SUMMARY
In 1867, the Democratic Constitution was actually adopted in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which introduced a series of reforms and changes in the socio-political life of the state. Separate points of the constitution were directly related to the formation and development of trade union movement. According to this basic law, it was proclaimed the equality of all citizens of the empire before the law (Article 2), equal opportunities in the occupation of public office (Article 3), freedom of movement (Article 4), privacy of the private property (Articles 5-6) , the secret of correspondence (Article 10), the right to petition (Article 11), freedom of speech and press (Article 13). Earlier censorship was canceled. The freedom of faith and conscience was proclaimed, provided that religious views would not harm public obligations of citizens.In April 1870, the so-called coalition law was adopted. It opened the way for organizing legal strikes. The law allowed the creation of unions in which workers, together with employers, could deal with professional and economic issues. By the end of the century there were many different kinds of societies, which were one of the forms of existence of cultural and educational organizations, political groups, professional associations. Professional associations organized their activities on the basis of the statutes, which were approved by the authorities, and thus subject to state control. They pursued socio-economic, cultural and educational goals, and, despite the suspension of their political and religious life in the charter, they were involved in the socio-political development of Galicia at that time, divided by nationality.So we decided to show the role of trade unions in the strike movement in Eastern Galicia. It was investigated the current state and development of historiography history research of problems of strike movement, proved that the highlight of the trade union movement in the 1870 organization and leadthrough of the first strike became in Eastern Galicia (Lviv, 24-30 January 1870), which launched a wave strikes. In the late XIX - early XX century the revolutionary movement of the workers continued to evolve. Along with the trade union strikes of workers took part in demonstrations, meetings and rallies. The strike movement gradually took on political significance.