; while the narrower gap in France may reflect the more proactive legislation, including its quota-levy scheme. We conclude that these explanations are not mutually exclusive, and we suggest that Britain might consider adopting some French provisions, thus tempering its voluntarist approach.

This paper is concerned with court decisions and statutory enactments which had an effect on active participation of trade unions in political action and, in particular, how the Legislatures, and the courts in interpreting the relevant statutes, attempted to prevent or regularize the use of union dues, levies or funds for political purposes.

Summary Trade unions in Britain have developed against a particular cultural background, and many of their attitudes and aims stem from this environment and its effect on their members. The last twenty or thirty years have seen great changes in political, social and economic backgrounds: this has led to certain strains and tensions in the union structure, and to the gradual abandonment of traditional symbols, beliefs and modes of action.

This article provides an overview of the growth of game worker organising in Britain. These workers have not previously been organised in a trade union, but over the last 2 years, they have developed a campaign to unionise their sector and launched a legal trade union branch. This is a powerful example of so-called ‘greenfield’ organising, beyond the reach of existing trade unions and with workers who have not previously been members. The article provides an outline of the industry, the launch of the Game Workers Unite international network, the growth of the division in Britain as well as their formation as a branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain. The aim is to draw out lessons for both the videogames industry, as well as other non-unionised industries, showing how the traditions of trade unionism can be translated and developed in new contexts.

This paper evaluates both the economic, or rational choice, and sociological theories to examine the effects of part-time working on employees’ activity in voluntary associations. Using longitudinal data analysis of the British Household Panel Survey from 1993 to 2005, this study demonstrates that, in Britain, part-time work increases the likelihood of individual level involvement in expressive voluntary associations (i.e. associations orientated to relatively immediate benefits for their members) but it is negatively related to their involvement in instrumental-expressive (such as trade unions and professionals’ associations) and instrumental (political, environmental, and voluntary service) associations. The main conclusion is that time is an important resource for activity in expressive voluntary associations; however, for activity in instrumental and instrumental-expressive associations other factors are more important.

In the feature on Australian theatre in NTQ5 (1986). Peter Fitzpatrick pointed to a burgeoning community theatre movement, made possible by the shifts in arts funding which were the subject of Graham Ley's interview with Malcolm Blaylock in the same issue – while Tom Burvill's article on Sidetrack Theatre described one of the emergent companies. His concentration on Sidetrack's workplace shows, and on Loco in particular, highlighted an area in which the community theatre movement had made some strides in the construction of a popular political theatre. These have been achieved since the Australia Council – the antipodean equivalent of the Arts Council of Great Britain – introduced its Art and Working Life Incentive Programme, designed to foster arts activities within the trade union movement, in 1982. David Watt, who teaches Drama at Newcastle University, here offers a report on a developing relationship between theatre companies and the union movement, with particular reference to two companies which have been most closely associated with the programme, and places their work in the industrial contexts of state patronage and the trade union movement.

In this article the main attention of the author is devoted to the problem of the decisive influence of the Communist International and its tactic “the united workers front” (1921—1928) on the policy of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) towards the Labour Party, the British Congress of Trade-Unions and the first Labour Government (1924). The author also examines the influence of Comintern on the activity of the CPGB before parliament elections of 1922, 1923, 1924 and during the General Strike of 1926.

In Great Britain collective agreements have never had a great deal of significance in relation to actual working time, but in the 1980s and 1990s their significance declined even further. Meanwhile, however, real and fundamental changes have been taking place at the level where working time is actually regulated in practice, where trade unions exert direct control over working time in companies and in the workplace. The current mixture of traditional and innovative working time arrangements is giving rise to a wide range of working time patterns with a high incidence of unsocial working hours. This leads to a polarisation between the working times of men and of women, a phenomenon which is coming up against growing criticism in British society.

Exploring issues of the family wage, this paper examines labour markets, family employment patterns and political conflict in France. Up to now, the debate over the family wage has centred mainly on analysing British trade unions and the development of an ideal of domesticity among the British working classes, more or less taking for granted the declining women's labour force participation rate and the configuration of state/trade union relations prevailing in Great Britain. Shifting the debate across the Channel, scholars such as Laura Frader and Susan Pedersen have suggested that different attitudes to the family wage prevailed. In France, demands for the exclusion of women from industry were extremely rare because women's participation in industry was taken for granted. But a gendered division of labour and ideals of domesticity remained and made themselves felt in both workforce and labour movement.

Sweden never got an apprentice law after apprenticeship was de-regulated in 1864. This has been attributed to unified opposition to legislation from industry employers and trade unions, with the craft employers as the only advocates. Analysing the pattern of agreement and disagreement in the political struggle over apprenticeship in the Swedish case in 1890–1917, it is clear that opposition was not that uniform, nor was the support from the craft employers that undivided. This article makes use of Kathleen Thelen’s model of institutional change in order to shed new light on the developments in Sweden. The model states that any apprentice law requires a coalition of two or more out of the state, the crafts and the metalworking industries – divided into employers and workers. Legislation, in turn, is a near requirement for the survival of strong apprenticeship. In this article the Swedish case will be discussed in relation to two of Thelen’s cases, Germany and Great Britain. In Germany an apprentice law was passed in 1897, while in Great Britain no modern apprentice law was ever passed. Similarities can be found between both of these cases and the Swedish case.

AbstractLabour emigrants in the nineteenth century had ever-increasing access to a global employment market. Many of those who left Great Britain looked beyond Europe, to the British Empire and the United States. They took advantage of improvements in transportation, and followed a wide variety of occupations. Decisions to emigrate were often shaped by their involvement in trade unions and were based on concerns about living standards and working conditions. This study considers a selection of globetrotting British settlers and sojourners who went to Canada, the United States and Australia between 1815 and the 1880s. The article analyses the historiography of labour migration; carries out an empirical study constructed around four pieces of analytical scaffolding; and closes by identifying recurring threads in the multi-hued tapestry of labour emigration, highlighting how concerns and traditions about recruitment, wages and working conditions, which had emerged in the nineteenth century, created legacies that persisted into the period after the First World War.

The Constitution of Kenya specifically recognizes the freedom of association to form and belong to trade unions. However, despite the adoption of the Labour Relations Act, union practice is still hampered by excessive restrictions. The EPZ companies are labor intensive requiring a large amount of labor to produce its goods or service and thus, the welfare of the employees play a key role in their functions. This study sought to determine the effect of trade union practices on employees’ welfare at export processing zones industries in Athi River, Kenya. The specific objectives sought to determine the effect of collective bargaining agreements, industrial action, dispute resolution and trade union representation on employees’ welfare at export processing zones industries in Athi River, Kenya. The study employed a descriptive research design. Primary data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire. The target population of the study was employees in EPZ companies in Athi River, Kenya with large employees enrolled in active trade unions. The unit of observation was the employees in the trade unions. The findings indicated that collective bargaining agreements had a positive and significant coefficient with employees’ welfare at the EPZ industries. Industrial action had a positive but non-significant effect with employees’ welfare at Export Processing Zones industries. Dispute resolution had a positive and significant coefficient with employees’ welfare at the EPZ industries. Trade union representation had a positive and significant coefficient with employees’ welfare at the EPZ industries. The study recommended that trade union should avoid the path of confrontation but continue dialogue through the collective bargaining process and demands should be realistic in nature with what is obtainable in the related industry. An existence of a formal two way communication between management and trade unions will ensure that right message is properly understood and on time too. Keywords: Collective Bargaining Agreements, Industrial Action, Dispute Resolution, Trade Union Representation, Employees Welfare & Export Processing Zones

In this study, organization process of the Turkish Cypriot Community between 1957 and 1960 was examined. This study claims that this process was important, because it formed the basis of Turkish Cypriots’ becoming a state.It can be said that there are two main views about organization process of Turkish Cypriots in researches which were examined for this study. Researchers such as Ahmet An and Niyazi Kızılyürek allege that this process was Turco-British collusion to divide Turkish and Greek Cypriots who had lived together peacefully for centuries. According to researchers such as Ahmet C. Gazioğlu and Ulvi Keser; Turkish Cypriots started an organization process to protect themselves from Greek Cypriots’ hostility and attacks. However, it seems that the relationship between organization process of the Turkish Cypriot Community and Turks’ becoming a state has not been handled yet.After the Great Britain took over the rule of Cyprus from the Ottoman Empire by the Cyprus Convention in 1878, the British established a Legislative Council. Greek Cypriots who desired to realize enosis (union with Greece) made attempts to pass enosis memorandums in the Council. On the contrary, Turkish Cypriots who saw union with Greece as a threat to their safety avoided these attempts with help of the British. Moreover, Turks published various newspapers and journals to voice their objections to enosis. Both these efforts and anti-Turkish feelings caused Greek Cypriots’ attacking Turkish Cypriots. In order to protect themselves from these attacks and conduct effective struggle against enosis, Turkish Cypriots set up assemblies, political parties, farmer and trade unions, social associations and armed organizations from 1918 to 1957. However, it was 1957 when these organization activities became continuous process. Hence the Turkish Cypriot Community was organized in terms of, military, administration, economy and culture during the period between 1957 and 1960. Turkish states which were founded between 1964 and 1983 were based on these organizations. Considering this fact, the study is composed of two main parts. The first part summarizes the organization efforts of the Turkish Cypriot Community between 1918 and 1957. The second part focuses on the organization process of the Turkish Cypriot Community between 1957 and 1960.

The authors of the monograph focused on the scientific analysis of an actual scientific and applied topic, which concerns the problem of adaptation of the European Union to the new conditions that have emerged since the UK left the EU. It is symbolic that this process coincided with the crisis of the globalization process due to the pandemic and its challenges to international security. The modern European Union is both an international and a state-like entity, which combines the features of at least three state unions: an international intergovernmental organization, a confederation and a federation. This not only determines the complexity of the subject of study, but also its inconsistency. In conditions of radical social change, it is always difficult to track and adequately analyze them. This titanic task is further complicated by the presence of an in-house methodological crisis in the family of social sciences. Therefore, given all these objective difficulties, we can only welcome attempts to find a new theoretical and methodological synthesis, which should help society to understand the essence of historical time and act in it as rationally and efficiently as possible. The pages of the monograph raise questions about the heuristic potential of the study of the problem of European historical experience; in addition, significant attention is paid to the coverage of a systematic approach to the social vector of European policy. It also addresses the issue of solving key social problems that stand in the way of qualitative deepening of European integration while maintaining the basic guidelines of social market economy. Among these issues, the authors highlight and analyze the most important aspects, which relate primarily to overcoming poverty and combating unemployment. The monograph outlines the range of methodological problems of transformational historical period, involved in its study synthesizing approach, which consists in the use of historical, socio-philosophical, economic, political science, legal approaches. This approach allows to restore the synthesis of scientific knowledge, which is often disrupted not only by the tendency to specialized fragmentation of complex objects of study, but also allows to take into account the specifics of the transitional historical period. In a geographical sense, not all European regions are equally developed, due to their different economic specialization, which has developed as a result of the historical division of labor. Eventually, there is a tendency to shifting responsibility for solving the problems of poor regions to themselves. The same German experience with the unification of East and West of the country has shown that even huge investments in infrastructure development, introduction of new technologies, efforts to increase productivity – all this together do not solve quickly enough the problem of social convergence. The leveling of the social space of richer and poorer federal states is rather slow. Last but not least, these problems became a good reason for the Great Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. The issue of the monograph is of practical importance for the foreign policy of Ukraine. After all, the European Union is an important neighbor, trade and political partner of Ukraine and accession to it is actually declared as a prototype of a strategic national idea. The European project is essentially postmodern, as it seeks to overcome the modernism with which nationalism is associated and to reach a level of tolerant agreement of different national interests. The intensification of the globalization process has prompted integration structures to perform functions that limit national sovereignty. Historiographical discourse of common foreign and defense policy of European Union proves that this strategic course of European integration depends on the ability of elites and peoples of Europe to find a common European identity and organize around it the process of determining the place and role of the European Union in the modern system of international relations. This process in the distant historical perspective remains an open possibility with an unguaranteed positive or negative result. Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, which was unexpected for many researchers of European integration, matured gradually. The authors of the peer-reviewed monograph list the main trends that influenced this decision. First of all, we are talking about the unregulated EU development strategy, the fate of the common European currency, the imperfection of the system of decision-making in the field of common foreign and security policy, which led to an ineffective EU response to Russian and Chinese autocratic challenges. Despite the objective problems associated with mutual adaptation of old and new EU member states, the European integration project continues to be seen as the key to addressing the challenges of modern life and finding answers to the challenges of globalization. In particular, in the final sixth chapter, the author focuses on the theoretical, methodological and practical analysis of the problem of democracy. The authors of the monograph are looking for an answer to the question of what the European Union will be like after the exit of Great Britain. No less important is the question of whether Britain will become a “global” Britain after leaving the European Union. Of course, Britain is concerned about turning the EU into a superpower that has not only its own flag, anthem, currency, but also the germ of a common European army and tries to pursue a common foreign and defense policy. London advocates stronger resistance from China and ousting Russia from Europe. Changing regional influences in the EU may create a new structure of conflict of interest not only for individual countries but also for various regional groups. The issue of a clear division of powers between supranational and national authorities at all levels seems ripe. More adequate to this trend will be not so much a more centralized federalist Europe as a decentralized confederative one. By the way, the model of the latter looks more open for further expansion. This work is imbued with the spirit of realistic Europeanism. Therefore, not least because of this, the peer-reviewed monograph will become a notable phenomenon in domestic European studies.

Abstract In recent years, a number of new style trade unions have emerged which are said to exhibit a more ‘radical’ orientation to social change than more ‘traditional’ trade unions. This has raised questions as to the significance of the willingness of these new style trade unions to mobilise the law in pursuit of that change, and in particular, to engage in so-called ‘strategic litigation’. Through a case study of some of the legal mobilisations of one of the more well-known new style trade unions in the UK, the Independent Workers of Great Britain union (IWGB), drawing on insights from the literature on legal mobilisation, and supplementing this with insights from the Marxist theory of the legal form, this paper will highlight the distinctiveness of these new style trade unions and explain the basis of their radical potential, before showing how that potential is limited, or negated, by the particular way in which they engage with law in practice. The paper will conclude with some observation as to what a more radical orientation to the law might look like for social organisations and trade unions in practice.

The relevance of the study is due to the crisis of modern pension insurance systems and the need to change the paradigm of pension legislation development. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of the formation of legislation on pension insurance in several countries (France, Great Britain, and Russia) at the initial stage of development (before 1914). The novelty is expressed both in the formulation of the problem and in the research methodology (the choice of countries and the period of research, the justification for the use of methods: dialectics, analysis, synthesis, system-structural, sociological, statistical, historical-legal, comparative-legal, formal-legal). The result of the study was the conclusions about the historical conditionality of the peculiarities of the formation of legislation on pension insurance in a particular country. There was early legalization of both voluntary and compulsory pension insurance in France. There was no legislation on pension insurance in the UK during the period under review, despite the early development of relevant institutions in the framework of workshops, guilds, and later in the framework of trade unions and “friendly societies”. In Russia, due to the agrarian nature of the economy, pension insurance did not develop within the framework of workshops and guilds; there were no laws on insurance in case of old age by 1914, while the risks of disability and loss of the breadwinner were regulated by law.

The purpose of the article is to analyze international corporate models in relation to the goals of sustainable development and to provide recommendations on the choice of the Ukrainian model in relation to the specified goals. It has been established that the differences between these systems can be seen in their target focuses. The Anglo-American model is focused on the stock market. In the German model, which is sometimes called as the continental model or the European model, the main management procedures are carried out by two formalized groups: the supervisory board and the executive board. The Japanese model is the most concentrated and rigid, while the Anglo-American model is the most dispersed and flexible. The Anglo-American model, is also known as the Anglo-Saxon model, was found to have been shaped by the more individualistic business societies in Great Britain and the United States of America. This model is represented by such corporate bodies as the board of directors and shareholders as controlling management bodies. Managers and leaders in the process of organizing management have secondary powers. In the German model, which is sometimes called as the continental model or the European model, the main management procedures are carried out by two formalized groups: the supervisory board and the executive board. The Executive Board is responsible for the quality of decisions in the field of property management. The supervisory board controls the executive board. The supervisory board is elected by employees and shareholders. State administration bodies, national interests have a significant influence in the continental management model. Considerable attention is paid to the corporation's responsibility to society and the state. In the continental model, banks also play a large role in the financial plan and in decision-making in the process of the corporation's activities. The Japanese model stands out from the first two. This management model is formed in the light of two dominant legal relationships: one - between shareholders, customers, suppliers, creditors and trade unions; the other is between administrators, managers and shareholders. There is a sense of shared responsibility and balance in the Japanese model. In practice, this balance takes the form of a conservative position and mistrust of management innovations and new business relationships in favor of old ones. The article concludes that, the German model is the most favorable for Ukraine, thanks to closer relations and geographical proximity. Therefore, we need to implement many characteristic positions in the corporate activities of the production, financial, and commercial sectors of our country. The purpose of the article is to analyze international corporate models in relation to the goals of sustainable development and to provide recommendations on the choice of the Ukrainian model in relation to the specified goals. It has been established that the differences between these systems can be seen in their target focuses. The Anglo-American model is focused on the stock market. In the German model, which is sometimes called as the continental model or the European model, the main management procedures are carried out by two formalized groups: the supervisory board and the executive board. The Japanese model is the most concentrated and rigid, while the Anglo-American model is the most dispersed and flexible. The Anglo-American model, is also known as the Anglo-Saxon model, was found to have been shaped by the more individualistic business societies in Great Britain and the United States of America. This model is represented by such corporate bodies as the board of directors and shareholders as controlling management bodies. Managers and leaders in the process of organizing management have secondary powers. In the German model, which is sometimes called as the continental model or the European model, the main management procedures are carried out by two formalized groups: the supervisory board and the executive board. The Executive Board is responsible for the quality of decisions in the field of property management. The supervisory board controls the executive board. The supervisory board is elected by employees and shareholders. State administration bodies, national interests have a significant influence in the continental management model. Considerable attention is paid to the corporation's responsibility to society and the state. In the continental model, banks also play a large role in the financial plan and in decision-making in the process of the corporation's activities. The Japanese model stands out from the first two. This management model is formed in the light of two dominant legal relationships: one - between shareholders, customers, suppliers, creditors and trade unions; the other is between administrators, managers and shareholders. There is a sense of shared responsibility and balance in the Japanese model. In practice, this balance takes the form of a conservative position and mistrust of management innovations and new business relationships in favor of old ones. The article concludes that, the German model is the most favorable for Ukraine, thanks to closer relations and geographical proximity. Therefore, we need to implement many characteristic positions in the corporate activities of the production, financial, and commercial sectors of our country.

Introduction In November 2020, upon learning that the company’s Covid-19 vaccine trial had been successful, the head of Pfizer’s Vaccine Research and Development, Kathrin Jansen, celebrated with champagne – “some really good stuff” (Cohen). Bubbles seem to go naturally with celebration, and champagne is fundamentally associated with bubbles. Yet, until the late-seventeenth century, champagne was a still wine, and it only reached the familiar levels of bubbliness in the late-nineteenth century (Harding). During this period and on into the early twentieth century, “champagne” was in many ways created, defined, and defended. A “champagne bubble” was created, within which the “nature” of champagne was contested and constructed. Champagne today is the result of hundreds of years of labour by many sorts of bubble-makers: those who make the bubbly drink, and those who construct, maintain, and defend the champagne bubble. In this article, I explore some elements of the champagne bubble, in order to understand both its fragility and rigidity over the years and today. Creating the Champagne Bubble – the Labour of Centuries It is difficult to separate the physical from the mythical as regards champagne. Therefore the categorisations below are always overlapping, and embedded in legal, political, economic, and socio-cultural factors. Just as assemblage – the mixing of wine from different grapes – is an essential element of champagne wine, the champagne bubble may be called heterogeneous assemblage. Indeed, the champagne bubble, as we will see below, is a myriad of different sorts of bubbles, such as terroir, appellation, myth and brand. And just as any assemblage, its heterogeneous elements exist and operate in relation to each other. Therefore the “champagne bubble” discussed here is both one and many, all of its elements fundamentally interconnected, constituting that “one” known as “champagne”. It is not my intention to be comprehensive of all the elements, historical and contemporary. Indeed, that would not be possible within such a short article. Instead, I seek to demonstrate some of the complexity of the champagne bubble, noting the elaborate labour that has gone into its creation. The Physical Champagne and Champagne – from Soil to Bubbles Champagne means both a legally protected geographical area (Champagne), and the wine (here: champagne) produced in this area from grapes defined as acceptable: most importantly pinot noir, pinot meunier (“black” grapes), and chardonnay (“white” grape). The method of production, too, is regulated and legally protected: méthode champenoise. Although the same method is used in numerous locations, these must be called something different: metodo classico (Italy), método tradicional (Spain), Methode Cap Classique (South Africa). The geographical area of Champagne was first legally defined in 1908, when it only included the areas of Marne and Aisne, leaving out, most importantly, the area of Aube. This decision led to severe unrest and riots, as the Aube vignerons revolted in 1911, forcing the inclusion of “zone 2”: Aube, Haute-Marne, and Seine-et-Marne (Guy). Behind these regulations was a surge in fraudulent production in the early twentieth century, as well as falling wine prices resulting from increasing supply of cheap wines (Colman 18). These first appellations d’origine had many consequences – they proved financially beneficial for the “zone 1”, but less so for the “zone 2”. When both these areas were brought under the same appellation in 1927, the financial benefits were more limited – but this may have been due to the Great Depression triggered in 1929 (Haeck et al.). It is a long-standing belief that the soil and climate of Champagne are key contributors to the quality of champagne wines, said to be due to “conditions … most suitable for making this type of wine” (Simon 11). Already in the end of the nineteenth century, the editor of Vigneron champenois attributed champagne’s quality to “a fortunate combination of … chalky soil … [and] unrivalled exposure [to the sun]” (Guy 119) among other things. Factors such as soil and climate, commonly included in and expressed through the idea of terroir, undoubtedly influence grapes and wines made thereof, but the extent remains unproven. Indeed, terroir itself is a very contested concept (Teil; Inglis and Almila). It is also the case that climate change has had, and will continue to have, devastating effects on wine production in many areas, while benefiting others. The highly successful English sparkling wine production, drawing upon know-how from the Champagne area, has been enabled by the warming climate (Inglis), while Champagne itself is at risk of becoming too hot (Robinson). Champagne is made through a process more complicated than most wines. I present here the bare bones of it, to illustrate the many challenges that had to be overcome to enable its production in the scale we see today. Freshly picked grapes are first pressed and the juice is fermented. Grape juice contains natural yeasts and therefore will ferment spontaneously, but fermentation can also be started with artificial yeasts. In fermentation, alcohol and carbon dioxide (CO2) are formed, but the latter usually escapes the liquid. The secret of champagne is its second fermentation, which happens in bottles, after wines from different grapes and/or vineyards have been blended for desired characteristics (assemblage). For the second fermentation, yeast and sugar are added. As the fermentation happens inside a bottle, the CO2 that is created does not escape, but dissolves into the wine. The average pressure inside a champagne bottle in serving temperature is around 5 bar – 5 times the pressure outside the bottle (Liger-Belair et al.). The obvious challenge this method poses has to do with managing the pressure. Exploding bottles used to be a common problem, and the manner of sealing bottles was not very developed, either. Seventeenth-century developments in bottle-making, and using corks to seal bottles, enabled sparkling wines to be produced in the first place (Leszczyńska; Phillips 137). Still today, champagne comes in heavy-bottomed bottles, sealed with characteristically shaped cork, which is secured with a wire cage known as muselet. Scientific innovations, such as calculating the ideal amount of sugar for the second fermentation in 1836, also helped to control the amount of gas formed during the second fermentation, thus making the behaviour of the wine more predictable (Leszczyńska 265). Champagne is characteristically a “manufactured” wine, as it involves several steps of interference, from assemblage to dosage – sugar added for flavour to most champagnes after the second fermentation (although there are also zero dosage champagnes). This lends champagne particularly suitable for branding, as it is possible to make the wine taste the same year after year, harvest after harvest, and thus create a distinctive and recognisable house style. It is also possible to make champagnes for different tastes. During the nineteenth century, champagnes of different dosage were made for different markets – the driest for the British, the sweetest for the Russians (Harding). Bubbles are probably the most striking characteristic of champagne, and they are enabled by the complicated factors described above. But they are also formed when the champagne is poured in a glass. Natural impurities on the surface of the glass provide channels through which the gas pockets trapped in the wine can release themselves, forming strains of rising bubbles (Liger-Belair et al.). Champagne glasses have for centuries differed from other wine glasses, often for aesthetic reasons (Harding). The bubbles seem to do more than give people aesthetic pleasure and sensory experiences. It is often claimed that champagne makes you drunk faster than other drinks would, and there is, indeed, some (limited) research showing that this may well be the case (Roberts and Robinson; Ridout et al.). The Mythical Champagne – from Dom Pérignon to Modern Wonders Just as the bubbles in a champagne glass are influenced by numerous forces, so the metaphorical champagne bubble is subject to complex influences. Myth-creation is one of the most significant of these. The origin of champagne as sparkling wine is embedded in the myth of Dom Pérignon of Hautvillers monastery (1638–1715), who according to the legend would have accidentally developed the bubbles, and then enthusiastically exclaimed “I am drinking the stars!” (Phillips 138). In reality, bubbles are a natural phenomenon provoked by winter temperatures deactivating the fermenting yeasts, and spring again reactivating them. The myth of Dom Pérignon was first established in the nineteenth century and quickly embraced by the champagne industry. In 1937, Moët et Chandon launched a premium champagne called Dom Pérignon, which enjoys high reputation until this day (Phillips). The champagne industry has been active in managing associations connected with champagne since the nineteenth century. Sparkling champagnes had already enjoyed fashionability in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth century, both in the French Court, and amongst the British higher classes. In the second half of the nineteenth century, champagne found ever increasing markets abroad, and the clientele was not aristocratic anymore. Before the 1860s, champagne’s association was with high status celebration, as well as sexual activity and seduction (Harding; Rokka). As the century went on, and champagne sales radically increased, associations with “modernity” were added: “hot-air balloons, towering steamships, transcontinental trains, cars, sports, and other ‘modern’ wonders were often featured in quickly proliferating champagne advertising” (Rokka 280). During this time, champagne grew both drier and more sparkling, following consumer tastes (Harding). Champagne’s most important markets in later nineteenth century included the UK, where the growing middle classes consumed champagne for both celebration and hospitality (Harding), the US, where (upper) middle-class women were served champagne in new kinds of consumer environments (Smith; Remus), and Russia, where the upper classes enjoyed sweeter champagne – until the Revolution (Phillips 296). The champagne industry quickly embraced the new middle classes in possession of increasing wealth, as well as new methods of advertising and marketing. What is remarkable is that they managed to integrate enormously varied cultural thematics and still retain associations with aristocracy and luxury, while producing and selling wine in industrial scale (Harding; Rokka). This is still true today: champagne retains a reputation of prestige, despite large-scale branding, production, and marketing. Maintaining and Defending the Bubble: Formulas, Rappers, and the Absolutely Fabulous Tipplers The falling wine prices and increasing counterfeit wines coincided with Europe’s phylloxera crisis – the pest accidentally brought over from North America that almost wiped out all Europe’s vineyards. The pest moved through Champagne in the 1890s, killing vines and devastating vignerons (Campbell). The Syndicat du Commerce des vins de Champagne had already been formed in 1882 (Rokka 280). Now unions were formed to fight phylloxera, such as the Association Viticole Champenoise in 1898. The 1904 Fédération Syndicale des Vignerons was formed to lobby the government to protect the name of Champagne (Leszczyńska 266) – successfully, as we have seen above. The financial benefits from appellations were certainly welcome, but short-lived. World War I treated Champagne harshly, with battle lines stuck through the area for years (Guy 187). The battle went on also in the lobbying front. In 1935, a new appellation regime was brought into law, which came to be the basis for all European systems, and the Comité National des appellations d'origine (CNAO) was founded (Colman 1922). Champagne’s protection became increasingly international, and continues to be so today under EU law and trade deals (European Commission). The post-war recovery of champagne relied on strategies used already in the “golden years” – marketing and lobbying. Advertising continued to embrace “luxury, celebration, transport (extending from air travel to the increasingly popular automobile), modernity, sports” (Guy 188). Such advertisement must have responded accurately to the mood of post-war, pre-depression Europe. Even in the prohibition US it was known that the “frivolous” French women might go as far as bathe in champagne, like the popular actress Mistinguett (Young 63). Curiously, in the 1930s Soviet Russia, “champagne” (not produced in Champagne) was declared a sign of good living, symbolising the standard of living that any Soviet worker had access to (at least in theory) (Gronow). Today, the reputation of champagne is fiercely defended in legal terms. This is not only in terms of protection against other sparkling wine making areas, but also in terms of exploitation of champagne’s reputation by actors in other commercial fields, and even against mass market products containing genuine champagne (Mahy and d’Ath; Schneider and Nam). At the same time, champagne has been widely “democratised” by mass production, enabled partly by increasing mechanisation and scientification of champagne production from the 1950s onwards (Leszczyńska 266). Yet champagne retains its association with prestige, luxury, and even royalty. This has required some serious adaptation and flexibility. In what follows, I look into three cultural phenomena that illuminate processes of such adaptation: Formula One (F1) champagne spraying, the 1990s sitcom Absolutely Fabulous, and the Cristal racism scandal in 2006. The first champagne bottle is said to have been presented to F1 grand prix winner in Champagne in 1950 (Wheels24). Such a gesture would have been fully in line with champagne’s association with cars, sport, and modernity. But what about the spraying? Surely that is not in line with the prestige of the wine? The first spraying is attributed to Jo Siffert in 1966 and Dan Gurney in 1967, the former described as accidental, the latter as a spontaneous gesture of celebration (Wheels24; Dobie). Moët had become the official supplier of F1 champagnes in 1966, and there are no signs that the new custom would have been problematic for them, as their sponsorship continued until 1999, after which Mumm sponsored the sport for 15 years. Today, the champagne to be popped and sprayed is Chanson, in special bottles “coated in the same carbon fibre that F1 cars are made of” (Wheels24). Such an iconic status has the spraying gained that it features in practically all TV broadcasts concerning F1, although non-alcoholic substitute is used in countries where sale of alcohol is banned (Barker et al., “Quantifying”; Barker et al., “Alcohol”). As disturbing as the champagne spraying might look for a wine snob, it is perfectly in line with champagne’s marketing history and entrepreneurial spirit shown since the nineteenth century. Nor is it unheard of to let champagne spray. The “art” of sabrage, opening champagne bottle with a sable, associated with glamour, spectacle, and myth – its origin is attributed to Napoleon and his officers – is perfectly acceptable even for the snob. Sparkling champagne was always bound up with joy and celebration, not a solemn drink, and the champagne bubble was able to accommodate middle classes as well as aristocrats. This brings us to our second example, the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous. The show, first released in 1992, featured two women, “Eddy” (Jennifer Saunders) and “Patsy” (Joanna Lumley), who spent their time happily smoking, taking drugs, and drinking large quantities of “Bolly” (among other things). Bollinger champagne may have initially experienced “a bit of a shock” for being thus addressed, but soon came to see the benefits of fame (French). In 2005, they hired PR support to make better use of the brand’s “Ab Fab” recognisability, and to improve its prestige reputation in order to justify their higher price range (Cann). Saunders and Lumley were warmly welcomed by the Bollinger house when filming for their champagne tour Absolutely Champers (2017). It is befitting indeed that such controversial fame came from the UK, the first country to discover sparkling champagne outside France (Simon 48), and where the aspirational middle classes were keen to consume it already in the nineteenth century (Harding). More controversial still is the case of Cristal (made by Louis Roederer) and the US rap world. Enthusiastically embraced by the “bling-bling” world of (black) rappers, champagne seems to fit their ethos well. Cristal was long favoured as both a drink and a word in rap lyrics. But in 2006, the newly appointed managing director at the family owned Roederer, Frédéric Rouzaud, made comments considered racist by many (Woodland). Rouzard told in an interview with The Economist that the house observed the Cristal-rap association “with curiosity and serenity”. He reportedly continued: “but what can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it. I’m sure Dom Pérignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business”. It was indeed those two brands that the rapper Jay-Z replaced Cristal with, when calling for a boycott on Cristal. It would be easy to dismiss Rouzard’s comments as snobbery, or indeed as racism, but they merit some more reflection. Cristal is the premium wine of a house that otherwise does not enjoy high recognisability. While champagne’s history involves embracing new sorts of clientele, and marketing flexibly to as many consumer groups as possible (Rokka), this was the first spectacular crossing of racial boundaries. It was always the case that different houses and their different champagnes were targeted at different clienteles, and it is apparent that Cristal was not targeted at black rap artists. Whereas Bollinger was able to turn into a victory the questionable fame brought by the white middle-class association of Absolutely Fabulous, the more prestigious Cristal considered the attention of the black rapper world more threatening and acted accordingly. They sought to defend their own brand bubble, not the larger champagne bubble. Cristal’s reputation seems to have suffered little – its 2008 vintage, launched in 2018, was the most traded wine of that year (Schultz). Jay-Z’s purchase of his own champagne brand (Armand de Brignac, nicknamed Ace of Spades) has been less successful reputation-wise (Greenburg). It is difficult to break the champagne bubble, and it may be equally difficult to break into it. Conclusion In this article, I have looked into the various dilemmas the “bubble-makers” of Champagne encountered when fabricating what is today known as “champagne”. There have been moments of threat to the bubble they formed, such as in the turn of nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and eras of incomparable success, such as from the 1860s to 1880s. The discussion has demonstrated the remarkable flexibility with which the makers and defenders of champagne have responded to challenges, and dealt with material, socio-cultural, economic, and other problems. It feels appropriate to end with a note on the current challenge the champagne industry faces: Covid-19. The pandemic hit champagne sales exceptionally hard, leaving around 100 million bottles unsold (Micallef). This was not very surprising, given the closure of champagne-selling venues, banning of public and private celebrations, and a general mood not particularly prone to (or even likely to frown upon) such light-hearted matters as glamour and champagne. Champagne has survived many dramatic drops in sales during the twentieth century, such as the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the post-financial crisis collapse in 2009. Yet they seem to be able to make astonishing recoveries. 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