In the 1800's, Britain and the United States had laws against unionizing mainly because they believed unions ...

During XIX century, several laws were enacted in Great Britain and the United States in order to prevent unionizing. For instance, in Britain he Combination Act was issued since 1799.

These laws had as main goal preventing strikes and the expansion of Marxists ideology. Back in that time, bussinessmen were terrified before facing the possibility of a big socialist outbreak among the workers in US and Great Britain.

would be bad for the economy.