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FREE TRADE UNIONS

·IN THE W.F. T. U

WORlD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS

FREE TRADE UNIONS EM AI IN THE VV.F.T.U.

WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS

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FOREVvORD - On January 28th. 1949~ Louis Saillant, General See-te­ tary of the W.F.T.U-., presented a report on behalf of the Executive Bureau to the Executive Comittee on the events which had led up to the departure of the T,U.C., C:I.o·. and Dutch N. V. V. representatives from the Executive Bu- reau .meeti~g on J~nuary I gth. · - .... Louis Saillant summed up what had taken place in. the following words _:. · ·

· · · ._, ·trade union cooperation based on the sharing of responsibil­ ities aad the common rights of all the National Centres a £fil­ iated to the \Y.~.T.U. n

· ' · « 2. The leaders of the C .-.I. 0., and in particular ~arey -_-. - thus ·showing a 6ertain lack of experiel)~e~ and a misunder·­ standing of the history ·and life of the international trade un-ion [email protected] - have tried to ll:se th~ w. F. T. u. to pursue a policy inspired by the American State Department aimed at ·economic expansion based on the control of foreign m~r.~ kets by the economic and ·financial trusts of American ca.pii:_­ alism. This attempt, conducted by Carey, was revealed _at the : Executive Bureau meeting in N ove~ber I947' >> ~ .. -- ..-·. - ·.-. . " . ·- --· ...... -. « 3. Marked attempts have been made by the T.U.C. and C.I.O. leaders to undermine the Constitution of the W.F.T.U. and to hold up decisions unanimously adopted by the deliberative and constitutional bodies of the W .F. T. U. By these means they were seeking to render the admi­ nistration and the conduct of the W. F. T. U. 's trade union and social policy ineffective, and to demonstrate that they alone were capable of assuring the leadership of the inter­ national trade union movement. n 2 •

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<< 4. Action was taken by the leaders of the T.U.C. and the C.I.O. with the aim of breaking up the W.F.T.U. (the cr;eation of the Trade Union Committee of 16 for the Marshall Plan) before actually leaving the \V.F.T.U. Par­ allel with this, open support was given by the T . U. C. a~d C.I.O. leaders to the trade union splinter movements 1n France, Italy, and in Berlin. This a:ction cohstitutes typi<:al interference of these National Centres in the internal affatrs of the French, Italian and Berlin trade union ~ovements. Und.et the circumstances, the attitude of the· T .. U.C. and the C. I. 0. -towards the French and I tali an C. G. T., who are affiliated- to_ the W.F.T.U., "\Vas a grave infraction of the duties of .international solidarity · and of mutual respect betweeh National Centres ta £filiated to the W. F. T. U. » « 5- The attempt was made by Arthur Deakin, President of the W.F.T.U., to damage the interests and public authori­ ty of the W.F.T.U. by abandoning, through his vicious pu­ blic attacks on the organisation. of which he was President, the duties· of . his position, and, in particular! by striving to put the · responsibility on the W. F. T. U. for the breakdown in the negotiations with the I. T ,S. for th~ creation of Trade Departments. » ·

« 6~ Finally, the application of a policy of discrimina­ tion between organised workers, based on an anti-Com~unist and anti-Soviet attitude, was the point from ·which, on the nati~nal fieid, the international « splitting » policy of the r ·.u.c. and C.IO. leaders started. This policy was pursued with a view to weakening the power of the trade union move­ ment represented by the \\T.F.T.{J . and with the aim of leaving the hands of those governments free which for- three years J:Iave been trying to sabotage the action and . the repre..:. _ sentat1on of the W.F.T~U., and thus of the international working class, in international institutions. »

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·rhe aim of this pamphlet is to enlarge on the above state­ ment and so show that for about a year and a half prior • to the Executive Bureau meeting of January 1949, there existed a well-defined plot to divert the \V.F.T.U. from its original aims., and, failing that, to attempt to split the organisation. Ndbody r-eading the details of the actions of the C.I.O~ and T.U.C. representatives towards the W.F.T.U. can har­ bour any doubts that in the pursuit of ·their ends they were prepared to go to any lengths, even to the extent of ignoring the Constitution of the W.F. T. U. if that stood in the way of their aiJils. Organised Press camp~igns, distortion of facts, open attacks on the organisation of \Vhich they were mem·hers and to which they owed allegiance - . all these weapons were used up to the final stage, \vhen, finding that the majority of the Bureau could not be intimidated into breaking the Constitution, Messrs. Deakin, Tewson, Carey and Kupers vvalked out of the meeting of the Executive Bureau. · This action, one of the gravest in the history of the international trade union movement, these men will carry as a stigma to the end of their lives.

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I < What llappened at the Executive Bureau on January 19th ?

Varying versions of the discussion and events at this meeting of the Bureau have appeared in the Press but it is important for the record that an accurate and . official account based on the v~rbatim report of the meeting· should be available to trade unionists of every country in ·order that they s4ould appreciate the enormity of the action taken by the T .. p ..C., C.I.O.; and N. V. V. representative,s. _ . The-question on the Agenda which led to their leaving the Bureau meeting.was of course the proposal of the T.U.C. adopted at a meeting of . the General Council . on October 27th. · 1948 which, according to the official-letter sent to ·the \1\T. F. ~r. U .. , was as follo\\~s; « I) · That the World Federation of Trade· Unions , should suspend its functions; 2) That agreement should - be sought between · the organisations which have met their constitutional financial commitments as to the precise terms on which the suspension should apply; 3) That Trustees should be appointed, consisting of one representative from each of the five 1nain con­ tributing N a tiona] Centres qualified under the foregoing, who shall hold the accumulated fund5 of the World Federation and should meet in twelve month's time, or earlier, in order to dis­ cuss the conditions in which an attempt to reviYe an international trade union body may be made. n The letter continued : « The General Council have further deciued that in the event of the W.F.T.U. refusing to agree to the suspension of its activities, a '\Vjthdrawal of the T.U;C. must follow. )) Thus, once again, the T. U. C. General Coun~il tho_ught it necessary in approaching the World Federation wtth a proposal, to add an ultimatum. : _.~-. \

{ ' ; The Real Meaning of the T. U. C. Ultimatum

As the report of Louis Saillant to the Executive Com­ nlittee stated : « The Executive Bureau was fact!d with this. Here are the proposals of the T. U .C. If- you accept them, we remain ; if you don'1 accept them we quit the W.F.T.U. Take it or leave it. ))

Before proceeding to deal with th~ actual discussion ·at the Bureau meeting it :tnay ibe of value to clarify one or two points and see what the T.U.C. proposal meant and what it did not mean. , While the decision of the General Council was freely commented on by the Press as being one to suspend the activities of the W.F. T. U ., it is worth while noting the exact terms of point three. Under this paragraph, and we must give the T.U.C. the credit of having phrased it carefully, the Trustees which \vere to be appointed would meet to discuss the conditions « in which an attempt to revive an international trade union body may be made n. Note that there is no mehtion of reviving « the World Federation of Trade Unions n or even <<. a world trade union body ». Such a proposition left the door wide open to halting all the activities of the W.F.T.U. while leaving every possibility open to the T.U.C. and its friends to decide in the interval to create another « interna­ • I tional » movement to replace it, a movement which would undoubtedly be anything but alLinclusive and would, it is rea­ sonable to assume from the E.R.P. Trade Union Advisory • J Committee, be based on other considerations than trade union ones. It is important to note here that although the ultimatum of the T.U.C. General Council to the W.F.T.U. is enve­ loped in a fog of language, there '\vas no member of the

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General Council but knew that in fact it gave authority to 11Iessrs. Deakin and Tewson to drag the British movement out of the Federation and to cut the British workers off from their fellows throughout most of the world. It is an open secret that not one member of the Genera Council expected the W.F.T.U. to accept such an ultimatum and that in fact the decision of October 1948 meant that Deakin and Tewson would quit the Federatio"n at the Paris Bt?-reau. At the meeting of the General Council where the decision was adopted, several members, while agreeing that the T.U.C. shoul<\. leave the W.F.T.U., objected to the underhand method being employed.

__ The Paris edition of the c< New York Herald Tribune J) (October 28th. .11948) disclosed the game with a certa~n naivete in reporting from London that : _ « It would come- as a great surprise to London, accor­ ding to T. U.C. spokesmen, (our emphasis) if the Russian-dominated W.F.T.U. agreed to suspend its functions. » -Commenting on what was behind the method employed. by· the T. U.C. General Council, the semi-official Paris evening newspaper « Le ·Monde >> qf October 29th. said;, ~c But they (the British trade union leaders) do not . want to appear as if taking the initiative in a rup- . ture with the W.F.T.U. That is why they have adopted this bizarre formula according to which th.o W .F. T. U. should not « disapp-ear » but « suspend its · a.ctiviti~s ». How can a body which ceases its activities be considered as existing ? That is what cannot very well be seen. But pol~~ical tactics have other requirements than _ formal logic. »

The Attetnpt -t<) Shift the Blame - --- The idea, therefore, ·was to attempt to-· piace the. blame for a rupture, which the T.U.C. had decided in advance, · on the shoulders of the W.F.T.U., which·- Messrs. Deakin and Tewson hoped to manreuvre into the position of reft:sing a « reasonable n compromise. This move was blown· wide open:-·a.t-_ the }anuit.ry- 1949 Bureau- meeting in _- the following -way. -· 9

Vincent···Tewson, · after outlining his· obJections ~ to the continuation of the W.F.T.U. and in particular ·citing the bteakdown o.f negotiations betweeQ. the I. T. S. and the Fed­ eration, · as well as the attacks made on T. U. C ~ leaders by Soviet trade union publications, proposed that until a more favourable .situation arose the .W.F.T.U. should suspend its activities. . ·- _He. further proposed that the Trustees should meet in 12 months «or even in 2 or 3 months» if the ·necessary co~ditions developed. - - · However, in reply to questions designed to elucidate the exact powers of the _Trustees propo~d by the T.U.C. who would judge when the conditions were · favourable .for· the re-constitution . of "·an . international trade union movement, Deakin, intervening in the discussion said : · ·

-_It was thus disclosed that not only were M~ssrs. Deakin and Tewson riot prepared to 4i~cu ·s_ s~ ·under ·any. conditiot:ts the· possibility of maintaining the \V.F.T.U. in being with their participation, but that their proposal was not. one to \c suspend » the W.F. T. U. 's activities but to end the life of the organisation. · There could be no two opinions after statements of the type which we have just quoted. 10

Carey of the C.I.O. in his exuberance, was more out­ right and declared : « It is no use pretending the W.F.T.U. is anything but a corpse. Let us bury it. » Great emphasis has been given in the statement signed by Carey, Deakin, Kupers and Tewson issued under the title « Free Trade Unions Leave the W .F.T.U. » to the argument that all the T. U .C. and C.I.O. desired was ·: a recommendation from the Bureau to -the affiliated National Centres along the lines of the T.U .C. proposals, that there \Vas no desire to end the existence of the W.F.T.U. and that this request- was quite in accordan~ with the \tV.F.T.l). Constitution. This attempt to fog the issue can be cleared up imme­ diately when it is realised· that under the Constitution of the Federation - (Paragraph IV sub..:paragraph _,c) only the World Congress has the power to alter the Constitution and by a two-thirds majority. Now, whatever the proposal of the T.U.C. really was, it certainly involved an alteration of the Constitution. Yet the T. U .C. representatives had made it -clear that they were under no circumstances prepared to refer the matter to a world trade union assembly.

Indeed at one point in the proceedings of the Exec~tive Bureau there \Vas no question of any « recommendation )> to the National Centres to suspend the W.F.T.U.'s activities, Arthur Deakin stating : « A small group of men representing some National Cehtres met to found the W.F.T.U. Another group · o! the same group can also decide on its suspen­ sion >>. Furthermore, just before the departure of Deakin, Ca­ rey, Kupers and Tewson, Vassili Kuznetsov, representing the Soviet trade unions, asked the first-named what he conceived should happen in the interval to the W.F.T.U. if the Na­ tional Centres were consulted in the manner Deakin desired. The veil was again torn from the T . U. C. proposition by Deakin, who replied that the W. F. T. U. should cease all activity in th.e interval and that if the majority of the National Centr.es should reveal themsel Yes as being opposed 11 to the suspension of the \IV.F.T.U. that was their affair. As for the T.U.C. its decision was already taken. In any case, he added the•T. U. C. and C.I.O. would accept n-othing else than a unanim-ous recommendation from the Bureau. It thus became apparent that Deakin's « recommenda­ tion » simply consisted in adv ising the National Centres that the Federation had ceased activities and that the T.U .C. did not intend to take into consideratio~ any wish _to, the contrary, even if expressed by a maj-ority of the National ;Centres affiliated. The T. U.C. proposal -was-therefore not on of consulting the National Centres, or recommending the suspension of the W.F. T. U. but was one to- present the dif­ ferent trade union movements with a « fait accompli -))_, - -lf this _were not . accepted by the Bu-reau then the T. U~C- .: ·w-as determined to quit the World Federation. . When the majority of the ·Executive Bureau pointed out that constitutionally this body had· not the power to :decide on such a question (1 ) and wished first-of all .to ~ .take a ,deci­ sion on the questionn of procedure~ Arthur Deakin, as Presi­ dent, refusing to allo~ Liu Ning-I and Giuseppe Di Vitto­ rio to speak or ask any questions, declared the meeting closed and left, followed by Tewson, Kupers, Carey and the American d.elegation. No vote was taken either on :the matter placed on the agenda by the T. U.C. or on the question - ~f procedure or the Bureau's .competency.

The full mea~ure of the dictatorial attitude and the anti­ democratic procedure which ·the T.U.C. wished the Bureau to adopt was thus revealed. - · · After the ·departure of the C.I.O., T.U.C. and N.V-.\T. representatives, the Bureau elected Giuseppe - Di __ Vittorio (Italy) as chairman and continued its work. ·

The decisions of the Bureau and the appeal wh~ch it issued to the workers of the world will be found in the appendix t

- . {I) See Appendix for a fuJl statement of the constitutional situation. A Communist-Dominated . Organisation ? Representation Within the World Federation The extent to which the accusation of the C.I.O. and T.U.C. that the W.F.T.lJ. is an instrument for Soviet foreign policy and a Communist-dominated organisation is justified can be s.een from the composition of the Executive Committee and General Council, where, amongst others, the numbers are as follows ; Executive Committee U.S.S.R. : 3 members. U.S.A. and Canada : 3 members. Great ·Britain : 2 members. General Council ·U.S.S.R. : 5 members.. U.S.A. and Canada : 4 members. Great Britain : 3 members. Taking into account that the Soviet trade unions have a membership ,of 27 millions .and that the T.U.C. and C.I.O. haye :respectively ;,5oo,ooo and 6,ooo,ooo members, .it :;will be seen that the diminishing scale. of representation in 'W.F. T.U. bodies is remarkably severe, and gives a very heavy representation to the T.U.C. ·and C.I.O. in coniparjson with

their membership. · · · = ~ · . - Furthermore, the rules governing the voting at the World Congress were purposely· draWn up in ·such a way that the British and American tr.ade unions shduld tog~the.t1 never have fewer votes than the All Union CentraJ CoJ.iricil of Trade Unions.

Thus the Soviet trade unions have 205 votes in a World Congress while the combined votes of the T.U.C. and th~ C.I~O. total 235. The ~esult is that with almost ~4 ~illion 1nembers less ·than the Soviet trade un·ions they have 30;votes . 13 more -~ a - COnceSSIOn - tO cunity \Vhich the 11 atio-nal pride of t hese very Centres would perhaps riot have ·pennitted them to accept if the positions had been reversed. It is difficult to imagine how this can be a cause of complaint to the British and American unions, or be the basis of their statement that the Federation js Communist-­ dominated. Is the C. I. 0. and T. U. C. allegation, then, based on the fact that a number of other Trade Union Centres, also repre­ sented in the same proportion as they, have developed along different lines from the British and American unions and - hold contradictory opinions on matters of policy ? , ;- Not at all. If this were the case one would ·expect to find resolutions being « pressed to a vote n and adopted against the will of the British and -American delegates. But, on the contrary, \1\T.F.T.U. decisions have almost -invariably been taken unanimously and after full- considerati-on of all points of view expresSed.

Who Wanted to Dominate ? The reality lying_behind -the -British and American ac­ cusation ;,;tgainst the W.F.T.U. is that these Centres wanted to dominate the \Vorld Federation and -not to discuss action based on the Constitution and fundamental resolutions of the W. F. T. U. For,' there is not a _single action taken by the Federation, or a resolution adopted, which can be point­ ed to as not being in conformity vvith the resolutions adopted at London and Paris in I945· . This attitude, _particularly in · t.he case of the T. U.C., is a hang-over from the pre-war period when they enjoyed a pr~ponderant situation . in the International Federation of 'Trade Unions (which way be the reason why Mr. Deakin at the Margate Congress of the -T.U_C. called the I.F.T.U. <' ap immeasurably supe_rior organisation »). The Appeal of the Executive ·Bureau to the \tVorkers oi the World, expresses the situation clearly in these words ; (( ... the leaders of the General Council of the British trade unions did not und.erstand what profound 14

\; 1: :_,, 1 change:s · had taken pl~c;e _In the_ development of .. ,-,=,!.; ·trade- union _ maturity - and of the . independence o'f peoples, as well as in -Jhe distripution_ of trade :union forces throughout the world since the Second World · .-. ~, ::_; :: · \Var~ ·- - ·· · · ·· · -. · · · · ··

.•: :~: -~ -:. -"' --" -'... ~ - : ·.~(:·, The time· is pa~st when a ·single National ~ C~ntre could, through its force of numbers and its.· past history, dominate and rule by itself the destinies of · the· International Trade Union · Movement... )> ...

·.· : lt 1 is precisely. th_at changed situation which the T.U.C. and the· ·.c.I.O. -_leaders did not want to accept and were prepared to go to any lengths to a void. · · In leaving the World Federation Messrs. ·Deakin, Carey and : their supporters have not « split » the W. F. T. U. All they; have .done .is to cut t!lemselves off from the main body aJ?.d:::GYrrent · of world trade unionism and have joined with a· .. ;minority group _which more and more in the future can only take one path - that of opposition to the aims of,!he international work~ng class and support of its worst enenzies.

Government-Dominated Trade Unions

· .A further argument now being used by the T. U. C. and c;I.o .. (which is taken second-hand from the A.F.L.) is that only the trade unions in America and Western Europe are « free » - the others being government-dominated. Here is what James Carey said in 1945 after· a C.I.O. delegation had visited the Soviet Union. It is taken from a Press statement reproduced in the W .F. T. U. Informat­ ion Bulletin in December of that year. « Respecting the Soviet trade unions, Carey said · the delegation was impressed by their actl vi ties in pro­ moting workers' interests as well as bv their magnifi­ cent wholehearted participation in winning the war and in the tasks of reconstruction.. . » « Our observations have increased our pride in being associated with such a great trade union move­ ment through the \:Vorld Federation of Trade Unions. » · · · · .:. « · Answering reporters questions · about · Sovie~ ·· trade -· unions,-· -Carey said the A.F .L. had charged ·the C.-1':;0. ·with. being · Communistic and the · U.S.S:R: iniioris'; with being age.nts of the government and_added that <.c 'both these charges are obviously unfounded. » He ·commented on the democratic procedt.tres followed by U.S.S.R . . unions in · the election .of officers and in o.ther respe~ts, and · declared that « the answer to the question of whether Soviet trade unions are democratic is emphati­ cally « yes >>. ·'· We shall. leave the question at fhat.

Who Are The Splitters ? . . . . << Our Congress ~ooly? the initiative zn . tlte f!ffort. to es tab lis It the I nterJzational Trade Union M ovenze1'lt on a broader ba~is. We have not abandoned that lzigh,:·.purf)(;JSe. HI e believe it is- possible to achieve it : None have striven harder than the B-ritislz representatives. in tlze W ..F.T. U.· -to clea-r up 1nisunde-rstanding and causes of conflict . ..·. Th~· ~< splitters >> are not on our side. » . _F loreJzc~ · H a1.zcock in )zer P-reside.ntial Address to .the .lvf ar gate T. U. C., S _eptein- ber 6th.' 1·948. . . . \Vhen Arthur Deakin, at · that time President. of .the \tV.F,T.U .. , -stepped down from the rostrum at :\1argat:e, hoarse with rage after opposing- ·a resolution asking ·C·ofl­ gress to rea·ffirm « its support of the vV4F·. T. U. », · and urging its representatives, <( to resist attempts to destroy unity insi<_le this body_ .)), he had divulged a very ?ignificant fact which caused quite .a lot of discomfort amongst m~m­ bers of the Gener~l ~ouncil__ and · must hav.e · give;n.. ri~ ,to ~orue -intere.?ting conversations v\:hen Mr. Deakin .had ··r~co'Y- e:red his te~per and his v:oice. · - ·- · ·· . · ,· · · ·J · · ·· _·.· ·

0 0 • · - · In a -long :harangue, during which his· anti-Com~unist hatred· overflowed, he accused the movers ·of the ·motion 0

0 of i< trying" to put us on the 0 'spot, to put us in.· the position . ·in which' when we·: ·go to Paris next· \Veek (the. September 1948 meeting- · oFthe · W; · ~.T.TJ ..: Bureau) .\ve shall .be told that we no· longer 'represent · the: voice of the Br:itish trade .uP.ion moveiD:ent ». · · .. · · .. ··,-.: , . ~ . 16

It \Va~ . ~herefore clear that .lVlessrs, Deakin ap.d ·rewson had alrea;dy made up their minds that a reaffinnation of support for the W. F1 T -:lJ. ~~ opposit~on t~ any. ~ttempts to. destr<.?y the unity of ~:t"le organisation would run counter to the pqlicy they . h~P, -~ ~ecided ~ ,tq pursue.· . , The real reason for the frantic efforts of the General Council to remove all mention of the · W.F.T. ~U. from the agenda of the T. U.C. Conference was to avoid the danger of ·exposing this policy· befor~ it was applied.

0 0 .i\.mongst the astonishing declarations made in his speech, the President of the· W .·F. T. U. stated « with a full sense of responsibility » that, . l-Ie did not explain to the Congress how if this \Vere the case it was possible for the various bodies of the Federation to vote, almost without exception unanimously, the multitude of resolutions which have been adopted, · ~ and \vhich, together with the basi'C declarations and resolutions of the 1945 London and Paris World Trade Union Conferences·, constitute the foundation of all the \ ·V.-F. T. U. 's po1icy and activities. · Mr. ~akin, becoming plaintiv~, told the Congress dele­ gates that what he <;ailed the ~ « equal balance )} of Commu­ nist and non-Communist cou·ntries in the Executive Bureau had altered and that the ratio was now 5-3 in favour of the Communist· interest . . On .the larger bodies such as the Executive Comn1ittee and the General Council the .dispro­ portion '\Vas greater, so that, << if an · issue is pressed , to-a ·vote it virtually becomes a Communist-dominated organis­ ation )} . l-Ie did not tell the delegates on- \vhat · occas~ons issues /tad been pressed to a vote; He· avoided · this question precisely because it '\vould have been difficult . to show · ~ny occasion on vvhich any body· of the ·W. F. T. U. had done· )list - that. Throughout its career the W~F.T.U. has always acted in the full understanding . that various tendencies exist in th..e trade union movement and that the opinions .of all mt1~t he taken into account if- the decisions are to be freely accep­ ted· and applied. Decisions of all bodies of the Fe~ratic:>n have therefore been the result of consideration and co~.p~o­ mise, in an attempt to find the highest-comrn0.n denomi~1ator of agreement. 17

Evidence in Their. Own Worda \Ve will return to the question of how far and by who1n, decisions unanimously adopted have been applied. :but for the moment it will suffice to call two· witnesses to show whether the W. F. r. U. is a Communist:-dominated organi­ sation where votes are « presser1 .. >. · Speaking at the bi-ennial ~nference · of the Amalga- mated Clothing vVorkers, C.I.O. in Atlantic City in May 1948, Frank Rosenblum, Secretary-Treasurer of the A(C. W. and a vice-President of the W. F.T.U., ~aid that he had , attended four W.F.T.U. meetings since 1946 anq that « · at no time did the Russians impose their . will . ~· Whatever agreements have been reached, have been reached by unanimous vote. No disagreements pre­ vailed on any decision reached. If the weight of the decision was to the ·right or to the left, I can say to you truthfully that the weight was on the side of the right rather th~n the 1eft >). · On the question of the International Trade· Secretariat~) Rosenblum, who is very far from being a_ Communist, said that difficulties arose, not be~ause the Russians had attempt­ ed _~o v.eto the formation of . Tr<:tde Departments, h:ut ·« because-of s-ome· of :the ·repre$entatives of ·the Secre­ tariats, ~ho 'were 'not' concerned with the 'unity' ot . . ... world labour but rather with' carrying out their par­ tisan ideas be<;:arise ·of their violence agairi,st ·Russia >1. · ·-Yet· the C.I.O. and T. U.C. · still try to persuade the trade union world in their recent · pamphlet that · « .... the.. responsibility for the delay which hao; .occurred, lying as. it-does at the door of the Soviet trade unions, confirms other evidence that they wer.e not so much concerned with the establishment and operation of the \Vorld Federation as a trade union international as they were with its politicaJ potentialities n. On July 21sL 1948 the« Daily -Herald n reported under the! heading << W .F. T. U. Not Soviet Tool », that a . : . - « vigorous denial thC;lt the World Federation of Trade . , _ Unions was acting as a tool of Soviet imperialism was made by Mr. Arthur Deakin at the Int~rnatio­ -nal Transport Workers FedP... ~. ti()n C:Dngress in Oslo yesterday >>. 18·

The « New· York Herald Tribune » published in Paris added on the same subject that Mr. Deakin, • i · «·deploring the trend towards splitting the trade union movement into Communist and non-Communist fac~ · tions urged the I. T. W. F. to « show tolerance and try to reach a settlement with the \rV. F. T. U. » . . What happened between July and September 1948 to change Mr. Deakin's opinion, if change it did ? What happened to bring about the .extraordinary spectacle of the President of the W.F.T.U. at the T.U.C. Margate Congress deserting his post, and, in an unprecedented scene, attackit)g violently his own organisation, to which he owed duties and responsibilities ? 'To explain that we shall have to return to October 1947, where in California Mr. Deakin, as T.U.C. repre­ sentative, but nevertheless still President of the W.F.T.U., was listening silently at the A. F. L. Convention to hysterical attacks on the World Federation and to decisions to vote tens of thousands of dollars to fight it. In his speech to the Convention, Mr. Deakin, in contradiction to the lack of inhibitions (it would be perhaps out of place to mention elementary politeness) of A. F .L. delegates to the T,.U.C., never pronounced the nanJe of the World Federation when speaking of the T.U.C's internat­ ional connections. However, venturing into politics, an action which according to the T.U.C. immediately tnakes a trade unionist a Communist, said : « There never has been and, I predict, never will be any difference of opinion between our Trades Union Congress and our Labour Government. >>

Political Not Trade Union Considerations

It is not our business here to arraign the Labour Government of Great Britain. The vV.F.T.U. doe~ not base its· action or policy ·- with the exception of its attitude to Fascist governments, whose character inevitably determines their attitude to the working class - on the political complexion of a government. However, it is a remarkable fact that Mr. Deakin, one of whose arguments is that the 19

\rV. F. T. U .- is ·dominated by political and not trade union considerations, should be prepared to give his govern:(.Qent « carte blanche » regarding its actions, and pled.ge the support of his national trade union :(.Qovement under all circumstances. Thus it is clear that through all the twists and wrigg­ lings and manreuvres the President of the W. F .;T. U. was not tied to the basic policy of the Federation lbut to a political stand point. · When, for any reason, the declared aims for the international working class, as expressed in the · 1945 W

« In the coming peace, the ~oundations must ~ laid with all possible speed, and in accordance with Article 3 of the Atlantic Charter, of a world order in which non-self­ governing .communities and nations can attain ~he status of free nations », and further reoalls the declaration of the Paris Congress that : « It would indeed be but incomplete victory if the common people in the colonies and territories of all nations were now deni-ed the full enjoyment of their 20

-inherent right of self determination and . national indepen­ dence »; « ·3· Decla~'~s the solidarity of the W.F. T. U. with the Indonesian people in their struggle for national indepen­ dence; (( 4· Urges the Commission appointed · by · the S.ecurity Council to deal with the situation in Indonesia , to take imn1ediate action which \vill wa1ntain for ·the Indonesian people their republican regime, and will assure their national independence as guaranteed by the_ Atlantic .Charter and by the principles on which the United: Nations ~ w . as founded; ·· further urges the Commission, as a preliminary measure, to request the withdrawal of the troops of both parties to the lines occupied· by them at -the +-~rne of the ~o-mmencement of-hostilities ;_ ..

·: .< ~ -5. Noting that the General Secretary h~s - been . unable_to establish contact . wit_h . the ·central' Orgu.ni?atiqn of In~one­ sian Trade Unions, an affiliate ·· of t~1e · -w.F. !'-. U~, through the - normal channels · of communication, -q.utqorities the General Secretary to take ·appropriate -steps to re-esta.~li~h contact with the Indonesian.. Trade Union Centre for - the purpose of consulting it on the existing ~it11:ation i~ · Iric;lonesia -and obtaining its ·views as to the measures to be adopted-- by the W.F. T. tr:_ ;· · . . . · << ·6. Instructs the . General Secretary to study the · repor~ of · the- -Special Cowp1ittee of the -Sec_urity _Cou11cil . when available; . as. well as the .. information received ' 'from the Indonesian -Trade Union Centre, and to : s:Ul?mit a _report, including further measures, for consi9er_a~i~n by -the - n~~t ­ meeting . of th~ Executive Bureau. » ·

Kupers, -before the resolution was .a.dopted, m~ ade it q11:ite clear that he could not accept the last sentence of par·a­ graph 4 and insisted that his opposition ·should be noted in the minutes; _ Mr. Kupers was as aware as anyone that since the Indonesian situation was in the course of being resolved by force~ the real « bite n in the resolution was contained_ in the dernand for the cessation of the Dutch military action and the ~vithdrawal of the ·troops to their previous. positions· ~ - 21

.)t. was just this that Kupers, in his desire to support tht.. ]_)utch Government would not accept . . Indonesia, and the attitude· ·of ··Kupers, ·is one ·more example of the depths to which those members of the W.F.T.U. ·sank, who, :although pledged to support the principles of the World Federation, w~re above all interested n propping up the actions of their governments regardles~ of . where such a position led them.

Refusal to Apply W. ·F. T. U. Decisions The maintenance of this standpoint as a governing consid- eration in all their dealings with the W.F.T.U. led the r. U.C. and C.I.O. not only to a refusal to act in accordance with the Constitution of the World Federation, as was seen at the January 1949 Executive Bureau, but resultf;!d in t hese organisations flatly repudiating resolutions which they had freely adopted. This refusal to apply W. F. T. U. dec1sions is best ·1llustrated by their attitude to the establishment of ~he W.F-:T.U. Liason Bureau in Germany, and to the calling o f a Pan-Asiatic Trade Union Conference. 'Fite liV.F.T. U. Liaison Office. in Gern-ta1ZJ' · The decision relating to the this question was taken by the General Council in a resolution adopted at Prague in J une 1947. It was hoped that with the establishment of this office much quicker progress could be made towards u nifying the Ge~an trade unions, assisting them in their

\.-'-70rk and . finally affiliating a unified German movement to the W.F.T.U. . Opposition \Vas encountered from the British, American and French Government representatives in Germany and the matter was again discussed at thf! Executive Bure~u and Committee meeting held in Rome in May 1948. In a. reso- _1ution the Bureau_requested « those National Centres ~vhose government~ have not yet accepted this proposal to pursue t heir representations to those governments ». In this connection it is interesting to note that the report presented to the 1948 Congress of the T. U. C. concealed 22

who was responsible for -the non~tablishment' of this 6ff~ce and simply said that the four governments had not so far reached_ agreement on the establishment of the W.~. ·r. U. Liaison _ B _~reau -_ with9ut disclo-sing that is wa~ a . question Qf refusal by -tl).ree -of the . Occupying - _Powers, . and that the T.U.C.- was one of · the .organisations which - had to bring pres _su~~ - to· ~ar 6_n .its government. _. Finally, at the Executive Bureau m~ting · in September 1948 when the German question was again under consider­ ation, Arthur Deakin told the Bureau members· that the T.U.C. was not prepared to invite its government to agrc"e to the setting up of the Liaison Office and stated that he cQnsidered .the decision taken at Rome as being invalid~ _: In this he was supported by the C.I.O. Thus, the T.U.C,· and the C.I.O. formally abandoned their previous decision, having first of all· done all in the,ir power to pr~vent its application. Sabotage in Germany. During practically aU the ti.J;Ile when the policy of the \V ~F. T. U .. was directed towards unifying the German trade unions the actions of the representatives of the ·r. U ~C. ­ C.I.O., and N.V.\1, \vere aimed at braking this movement and in giving their support to those German trade unionists who were opposed to unity and to_ any supervision of the German moveme~t by th~ ':JV.F.T.U. :Q~ this: latter -point it should be noticed that tJ:le 1945 London Conference had defined in the << Declaration on the Attitude to the Peace 5ettl~ment » what should be the apprO'ach of the world trade union movement to the pro~leJ.:n of re-creating the German unions. · · · : .-'This declaration said ; · ~: __ .

\V. F. T. U. in a speech to the Inter-Zonal Conference of the German unions •at Bad Pyrmont in October 1947 gave every encouragement to those who in Germany were already resentful of any supervision of th~ German movement. Several times in his speech, Elmer Cope went out of his -way to emphasise that the W. F .1.~ .lJ. had no intention of offering advice unless it w~re asked by the German unions and that the latter were at liberty to accept or reject any offers <>f assistance if they desired.

. Furthermore, in pursuit of the divisionist policy of th~ American· and British Governments, Cope underlined strongly the understanding which the Western European trade unio~ ·movements felt for the proble1ns of the German trade unionists and added that although the W ,F. T. U ~ desired to see and to affiliate a united German trade union move­ ment « the W.F.T.U. abstains from telling you when and under zvhat conditions this unity should. be accomplished i}.

In th~ situation as It was in Germany at that time this could only_ be understood as an announcement to these who were opposed to German trade unioQ unity that they would have the support of th~ C.I.O. if they took up the position expressed by Cope, and "\vhich was not in accordance with the London decision. •

These activities designed · to 5et aside the \\r. E'. T. U <€ were continued by Kupers of tht! Dutch N. V. V. Speaking to the Press in April 1948 he · informed the Frankfort correspondent of the Berlin « Sozialdemokrat )) that he knew nothing of an invitation from the W.F.T.U. to the Gen;nan :unions of· all zones to attend the E -xecutive Bureau meeting of the W i. F. T. U. in Rome and added ;

<< The news of such an invitation surprises me greatly. I am of the opinion that representation ·of the German trade union movement at the meeting of the Bureau in Rome on 30th. April would have no purpose since the affiliation of the German trade unions to the W. F. T. U. will not be discussed. n

Kupers was very well aware that the question o~ the G erman trade unions was on the age11da for Rome and that invitations had been issued to "che German · unions\

4 24 but ,had no desire .to see the Western Zones represented there, where tbe methods for unifying the . movement would be . discussed. ln this he succeded. The \¥estern Zones refused tci attend.

It sho_uld be added that ~r .. Kupers _gave .a very embarrassed denial to the memb~rs of the B_ureau on tb.e subj~ct of his Press interview which, in the desire not to c reat~ any incidents ~as accepted ; _but suqsequent in \r~s.-~ tigations have shown that Mr. K~pers was tr~fling with tJl:~. truth. _Apart from these specific incidents, during all the tin1e when the W.F. T. U .. was ~ attempting to find a solution to the German trade union problem the C.I.O. and T.U.C: were, through. unilateral action, and by direct contacts be­ tween their friends in Germany and their own delegate;_. actively seeking to oppose international .trade union policy.

Eln~e:r Cope, for instance, although in charge of the \V .F. '_f_. P: Colonial Department, left his department com­ pletely rporibund and spent his ti{Ile traveiling . between G~r~any, Lonc:Jon and the United States. While it is impossible to have precise details on all the actions of this C.I.O. representative son.te idea of the guilty feeli;gs he himself must have had can ibe gained from the request \Vhich he made to a staff member of the W.F.T.U. whom he met at the gth1. Inter-Zonal Conference of the German unions held in Lindau in August 1948. · Elmer Cope, installed himself in that town, and although not being a delegate to the meeting, _spent three days in the corridors having private conversations with trade unionists from the American and British Zones. O n running into the W. F. T. U. representative he asked him « not to mention to anyone in Paris that you have seen m e here. » In dealing with the W.F. T. U. ·delegations to Germany the pamphlet

Atnerican and British· trade union leaders on that score·. The London and Paris Conference . resolutions on- Germany emphasised again and again the vttal importance of carrying out effective measures to clear Ger:man political, economic and socia1 life.. bf- Nazis. The W.F.T.U~ has no apologies to make on ~his subject.- · We are now told, however, or at least it is implied very clearly, that if we only_ knew the truth the Soviet Zone is just as ];>ad as the British, American and .French in its action of clearing out th~ Nazis. We are asked to believe that if such· conditions existed they could have been hidden all this time from the Press o f Western Europe, which although starting from a preju­ dice in favour of the Western Occupation Authorities, has been forced to admit the crying scandal of larger and larger numbers of Nazis · being placed in high administrative posi­ tions -in the A -merican; British and French Zones; but we have yet to see any reputable reports which show the same conditio·ns in the Soviet Zone. It is w{th interest that we learn that British, American and French representatives « made the:tnselves responsible for following up .complaints relating to their country's Zones ». It will be of greater interest to see some inrl1cation that this has had any effect. At the moment the only result seems to be that the­ T . U ,C. and C.I.O. are coming dangerously near to being apologists for the notorious policies of their governments i!l Germany. The Pan-A.siatic T rade Union Conference. The question of the conditions of Asiatic workers was o ne dealt with iby the 1945 World Trade Union Congress, which adopted a resolution by which it was agreed to con­ vene a Conference of Asiatic workers. The organisation of the Conference was discussed at the Moscow Executive Bureau in June 1946 and again at the General Council held in Prague in June 1947. Finally, in September 1948, at the Executive Bureau meeting Arthur Deakin stated that the T. U. C. was not prepared to take part in any Commission of Enquiry what-:- soever going to Asia. _ This dictate was laid down after negotiations had been going on for long months on the appointment of a joint ~r. U. C. - C, I. 0. member of the Commission which ¥vas to precede -the calling of the Asiatic Conferepce by preparing a report on conditions in Asia. During all this time the ~r. U.C. and C.I.O. had held off from naming any repre­ sentative and had effectively sabotaged the departure of the Commission and, consequently, the calling of the Conference: On these two questions of Germany and Asia the attitude of the T. U .C. supported by the C.I.O. representatives, show­ ed a -complete disregard for decisions unanimously taken. Coming from two organisations which had been accusing the Secretariat of the World Federation of inefficiency in apply­ ing policy, the ·only conclusion that can de drawn is, firstly that they were guided by purely political considerations of supporting at all costs the policy of their respective govern­ ments, and secondly of holding up the application of deci­ sions with the aim of being able to point to the World Fede­ ration as being inefficient, and its activity as deing pointless.

American Policy in Asia The approval of the C.I.O. for American Governn1eut policy in Asia was clearly brought out at the January 1949 Executive Bureau meeting by the Chinese delegate Liu Ning l. Liu asked Carey five questions : « 1) Are you in agreement with the American imperia­ lists who furnish tanks, planes and guns to Chiang-Kai-Chek to kill the Chinese people ? 2) Are you in agreement with the American reactionaries who are helping the Kuomintang to organise the Chinese Gestapo and to kill Chinese workers ? 3) Are you in agreement with the American armed forces in China who electrocute Chinese workers ? ·4) Are you -in agreement with the repressive actions of the American army in China against workers on strike ? , , . 5) Do you not think that it is necessary to fight against the reactionary violence of- American imperialism ? )> In reply, Carey con1pletely avoided the questio:ns and talked of the Cairo declaration which the- London · Con­ -ference of the W. F. T. U.. had supported in 1945 and said that the C.I.O. approved of this declaration. - · '

· · << It vvas a guarantee of the Chinese RepublU:" signed by Chiang-Ka1-Chek himself )) said Carey, « in whic~ - ·be gave the assurance of not seeking to make territorial gains_)). Continuing, Carey \vent on to talk of · Manchuria:, Formosa and Korea, finishing by talking at length on China's need for steel, petrol and food, expressnig the opinion that this could one day be supplied through the nations of the world. - It was difficult to see what this embarassed and tortuous reply had to do with the questions put by Liu but it certainly did clear up to_what point the C.I.O. leaders would go in order to avoid opposing the American Gover~ment's programme of « aid >> to devastated countries ..

American Policy in Greece

_ On the Greek question too, the C.I.O. leadership, in pursuit of this policy of supporting American ~iplomacy and arms completely rejected the resolution adopted by the Executive Bureau in \\7ashington in September I946, . which said in part : - (< The Executive Bureau of the \V.F.T.U. having heard Leon Jouha ux' s report on the Greek trade union situation and taken note of the memorandum on this rna tter sent by the vV. F. T. U ~ General Secretary :to _the President of the United Nations Security Council, holds the opinion that trade union liberties have been seriously infringed and that the Greek Federation of Labour :s prevented from functioning democratically. The Execu­ tive Bureau condemns the action of the reactionary government of Greece in suppressing the democratic liberties of the workers fr.eely to -exercise their trade union rights. The \V.F.T.U. Executive Bureau 'has decided : « I. That the Bur.eau of the Greek Federation of Labour elected March I, i946 is the only repr~sen~~t i ~e 28

.body_ Ci.f the country's trade unions. No _other bureau or· committee can have the · confidence of the "Vorld ' : · Trade. Union . Movement ... n - ~ . - . , .. . :Qespi~e _its_ original adoption of the above resolution, J:>~ilip Murray, President of the C.I.O., · sent what the C. I_. ·o ~ .. News called « warm words of greetings » to a so­ called · Congress of the Greek Confederation of Labour held on March 28th 1948.

. . . This « Congress » which was the scene of a . violent struggle for power between several individuals, some of whom. had served either.as Minister of Labour or as trade union leaders under the Metaxas dictatorship, and which finally broke up in complete disorder, was named by Presi­ dent Murray as the first << freely convened n Conference since the ·beginning of the Metaxas dictato.rship. The incredible length to which this policy led the C. L 0. can be s.een from the paragraph of Murray's message vvhich says :

<( Greece today is the only country in the Balkans in· which· it is possible for workers to meet freely and engage in democratic discussions of-their problems ». . At that particular moment thousands of Greek trade unionists were in prison, amongst whom was the late Dimitri Paparigas, the elected General Secretary of the Greek Confederation of Labour and the Athens Government had some short time previously pron1ulgated a vicious anti-strike law providing in some cases for the death penalty for its infraction.

Interference in Internal Affairs of National Centres

and Support of « Splinter » Groups

The pursuit of this policy decided upon by the T.U.C. and C.LO. leaders and their attacks on international trade union unity led them to encourage and finance trade union spli~s in at least two countries, and to ignore the elementary duties of · respect for the internal affairs of other national trade ttnion movements. 2~ .

. For. instance, no sooner had the split taken · p~~c~ . ip.. F rance 1n December 1947 than the Press announced. that the C.I. 0. had sent a telegram of support to · <.< ·Force O n vriere >>. · · · ' 'The full approval :of the r · .u.C~ for the breakaw~y g.J;"oup could not be mistaken when the General Council refused to send a . fraternal delegate to the 27th. ~ongr~ss or the C.G. T. but ostentatiously appointed the late George C hester to represent them at the m.ee6ng called to set up f( Force Ouvriere » . · · · · · · Such . a decision, although in complete accord with th ~ · whole general trend of T. U.C. policy, was a blow a ·t . inter-. national trade union unity since the T. U. C. was at : that moment still associated with the French C.G. T ·. , d ·irectly through the Franco-British Trade Union Committe~ and by their mutual participation in the W.F .. T~U. Statements in the British House of Commons show that organisations affiliated to the T. U.C. have financ~d th~ French breakaway mo-vement while Pr,ess reports show· that the C. I. 0. has also been guilty of interfering in ~he internal p roblems of the French C.G.T,. It is not difficult to imagine what the reaction of the British and American trade union leaders would have been i f , -for instance, the French or Italian C.G.T. had supported << splinter )) movements in Britain or America. Indeed, the rules of the T. U.C. forbid recognition of any breakaway body. It is therefore difficult to imagine how the members of the General Council justified_ their a ction, even to themselves, in supporting « Force Ouvriere » and in sending a fraternal delegate to its constituent Con­

gress~ In Berlin, the T. U .C. once again, through the despatch o f a representative to enquire into the trade union situation there, took unilateral action Despite the fact that the Gener­ al Council was aware that the W .F. T. U. liaison ag~ent with the German unions was going to Germany to make an enquiry, the T. U. C" accepted an incomplete and partial report from their delegate, James Bowman, who had :p1ade no effort to cont'lct the elected trade union leaders in •

30"

Greater~ Berlin and · had hmitt~d himself to contacts with the mi'rtori ty. i , ' :·-,. On the basis of that report the General Council of the T.U.C. recognised the U.G.O. in the mon~ of August 1948. This· action was taken although the Execut1ve Bureau of the vV~F: 1:'. U. was due to meet during the last fortnight in Sep- tember' with the 'German question on the agenda .

. \.· I Diseri:mination at the Margate Congress

~rhe lengths to which the T. U.C. was prepared to go in ~ applying its policy of d:iscriminat~on w_as revealed. at ~he ·Margate Congress in 1948 In connect1on w1th the nom1nat1on of -a · fraternal delegate from the W.F.T.U. :if will-be worth a little trouble to look into this question in some detail, It is revealing . . ; .in. r~ply to questions as to why there was no W .F. T. U. delegate present, Vincent Tewson explained that when the T _.,U _.C. ~ecided to invite a W.F.T.U. delegate to Margate two _considerations were taken into account. I) That the delegate should speak English in order . to ~ve the time of Congress by avoiding translation. 2) That the vV. F. T. U. should pass round the deleg­ acy to the T. U. C. Congress in order to allow the largest possible number of National Centre represent­ atives to see the T.U.C. at work. A further third point had also been raised in a lette1 from Te"vson dated July 28 th. asking that « in view of our attitude in regard to the European Reconstruction Programme, it would be better, par­ ticulary as the World Federation itself has not arri­ ved at any conclusions on this matter, that whoever comes should, quite apart from any question of per­ sonality, start. with the distinct advantage in being at one with us on this vital question of principle >1.

_ - '1~.1?-is was the point which, Mr. Tewson explained to the Congress delegates, was put forward « quite as an aside >>- . Apart _from the question of how one can pose a condition 31

(c qu.1te as an aside >> i11 a letter, ~he ~erms of t}:le :9a~gq~pb can leave no doubt in the reader s mtnd that it was indeed a H vital question of -pri.p.ciple ». l\!Ir-: _Tewson_ attempted to convey the· impre~sioi] _ that the W. F. T .1.J . had raised difficulties over a « questi_on of per~onalities )) : and that it was a · matter of ~u~~ . pride, because the General Secretary of the F ederat1on_ had annunced his intention of attending the Congress, that opposition was expressed to the T. U .C.'s cond_ition~ . . ,, H·e further added that after exchanging correspondence with Paris without an agreement being reached it was sug­ gested to the Federation . . « that at this late hour, and in view of the difficulty of securing representation ... it might be possible to invite Mr. Jensen who it was known would be in London in connection with other business )). 'fhe truth is that the question of personalities -vvas not introduced by the \:V.F.T.U. nor« at a late hour)', but was raised in the very first letter dated July 28th. which was received from the T.U.C. on the question of a W.F.T.U. f rratern·al delegate. The letter, signed by Vincent · Tewson, after setting out the two conditions which we have quoted above, and before raising the further point ·relating to E.R.P., says; ·

« The above two reasons led to the suggestion that ., either Nordahl from Norway or Jensen fro:11 Denmark might come. )) Thus on two very important ·points the delegates to the lVIargate Congress were - shall · we say - m1sled. ·

· The attitude of the W.F.~r.U, had nothing to do with the personalities involved. The ·simple fact is that behind all the << mights >> and the « suggests n the General Council of the ~r. ·u.C. ·was absolutely determined to make conditions before accepting a \"T. F. T; U. fraternal delegate and was adamant that these should be accepted otherwise ._ there \:vould be no delegate from the W.F.T.U. . -· . The attitude of the World Federation of Tr-ade Unions was expressed by the General Secretary, Louis Saillant, in '· . ~' · le~ter ·_ dated August sth. (which was not COnlmunicated to the Congress). In it the General Secretary said ; . . « I would like to draw your attention to the reper- -ctiss1ons for the VvT. F. T. U. of the eventual acceptance

Such being the case, I ~g ·of yo·u to be _good enough to reconsider your position in order· that we should not be placed in_ a n,1ore delicate ·situation on the occasion of choosing a W .._F. T .T..J. fraternal :dele- gate to your Congress. :

.Tl1is choi~e belo~gs to the W. F!. T. U. in .t~~ same way as (he invitation of any .country to yqur· Co~gress belongs to your organisation. I am ccinviri<;:e.d that you fully share this point of vievv. )) So much for the introduction. 9f personaliti.es ! :

.The · re .~der ~an judge for himself whetP.er it was not a (:lear ca~.e of the T. U. C. attempting to pre~n~ ·an ·ultima- ·tu:rri to the World · Federation of Trade Unions i.rf tota~ disregard of the a:.greement which had been unanimously adopted at Rome and in opposition to all the traditions of international trade union cooperation based on mutual respect.

The « Rome Agreement »

'rhe resolution adopted at Rome 9n the subject of the administration and policy- of· the W. F .'T. U. was drawn up in the ·following terms.

(< The Executive Committee reaffums the declarq.tions of the London and Pa.ris Tr.ci.de U~i~- ~ . Co~ferences of 1945 and the all .il}clusive natur~ of th~ W.F.T.U. ~ · and ·reaffirms. the piin¢iple that no one national centre ... shalf seek to dominate tne affairs of the · \V'. F. T. U. so . ,, ~. : as "'to .exclude the point~ ~f ·vievv of . atiy o· tp~t- National ·centre .

: :

·· - 2. ] "' hat there be regular quarterly meetings of the Executive Bureau. 1"'he dates shall be fixed after consultation bet\veen the President and General Secre­ tary subject to the convenience of members of the Executive Bur.eau . . 3. The General Secretary, A~sistant General Secre­ ·-·· ·· tftries and Departmental Heads shall not engage in any "ot'-le( ·· work, except with the expressed appr"oval of the Executive Bureau. 4. The Executive Bureau n1eeting in Paris having decided that notices should be issued for a meeting of the Advisory Corrunittee of the International Trade Sec~etariats to be followed by a representative Confer­ ence of the I. T.S., it is now agreed that early steps shall be taken to enable these further consultations _to .:J ake plac~. " ,,.. ·5· The organs of the vV.F . 1~ .C. shall not he used to publish or circulate attacks on the policies or admin­ istration of National Centres affiliated to the \V .F. ·r. U. This does not prevent the publication of objectiYe statements of policy of any National C.entre. ~- · . 6. For the purpose of dealing \.vith the publications of the W.F.T.U. there shall be an Editorial Board_, "\vhi.ch shall consist of the General Secretary and the three Assistant General Secretaries. The Board shall discuss questions -of publication deemed likely to con­ flict \vith the interest o-f any National Centre. 7. In the event of a question arising, which vitally affects -the interests of one or more National Centres, on "\vhich there is no accepted directly applicable deci~ s.ion~ the matter shall be discussed by the General Secretarv and the 1<\ssistant General Secretaries. 35

If agreement cannot be reached no action shall be taken until the ~atter has been considered by the Exe­ cutive Bureau. n Since that statement was adopted in 1'Iay 1948 no rep­ re sentative of the T. U .C .. or C.LO. has attempted to show in \V hat respect it has been violated. Indeed, in the brochure recently published by the ·r .1J .C. and to which Carey and Kupers have put their n ames this important qu~stion is simply avoided iby the stat~ent that « Regrettably, howe ver, subsequent events sho,ved that no appreciable improvement was forthcoming ... )) . In this connection the opinion of Albert Monk, General Secretary of the Australian Council of 'Trade Unions as ·expressed at the January 1949 Executive Com~ittee n1eeting .tnay be of interest to quote. Speaking of the different opinions which existed on various questions and the subsequent adoption of the reso­ !ution at Rome, Albert l\1onk said : « 'fhis ·agreement which ·was unanimously adopted · at Rotne was more or less satisfactory but it- was all the same an agreement. As far as I was· concerned I thought, and many comrades with me, that the Rome agreement would .allow at .least a little time to try for a common ground of agreement and to smooth out the a sperities and differences which existed between us. C9nsequently, I must say that it was with a certain surplfise that I 1earne<1 Qf the decisio:c adopted at Margate, >> - Continuing Albert Monk said that : « l~he tin1e which has passed between the agree­ n'lent signed at Rome and the 1\fargate Congress was not sufficient really to permit of ·putting the agreement to the test... )) It can be seen from this statement that the General Secretary of the Australian trade unions not only did not see the justification for the T.U.C. and C.I.O. considering the Rome resolution as being no longer valid. but that he quite clearly implied that the events at Margate and the a ttitude of Deakin constituted in fact a violation of the R o1ne agreen1ent. . ; ..

The W.F.T.U. and the. Marshall .. Pia~ .. ..

: : ·· .The .attempt to dominate the W .F :T. U. aQd to t~rn it from its.· declared objectives into an organisation for !he furtherance of Aillerican .and British policy W(,l,S_ neyer m ·or~ cle_arly shown than on the q':lestion of the Marshall Plan. · Four days after Marshall's .spee(:h, of · June 5th J947, the General Council of the vV.F. T. U. met in Pr~gu~ C!-fld unanimously adopted a series of resolutions on .such s~ibjects ~s Spai~, Greece, the United Nations, <;iermany, etc. Regu­ lations fo_r t _he Trade Depa~tments of t~e W,F~T.u :. were also agreed upon.

But a few weeks after Marshall's outli~~l.e of American wor:ld -policy; and shortly after. the Prague meeting, a confe­ rence of Labour Attaches of the American ~inh> conversations that the C.-1.0. was ,determi.n.ecf to make . the World ·Federation · work the ·way ·the.. .C :,-;1~'C). want~d, . o~ the latter w_ou1d sm?-sJ:! it up. ·.. · ·. · · . . . . - ...... ; . : . - . ~ ,.._: ·~ ..: : .. :· :. -~ ;.. . : . -· ··.:...... :: c.:areY~ ·· who was a 'member:_ of -the Ha~:JI- i.man _ Cpmmitt;.~e, ·became ·the travelling &pokesman . .of the PliJl,:= -iP E urop~ .. ett:l~ v.Tas undoubtedly charged with the task of having .the Jnte:r- 37

_national ·rrade L-; nion :Nio\rement adopt it as its declared policy . ..: \.t the gth Convention of the C.I.O. held in October 1947, a resolution was adopted which amongst other ques­ tions dealt \-vith relief to war-devastated Europe. The rele­ \ ant paragraph of that resolution follo\-vs :

- c( \Ye know that an enduring peace den1ands that the people everywhere, including the economically back'\vard or colonia1 countries, be protected in their rights of self -determination and self-government - free from interference or coercion, be it military or economic from ~ny source - benevolent or despotic. The people of the war-devastated countries look to us for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. vVe therefore support sound progra1nmes for post-'\var rehabilitation. vVe urge in support of our Nation's fight against hunger throughout the world promp.t action to provide food and other economic aid for the rehabilitation of their countries. 'vVe also urg~ that under no circumstances should food or any ·other aid given by any country be used as a means of coercing free but needy people in the exercise of their rights o [ independence and self-government or to fan the fla~es of civil warfare. » The adoption of this resolution, which was preceded oy a speech to the Convention by General George Marshall,. was immediately interpreted by Murray, Carey, etc., as being approval of the 1\farshall Plan, although the Convention ha~l not discussed this Plan, nor had it ever studied whether the principles set out jn the above paragraphs coincided with the conditions of the United States Gov8rnment's policy. Indeed it could not have done so, as at that time the details were unknown. Enough, ho\vever, was known in general, to rai15-C doubts in anybody's mind whether the Marshall Plan could be considered as fulfilling the C.I.O.'S conditions for accept­ ing ~ plan of European rehabilitation.

W. F. T. U. Resolutions on International Relief

At this point it is \vorth \vhile noting the \V .F. ~r. U. position regarding post-\var rehabilitation. Is the 38

1\1:arshall Plan, as Ca:r:ey has stated on _ several occasions, and notably at the January 1949 Executive Bureau, ; (( bas.ed on the_ original principles of the W.F. T ~ U, n ? Two· quotations from resolutions illustrate clearly the approach of the World Federation· to this problem. The first is from paragraph 4 of the « Declaration on Post-War Re ­ construction and Immediate- Trade Union Demands » adopted by the World Trade U -nion -Conference in London in February 1945. This section says ? • « This ·world Trade. Union. Conference, therefore calls upo~ the Govemments . of - the . ·united Nations ~0 do all -within their power to provide relief ·on an increasing scale to the liberated countries and to those sections of populations of other -countrieS wh.ich ' have been direct" victims -of Nazi persecution: UNRRA, which ~~ould operate in consultation witb -- appropriate bona fide trade unions, should be endowed- with 'more effe~tive powers than it has at -present 'in' order· to expe- , dite relief wher.e it is most urgently needed. we- fully support the resolution adopted by UNRRA « that at nD f~me - shall reli~f and rehabilitation supplies- be used as . _ a political \veapon, and no discrimination shall be made - in. the distribution of relief supplies "because of - race, creed or political belief. >> · • - - - . - The seeond _relevant. quot?-tion .coi)les froyp. the $i?Cth Resolution adopt~d .by tl?-e World Trad-e . Union Cqnfer~r!~~-­ Congress in .October 1945. which. said in part : . _. .- « The first Congress of the World-Federation of Tra.de Uniorts· decides: , « I. To increase industrialisation and "agricultural technical progress under democratic - control in ·all backward countries, in order -to free them .- from their present position -of dependence and to improve·- the standard-- of living of t~eir : p~pula~i?n ; cc 2. To see that this progran:ime is not used for monopolistic profiteering interest~, native or forleig~ which· would·· ha-rm -the, legiti-mate national and sor.ial interests of these countries ; c(· 3.- To support the assistance which m.ay -be -given to these . countrie·s· ., by the t-echnical· and financial 39

resources of advanced countries in term. of lo.ng term credits and other ~eans without permittjng t_he latte~ to interfere in the internal affairs of the needy countries or to subject them to the influence of internationa.l trusts and cartels. » It can be seen that both the C.I.O. and the W.F.T.U ., t herefore; were at one in condemning ·any attempt to impose conditions, political or otherwise, in the granting of relief to countries which had suffered during the war. : To -vvhat extent the 1\farshall Plan fulfils these con-:­ ditions :is a point which the World Federation has never discussed and on w~ich it has no official position.

The MarshaH Plan Ultimatum \ Vithout discussing the question in detail, it was never­ theless difficult to i;magine how the Plan could be free o f conditions (and only a very foolhardy person would now care to assert this, with the terms of th~ Marshall Plan known throughout the world) when as early as 19th December 1947 ~ President Truman stated : · << It is essential to realise that this programme is .. . a major segment of our foreign policy~ » ~fh e main point of the Marshall Plan as it has affected t h e \\1. F. T. U. has been the action undertaken by Carey to force the Federation to discuss the Plan at any cost and failing thi_s, to take action outside it, thus attacking the Federation and .attempting to divide the international trad~ union movement. In this action, he has been guilty of trying to use ~he \\Torld Federation to further the policy of the American -State Department, a policy which is in con­ tradiction with that of the \\1. F. T. U. on post-war rehabi­ litation based on non-discrimination. This was revealed just before the Novem:ber 1947 meet'ipg of the Executive Bureau, when preceded . by a Press campaign and by interviews given to individual journalists, in which vicious attacks were made: on the W.F,T~ U., Carey arrived in Paris with the declared intention of having th~ World Federation adopt the Marshall Plan as· its policy, and of forcing the members of the Bureau to include the Plan on -the agenda of the meeting. I / .

49

At this November n1eeting, Carey "vas pern1itted by the Bureau to make a statem~nt on C.I.O. policy and it was further agreed that the C.l.O. should place the Marshall Plan on the agenda of the following Bureau meeting. No sooner "\vas the meeting finished that the Press campaign recommenced. This time the attack on the Fede­ ration "\vas taken up by the T.lJ.C., which at its meeting on January 28th 1948, decided to inform the \\Torld Fede­ ration that if the Executive Bureau were not convened by the middle of February, with the Marshall Plan on the agenda. the British unions would feel free to convene a conference of trade unions from those countries participating in the iVIarshall Plan. At the time this « brusque ultimatum », as the London « ~rimes » called it, was presented to the \\r. F. T. U., the President Arthur Deakin knew perfectly well that the General Secretary of the Federation was seeking an agree­ ment between the members of the Bureau on a suitable date for its meeting. Contrary to what has been declared by ~A.rthur Deakin, no date had been fixed for this meeting, but after consultation with the Bureau members, five of whom had suggested the month of May and three the month of February, Louis Saillant as a compromise proposed that the Bureau should meet in April. However, carrying out their ultimatum, the T. U .C. convened a separate con­ ference of trade unions supporting the Marshall Plar1._ This conference took place on 1\llarch 9th and 10th, 1948 in Lon­ don. rrhe reason "\Vhy -the majority of the Bureau members proposed that the Bureau should meet in May '\Vas that plans had been laid to hold the Executive Committee in Rome in that month. It '"'as thought reasonable to hold the Bureau meeting immediately prior to the Con1mittee and thus save expense and time. Furthermore, such an arrange­ ment would also have permitted the Executive Comn1ittec, a much more representative body than the Bureau, to discuss the 1\1 arshall Plan. From the action of th~ T.lJ.C. and C.I.O. it can be seen that their aim was to attempt to snatch a decision favourable to the Plan from the world trade union moYement and to use it to bolster up the policy of the American State • 41

O~pa:r:tment~ ·That poli.cy., was due t9 be discu$s_ed in the America11- Cqngress ~t t:Q.at . tim~, and inde_ed was fin~.1ly ~t.:epted in April 1948 un9er the . title pf t _l,le « ·Foreign Assi~tance Act P .• It is obvious from the timing of the whole campaign,. and the preoccupation of the T ,D.C. and the C.I.O. -- with the question .of qates and their desire for c;t quick . m~eting q.f · the Executive Bureau, that they we~e prepat:ed to sub~it u,ltim.atums to the . Wor~d F~oeratjon, aQd if need be to orga,riise .<< splint.er: n intern'ational meetings., in the effort tq. drag. in at le~~t a proportio~ of the world's wor{

The· Plan Versus the Workers' Interests .. . Having succee.ded in holding. the meeting of what later became ·the E.R.P.-. Trade Union Advi::;ory Com:r;nittee, the C~I.O., and T.U.C .. dropped all attempts to have the World ~ · ederation discuss the Marshall Plan. This particulu.:C. a~d . C.I~ · O. -. lea_q~r$ . ~~he~ently oppos­ ed s-upport fpr .the . national strike .Pf.-French miners which took place. ,: between , October. ;_:and ,_ J.)ec~r.q~r.. ~948 on the grounds· thai the . strike ·w.as : d :it:e,ct~d, .. agai~l~t ~q~ ,.. - M~rshall P 1an . ._ -.. . . ·- · ,_ ~ ~ ;= _ ~ -~ • _ _ No consjderation whatsoever'.. \\~ as . giv_en. to th~ - ,question o f vvhether the ·· French m · 1ners~ · wages: or. :. ~afety conditions 42

were adequate or tl-ie fact that the miners had decided by a nlajority of 89 % in a free and secret ballot, that their industrial conditions and the defence of the principle o f the guaranteed wage necessitated strike action, For the ~ r.U.C. and the C.I.O. the \IVhole thing resolved itself into a political question. Even John L. Lewis of the American United :Niine­ w~rkers, \vho has never been known as a supporter of · the vV. F. rr. C . . nor of the left-wing of trade unionism, made the declaration that « What the French miners need is more pay wherewith to buy more food accompanied by decerit recognition and fair treatment n :~nd, pointing out that the French Government was subsisting on Marshall Plan funds, underlined that it was (( making war on its citizens at the expense of American taxpayers. >> Such considerations were of no importance to Carey, Deakin and , r ewson if they looked like leading them t

The W.F.T.U. and the International Trade Secretariats

Amongst all the vague accusations o f « COIJl:Qlun.ist don1ination >) and « lack of good will )) , levelled by the -r.U.C. at the \Vorld Federation of ·rrade Unions. prac­ tically the only concrete fact which emerg~s amongst all the reasons given for leaving the Federation relat~ to -th ~ breakdown of negotiations for the transformation of the International '"rrade Secretariats· into -rrade Departments of the Federation. ,.rhe T. U .C( bases itself on a statement tnade by Lord Citrine at the Paris Congress in 1945 when he said : « The British rfrade l Jnion Congress' ~ acceptance of the Constitution emanating from the \vork of this Confere nce depends upon the satisfactory outcome of the negotations I have mentioned earlier with the Inter­ national Secretariats and the International Federation o!

1~rade t_ ; nions. Let that be clearly understood. )l During the period bet'.veen 19-4.6 and ~ -~tember 1948 a t -vvhich l atter date the re presentati,·es o f the I.'"f.S. finally 43 broke off talks, the T. D. C. del~gates had on several oc_ca­ sions referred to Lord Citrine's statement and had -cOn­ t inually held it over the head of the W .F. T. U. as -a threat- In the negotiation~ which took place, concession after concession was made to the point of view of the Internation"'! ~rrade Secretariats-: Finally, at the Prague n1eeting _of the ueneral Council in Jnne 1947 draft regulations for the Trade Departments were unanimously adopted and submitted· to a n1eeting of the Joint Consultative Committee in August 1947. 1\tiany of the suggestions made by the I. T.S._ were inco rporated into the text during the W. F. T. U. Executive Bureau meeting which followed in November 1947 and were f jnally approved by the various National Centres. A further meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee was then called in Paris in Septen1ber 1948 at which the an1ended text was submitted to the I. T .S. representatives for thejr further suggestions and observations. At· this meeting, the \\7 • F. T. U. was faced with a blank refusal from the I. T .S. to discuss the draft before the n1eeting. After a whole n1orning spent in general speeches, and attempts to avoid discussing the regulations clause--by clause. the real attitu~e of the 1.1.'.5. was expressed by 1\ri.C. Bolle of the Public and Civil Service Employees. Throwing aside all pretences 1\llr. Bolle said ; « I think it would not be facing the facts if we pretended, in view of the circumstances that have arisen since our last meeting, that it is any longer a _question of regulations. I do not think there are many in t~is room 'vho really believe that the question of the inte­ gration of the Trade Secretariats is now a question of agreement or otherwise on articles 3, 6 or 9 of the draft regulations that have again been submitted to us .. , >) Oldenbroeck of the International Transport Work- ers \Vas even more frank, and after speaking ef what he called the << internal dissentions )) ·within the ,~.F.T.U., said : << If at this moment you should be prepared to of fer us the most satisfactory regulations we can ima­ gine, W·e should still not be able to come to an agree­ ment with you on account of the circumstances to which T have referred ... n 44

,_- __ The ~ttitude of ~h~, T.U.C. to the ,Drftl.ft R~gulation s ~Q

-~ ': ·· :. ·· -·« :As:- far· as th~ organisation which· I represent is · ·:," · · coricerhed -~ - the Comrades Lawther and Chester know ·: :· that the'' T.U.C. has discussed the Prague conclusions -· ·· concern~ng ·the :integration of the I. T.S. in the Trad~ -- · ' Departments of the W.F~T.U. and It was decided that · not one decision·· could ·be accepted unless it has been · appr.oved ·by th~ I. T. S.

·. << We must therefore ·htive the agreement of each one of ·the I. T. S . . and following that ~ a universal agree­ ment . in - ~ joint meeting of the I. T .. ~. »

. - ·Mr. Deakin Thought the W.F.T.U. Was Righ~

. ,·. This_~:xpressio _ n qf. the T. D.C.'s attittt.de tq the que~tion of the forJll~tion of the Trad.e Depc,lrtments wa~ in complete con:t:racJictjQp. ·with two s~~t~~epts previously mad.~ by Deakin. ··

:.'· .· ._ .9~ ~ ~8th ,_,..t\ugust . 1947, at _a meeting between ~4e Secr.e­ tariat of the \V.F.T.U., a delegation from ~he I.T.S. and qne . fro~ th~ A.U.C.C.T.U., the T.U.C. ~Ild the C.I.O .. Mr, D~~kin iP. . opening . the C()nference_ stated th~t _in his op_inion. the . w ·.F. T. U. had gone a _l9ng way to meet the point -·of · v_iew of · the I~ T~ _ S. and that consequently the Constittien~ C~n.ferences of the . Trade .D_epartme:t:Its could soon be convened:. · · · - ... · · : ;- : · .- <~ ··we ~r~ satisfied tha.t ·we.-_ have fulfilled the terms 6£ ~ article · I3" of the Constitution namely with. regard to autonomy, the principle of which was accepted by the Ptagu~ Con:gress.- » ·

« We count there fore on the good will of the I. T. S .. :._to reach -a bq._$i,~ . - ~gr~~Il?-ent on their ip.tegration as Trade ~ . :, · D.~partments -- 9 f ~pe '!!~F. T ~ U. » .. . ~-.. -.:; .La.ter .. at :·the E· ){~ctiti~e - Bpr~~ti _ ....me~ting whi_ ~h . J9~~owed in --November i'Q47, he sfated =·--··- ·- :. , .. 45

« I am of the op1n1on that we have ilo\

\:~et w e are now informed in the T.U.C.'s recent b r o - chure that « the various conc~ssions made by the \V. F. rf .lJ. f ell short of the original understanding ». .

. The later definition of the T. U .C.'s position Inade 1n Se ptember 1948 shows that the British trade union leaders were prepared to put the future of the vVorld Federation in the hands of a small group of leaders of the International Trade Secretariats and to give then1 full power to decide whether the T.U.C. would remain within the \V.F.T.U. or not. ~fhe extraordinary situation, therefore, arose that on the vague grounds of what the resolution adopted by the International Trade Secretariats called « the way in which events have developed in the World Federation of Trade Unions during the last two years », the I. T. S. would no longer envisage their integration into the W.F.T.U.

On the other hand, the ~f. U .C. gives as its main reason for leaving the W.F.T.U. the fact that the I.T.S. have made this refusal and avoids completely the question of ·whether the I. T .S. were justified in breaking off talks, and apparently considers it of no importance that the Executive Bureau offered th~ I.T.S. every opportunity to make ·any suggestions for changes in the Regulations which they "\Vi shed. It 'vill not escape the reader's notice that the attitude of the T ..U.C. leaders and those of the I.T.S. dovetail perfectly.. Given the close connection bet\veen the Trades l Jnion Congress and the I.T.S., and the well-knov;n influence of the former on the latter, it is difficult to avoid dra\ving the conclusion that there \Vas quite a clos·e ·relation- 46 ship bet"veen these two attitudes and that the way in which one suited the_other perfectly, was more than a coincidence. It was surely more than providential that the very organisation, · whose continued affiliation to the W.F.T.U. depended on a solution tc- the problem of the I. T.S., should have been busy by its actions in ceating the conditions which allowed the Trade Secretariat r~presentatives to use the pretext of « internal dissensions » for refusing to consider any regulations which m~ght be offered them.

A Significant Document

The political r~asons for the refusal of the I. T .S. leaders to cooperate with the W. F. T. U ., as well as their policy of political discrimination were clearly expressed in the letter s·ent by the late George Chester, General Secretary of the British National Union of Boot and Shoe Opratives to the Secretary of the French Leatherworker's Federation in connection with the convening of a Conference to re~establsih the International Boot and Shoe Operatives and · Leather­ workers Federation. This letter. dated Igth. November 1948 contatned the fol!owing passage ; « Our friends gave long consideration as to ho\v the Conference should be constituted. - It ·,.vas felt that little purpose would be served by inviting these unions who were either themselves following the principles of , the Cominform or whose officers were definitely mem­ bers of the Communist Party. It is, I think, as you will appreciate; quite clear that the unions with associa.:. tions I have named would maintain their allegiance· to the World Federation of Trade Unions and would not __ be prepared _to take part ·in International· Movements which run counter to the Cominform or to the Consti­ tution of the World Federation. of Trade Unions.· _ << I w·as therefore instructed to advise you as to the steps we were taking to furnish you with the documents _tqa _t were being circulated in this- respect, but not ·t-o · Invite you to send representatives· to the Conference .unless you were fully in . ag~eement with the reconsti- 47

tution of our International on the basis I have stated. In fulfilment of these instructions, I am enclosing here­ with the preliminary papers that have been circulated, and possibly you will consider ~vhether you would like to be represented at the Conference under the conditions I have named. >> - Nothing could be clearer than the above letter. Only those who were willing to construct a Trade Secretariat based o n principles opposed to the Constitution of the World Federation of Trade Unions would be welcome ; and only those who were prepared to practice a policy of political discrimination would be permitted entry. For the type of organisation which has accused the W. F. T. U. of being concerned only with political questions, such a statement is to say the least of it, hard-faced.

The W.F.T.U. Excludes No Genuine Trade Union Despite this, in a final attempt at cooperation, and in a spirit of unity excluding none, the Executive Committee \Vhich met from January 28th. to February Ist. 1949 adopted a resolution on the subject of Trade Departments. T,his resolution (1) called on the Trade Secretariats to cooperate in the calling of the various trade conferences. No con­ ditions were set and it was stated that the « constituent conferences will be able freely and democratically to deter­ lnine the structure, the constitution and the links with the \V. F. T. U. >> In the letter sent to the International Trade Secretariats communicating the text of this resolution, the W.F.T.U. Secretariat wrote : « You will observe that the Executive Committee has decided to invite each I. T.S. to join its efforts -\Vi th those of the W. F. T. U. with a view to convening international trade conferences in which would partici­ pate, without any distinction, the inter~sted organisa­ tions of all countries. These col).ferences should be instructed to establish Trade Departments in agreement

( r) See Appendix for full text. 48

~ith the W.F.~f. U. and to define with every freedom .the ties of these Trade D~part:r;nents with the \IV .F. T. U .. You will note that our Federation in no case rejects collaboration with the International Trade Secretariats, .nor does it seek to supplant them in the preparation of Trade Conferences. » The letter .further underlined the desire of the World Federation to : · . (( consolidate international trade union unity by pro·­ ceeding to the constitution of Trade Departments vvjth the jcooperation <;:>f all the workers, of the trades in question, irrespective of nationality, race, colour, poli tical philosophic or religious opinion. n This offer was· turned down on March 10th. by the I. T. S. conference in Bournemouth. Th~ decision of the Trade Secretariats was to urge all unions associated with them to refuse the invitation of the w:F. T, U. It is thus evident that in their relations with the \V.F. T.U. the attitude of the I.T.S. has been guided by an intense desire to keep outside their organisation all those who did not share their political opinions and to maintain the Trade Secretariats in the pre-war position of being organ­ isations more or less strictly reserved for a few trade unions· of the Western European and Scandinavian c o u n~ tries. · The World Federation is, therefore, in face of this refusal to cooperate, proceeding with th~ formation of Trade Departments. These Departments will unite the vast rnaj or­ ity of th~ workers of the world belonging to a particular trade, and will discriminate against no union and no National Centre. As in the case of the walkout of Deakin, Tewson, Carey a.nd Kupers, there will ibe no « split >> in the world trade union movement. There will be no split because the W. F. r. U. excludes no genuine trade union and discriminates against none, and because the door is still open for all to cooperate on the basis of non-discrimination.

Political Discrimination The whole anti-Soviet and anti-Communist policy which permeates the International Trade Secretariats found full 49 support from the T.lJ .C. and the· C.r.o·.. - representatives both nationally .and internationally. As ~arly as December 1947, Arthur Deakin had launched in ·Great Britain a campaign against CoJ;Drriunist trade unionists. This campaign has been taken up and developed by the General Council of the T ... U. C. to the extent that there is now a veritable witchhunt going on in the British movement. Despite the fact that the General Council has received scores of stinging rebuffs from national trade unions, branches and Trades Councils, which have refused to take action against Communists, it has· not prevented the leaders of the T.U.C. from basing their approach to inter­ national problems and international trade unionism on this disastrous policy of dividing the movement on political grounds. The policy was expressed by Arthur Deakin ,at the n1eeting of the Executive Bureau in J ~n ·uary 1949 in reply to a speech by Di Vittorio. In his speech, Di Vittorio pointed out that there could not be a really anti-Communist or Communist trade union because the basis of trade union­ ism _was unity between the different tendencies He added that « In every country there are Communist workers » and asked Arthur Deakin to recognise this. · Replying, Deakin said that he would no think of denying the existence of a Communist tendency, but those who did n ot agree with it \vould not fail to « take measures to challenge and stop it zvherever it was met. » This reply of Deakin shows that his whole mentality is permeated with anti-Communism to the extent that he openly a dmits he is not prepared to accept the existence of ~ Com­ munist tendency in the unions but will fight to eliJ;Dinate it - a rather peculiar position for the President of a world organisation committed to organising all « irrespective of considerations of race, nationality, religion or political op1n1on », A further demonstration of the n1entality of these men was given by an article written in the American Magazine, in September 1948, by James B. Carey. The title itself is sufficient to illustrate the contents. It was called

Carey triup:1phantly stated that the C.I.O. unions and learler:­ ship had taken effective action against the Communis~ and that this action had extended to the W. F. T. U., where it had also been successful. Carey, in this article, quotes the agreement reached at Rome _to reiterate the basic principles of the W.F. TU ~ a:S betng a triuUlph of anti-Communist action and openly boasts how the whole C.I.O . . attitude towards the W.F.T.l -. since the institution of the Marshall Plan has been dominated by the consideration of scoring against the Communist.,_ Saturated with this attitude, how could the cooperauon of U!en like Deakin and Carey in a \vorld wide organi .::;atto !-~· of workers be sincere ? It was from this position of anti-Communism that the whole tactic of « splitting >> the W.F.T.U. stemmed, and on which the refusal of the T,l!.C. and C.I.O., represen­ tatives to apply the basic declarations and Constitution of the W.F. T.lJ. was based. ·rhe entire brochure « Free ·rrade Unions leave the W.F.T.U. >>is based on this position of dividing the trade union ·movement along political lines. What is the logic of this position ? It leads to the conclusion that a united trade union movement is impossible and that each political tendency within the working class should form a trade union movement of its own. It is quite impossible for Deakin and Carey to be the most notorious opponents on political grounds of a section of their national trade union movements and to say that they can come to m~etings of the W.F,T.U. and co-operate sincerely, with people holding that very political point of vtew. At what point in the journey from London or Wash­ Ington to Paris do the opinions of Arthur Deakin and James Carey change, permitting them to accept co-CJ.Jeration with the same type of trade unionists against whom in their own countries_they are using every weapon to attack? The whole approach in the above-mentioned brochure to the intema tional trade union movement is based on political -coni;iderations and on vague accusations of 51

<< _ Comn1unist political tact~cs ». Yet the question of the concrete_ problems which the W.F.T~U. was called upon tp resolve, not from the standpoint oi any political party, but simply from the point of view of the defence of the· interests of all organised workers, is completely avoided. The fact is that the C,.I.O. and T. U.C. representatives were the ones who looked at international trade union questions from the stand-point of their particular political prejudice~. and hatreds. -- Inevitably, such a position iT' the international trade union movement led them more and more into the <;amp of opposition to the worker~' aims and brought them to the point \vhere, in support of their policy, they were using the same arms and tactics as the workers' worst enemies.

The Role -of the A.F .L. In its opposition to the World Federation of Trade l J nions the A. F. L. has at least always been consistent. From the very beginning It refused to cooperate in the formation of the W.F.T.U. and took its stand on a violent anti-Communist and anti-Soviet position. After the creation of the World Fede-:ation, the A.F .L+ became its open and bitter enemy, and, l~oming extremely active intemationnally, it carried on, through its travelling representatives and by a widespread and expensive prop­ aganda, a campaign of opposition to the W. F. T. U. backed by attempts to split the movement both nationally and internationally. The scale of this action can be seen from the figures given by WillianJ- Green, President of the A. F ,L., at the 1948 Congress of that ·organisation. Speaking _of the expenditure of his organisation tnvolved in reviving « the free trade union movement >> 1n Europe he · said that : « Such contributions, according to the figures I have been able to gather, now total more than $ I6o.OOO.OOO» . It is probable that such figures do not include the sub.::. ventions given to splinter groups of the trade union move­ ment in France, Italy and Germany, nor do they include the considerable expenses incurred in maintaining men like 32

'Irving Brown, Henry Rutz and the othe'i einiS5aries of the _f\..F .L ~ in· Latin Ame-rica, Japan and el5ewhere. A reason- able question, therefore, would be to ask where .all this enormous swn · of money has come from and who IS really behind the organisation of this action of undermining ~~~otk­ -ing class activity. In its fight against the int~rnationa~ trade union :vl> trade unions was given, two months after the break-away and long before its Constituent Congress was held, a subsidy of 40 millions francs by the French Government.

The A.F.L.-Governmental Tool In its fight against trade union unity the A. F .L. has had the full support of the American and British Govern­ ments. In particular, it has been used as a weapon to -counter the action of the W.F.T.U. within the United Nations. 53

~-\s early as 1945, , the \Vorld Federation had asked for ~epresentation within the United Nations, and was finally successful in obtaining a consultative status on the Economic and Social Council. Flying in the face of all ~ogic, the British and American Government representatives first of alf opposed full W.F.T.U. participation and when finally they agreed to grant limited rights, ~ccorded the same ones. to the A,F .I... - a national organisation \-vhose membership is about 9ne tenth of the \W. F. T . l J. There is scarcely any need to prove the role of ·the­ .A. . F .L. as the spokesman of American State Department policy in international affairs. It is probably not one which the A.F .L. leadership would itself reject, lbut it comes ill from an organisation the whole tenor of whose propaganda is to accuse other National Centres of being government­ contro1led. A motion which was presented ·at the 1947 A~F.L~ . Convention will illustrate how the A.F.L. conceives its worl~ on the international field. This motion asked for a conference between C. I. Q. ,.. A.F.L. and independent trade union leaders with the aim of (< working out a plan to carry on a common foreign policy of American Organised Labour to cooperate with the State ·Department and the President of the United· States in the most effective development and applic­ ation of , the international and foreign policies of the · Government of the United States ». This motion was not accepted by the Resolutions Committee, but in recommending against it the Committee pointed out clearly that the reason why the Convention should not accept it was because the C.I.O. was affiliated to· the \V.F.T.U. and that the C.I.O. would have to leave the World Federation before such talks could take place. In fact the Resolutions Committee congratulated the Inovers of the motion for the « very commendable object of this resolution >>. The wheel has now turned full circle and the A.F .L. can justly congratulate itself that the T .u .C. and C.I.O. representatives have taken over their arguments of <( Com-_ munist domination )) and « government-controlled >> ~ but 54 the honest trade unionist will not fail to notice that this type of attack is being un<;lertaken with a view to weakening the international solidarity of the workers and of bending trade union policy to the ends of those govemments wuich, for three years, have fought the W.F.T.U. tooth and nail.

The W.F.T.U. and U.N.O. Nothing illustrates the character of the governments in whose interests Deakin, Carey and Kupers are now acting ·.than their opposition to the representation of the W .F. T. U. \Vi thin the United Nations . . The original demand for trade union representation \vithin the u ·nited Nations was made by the World Trade union Conference, in February 1945, in the « Declaration -on the Attitude to the Peace Settlement )). In this statement. the World Conference asked for representation in the Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council of the world organisation to be created. Following the London Conference, an interview took place between Mr. Anthony Eden, at that time Minister for Foreign Affairs, the U.S. Ambassador in London, the Soviet Ambassador, the Chinese Ambassador and Mr. Massigli, French Ambassador in London at that moment. For the World Federation there were present : Walter Citrine, Sidney I-Iillman, Vassili Kuznetsov, Chu Hseu Fan and Louis Saillant.' When the request of the London Conference to be represented at the conference which was to open at San Francisco \vas presented, Mr. Anthony Eden immediately objected. Later, at the Conference-Congress held in Paris in October 1945, Joseph Hallsworth expressed on behalf of the T ~C. C. th~ disappointment of that organisation, at- its failure to have trade unionists appointed to the British Delegation to the San Francisco Conference. On this subject he said : « On the second point, namely the trade unton clain1 for representation in the making of the peace and the United Nations's _organisation for peace and security, we have unfortunately not bteen able yet to , achieve. any large measure of practical success.· It is a matter of record ,of course, that the British represen- 55

tatives in the AdministratiVie- Committee :of- our -World Conference did their utmost t.O seeure representation in the San Francisco · Cor.iference, and -before they went there our T. U. C. General Council sought to obtain from our Coalition Government, then in office, consent to the proposal that representatives of our trade -Union move­ ment should be attached to the Governmental delegation at San ·Francisco. For reasons that cannot be elucidated - at this Conference within the time · alloted to me, we were _frustrated in making this claim at that stage. Consider­ ~lions of p·arty ~ontrov~rsy - undoubtely influenced the then Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill ; and our representatives in the War Cabinet had to contend with strong Conservative oppos~tion · inside the Coalition. The change of Government in Britain creates a new situation from the political stand poiut. )> Ho\v n:tuch this promised new policy towards the World Federation was o~rated .can be seen from the reception of the W.F .. T. U. delegation which interviewed the represent3.­ tives of the United Nations Conference. At this Interview it was 1\1r. Noel Baker who expressed opposition to the policy of the vV.F.T.U. in relation to the United Nations.

Citrine' s Testimony

Walter Citrine, in a speech made to the London Trades Council, on ·March 14th.' 1946, ·had the follo,ving to say on the subject of the case for trade union representation in U.N.O.: « It ·seemed. to ~e .cur case rested on one single fact. - It ~ ·seemed -. so plain that I have difficulty in under- --standing . why it is that others do .. not .recognise it so clearly. There is no movement in the world which is comparable with the Trade Union Movement. It ·- is . _. - ~ -: orga~isation _. which, by its forn1, contact and daily wor.k, is. in closer contact with the worker than any 9ther kinq of organ~sation can p(>ssibly be. _ LegislatiO.n in practically ~ ev~ part of the wor~d has _Jecognised this and special legislation dealing '\vith the trade uni-ons- (in . our case nearly ·a century,- arid" ·a. half) has 56

witnessed the need for g1v1ng special rights and special conditions to the trade union movement to facilitate what has proved_to be a healthy development of indus­ try. Because of its unique character I was irritated beyond measure at the arguments put forward that, if the World Federation was given recognitio!lj of the kind we were asking for, by U.N,.O., by reason of the fact, the door would have been opened to the claims of many other kind of bodies. Our ca~e rested precisely on the principle that there were no other bodies like the trade union move:J;llent. We expected those Govern­ ments of Labour complexion to have seen it as clearly as_ \\-'fe did. I am sorry to say that experience showed that _appreciation of the role and status of . the ~rade unions, which seemed to us so apparent, \Vas not felt 1n the same degree by those who - in -the past - we have regarded as equally convinced of their utility and importance. · - · · Frankly, I was disappo1nted at the British Govern­ ment not ·putting its full strength behind our request. The American Government too ~e very much the r~verse of helpful. It is not my_. function to arraign other govemments, and I have no ·desire _to go out of my way to do so, but we· have the right to expect that the American Government \vould have protected its labour interests and supported the claims of the World Federation n. · - Later, at the Executive Bureau meeting 9£ June 1946, in Mosco"\v, Walter Citrine again stated that the great obsta­ cle to the representation o£ the \\t .F.T.U. 'Within the United Nations was the position of the British and American Govern­ ments .and in particular the attitude of Mr. Be-yilJ.. On this question, as on :all others affecting the . trade -union n1.ovement, the W.F.T.U. has taken up a consistent position based on the decisions of the London and . Paris Conferences. . It is not the \V.F.T.U. ·which has changed position. Nor is it the British and American Governments which have altered tbteirs, for they continue to be as opposed to the . \Vorld Federation, a·s they have always been. - For insta~ce, ·at th~ 6th. Session of .the Economic and 57-

Social Council of February-March 1948, where a resolution of the W •F. T. U. was being discussed, requesting the immediate application of the .principle « equal pay for equal work n, the British Government repres-entatives expressed their opposition and the matter was referred -to the Govern­ ing .Body of the I.L.O., which discussed it in December of the same year. - There, despite the support of such moderate Goveru­ n1ents as those of Australia and France, who propos-=d that the question should be discussed only once at the International Labour Conference, in 1950, it was finally decided to proceed to a « double discussion >> which would take place in 1950-and again in 195 I. No effort w.as made by the T. U .C . . delegates to oppose the move -to d _elay consideration of this vital trade union question. \Vhat has changed is the policy of the T. U. C. and (:.;1.0. leaders who bave now openly thrown over the resol-­ utions and declarat~ons to which they suscribed and have gone ·over to . ;the support of governn1ents and policies which are opposed to the demands of the internationai working class. * The action of Messrs. Deakin, Tewson, Carey and Kupers raises grave questions for the intemational· working class. Thaf"action is based 6n the theory that because sha·rp differences exist between the different governments and in particular bet,veen the Soviet Government, on the one hand, and .the Governments of America and Great Britain, on the other-, there. is ~ no long_er any basis for cooperation betw:een the working class of these countries. - Nothing- could be _more false.. The common interest o f the working class of all countries does not depend on the state oJ relationship between the different governments of the world, but is founded o·n the fact that as the exploited class in capitalist society, undergoing broadly the same experiences and with tlie same needs and d\~sires, the neces~ sity for unity of action for_the achievement of aims common to all the world's workers is paramount. Nothing can ·alter that fact. l'~ot all the Deakins or Careys can succeed for long in persuading the workers of 58

Britain or America that they have more in common with · their rul~rs, the bosses and capitalists of their countries, than they have with their comrades in other lands." The policy of Deakin and Carey, :and the theories on which it is founded, logically lead to the adoption of the point of view that relationships between governments which have differences of policy should be broken off and finally to the acceptance of the belief that war is inevitable.

The W.F.T.U. Stands for Unity and Peace The W. F. T .lT. is opposed to that theory. The World Federation is for peace and the maintenance of all relations - economic, cultural and political - between the peoples of the world. It is convinced that th~ basis for successful cooperation and united action still exists in the form of the declarations of the London and Paris World Conferences and the Con­ stitution of the World Federation which proclaims the prime purposes of the organisation to ~ : a) To organise and unite within its ranks the trade unions of the world, irrespective of considerations of race, nationality, religion or political opinion ; b) To assist, wherever necessary, the workers in countries socially or industrially less developed, in setting up their trade unions ; c) To carry on the struggle for the extermination of all Fascist forms of governlllent and ev~ry manifestation of Fascism, under whatever form it operates and by whatever name it may be known ; d) To combat war and the causes of war and work for a stable and enduring peace. By supporting the widest possible international cooper­ ation in the social economic spheres and measures for the necessary power to prevent aggression and maintain peace ; By supporting the widest possibl~ international coope­ ration in the social economic spheres and measures for the industrial development and full utilisation of the resources of .the undeveloped countries ; 59

By carrying on a· struggle :against reaction and for the full exercise of the democratic rights and liberties of all peoples ; · e) 'To represent the interest of world labour in all inter­ national agencies whose responsibility will be to solve the problems of world organisation, resting upon agreements or conventions concluded between the United Nations, and in such other international bodies as may be decided uport by the \Vorld Federation of Trade Unions ; f) To organise the common struggle of trade unions of all countries ; Against all encroachments on the economic and social rights of the workers and on democratic liberties. For the satisfaction of the need of the workers for security of full emplo_yment ; For the progressive improvement of wages, hours and working and living conditions of the workers· ; For full and adequate social security to protect workers and their families against the hazards of une~ployment, sickness, accident and old age : For the adoption of all other measures furthering the social and economic well-being of the workers ;

g) To plan and organise th~ education of trade union members on the question of international labour unity and to awaken them to a consciousness of their individual respon­ sibility for the realisation of trade union purposes and aims. * Seldom was the unity of the working class of the world more necessary than now. \ Ve are witnessing every day, notably in Europe, Asia and Latin America, fresh atta.cks on the rights of the working class and ·on its standard of living. Strikes are being crushed by force or in the name of << reconstruction » branded as « political »; unemployment is once again, with the ending of the post-war r~placement boom appearing as a major problem facin~ the workers; and over all' there once again appears like a gathering storm, the threat of a third World War. 60

In this situation, the international traqe union move­ ment would be guilty of a crime against humanity if. it abdicated. The World Federation of Trade Unions will continue its work of defending the interests of all intellec­ tual and manual workers everywhere these interests are attacked or are in danger. It \vill extend · and increase its action, for the present situation demands it, convinced that the action of a few leaders of the trade union movemell.t in Britain, America and other countries cannot for any lt....ngth of time hold back"the workers in these countries from t-aking .their rightful place within the- \V.F.T.U. in unity with their tens of millions of comrades in other lands .

. . APPENDIX

_- --~· rHE rl'.U~C. PROPOSAL AND ~'HE CONSTITUTION , OF THE \V.F.T.lJ.

I) An exanlln.ation of the Constitution of the W. F. T. U. de- 1·non~tnites oonclusively tha-t the Executive Bureau is not competent to decide upon the suspension of the W.F.T.U. 's functions. Ipdeed, such suspension would constitute a serious modification c:-;f the Federation's regulations and fundamental principles, and t1-hder the Constitution such a. modification can be effected only by a Congress. -_ z) \Vbat would be the consequence· of a ·suspension of the l u·nctions of our organisation ? In the first place, it would be ~· quivalent to the \V. F. T. U. 's abandoning, for a time, its aims and 1neth<;xls as defined in the prean1ble to the Constitution. Moreover, ioi~t 3 of the T.U.C. proposal hirits that these aims and methods \vould have to ·be definitively ·abandoned, since a restricted Com­ Jnittee ·would be instructed to examine the conditions under which ar~. attempt might be· made to revive an intemational trade union ~rganisation ·which, as defined, would have other aims and otper ,IiJ;eth<;:>ds. However, the . pream~le is unquestionably the most impor­ ta ~t part, anq the yery foundati?D of the Constitution.

3) Under this preamble, <( The World Federation of 'rrade Cnions exists to improve the living and working conditions of the ·people:_ of all lands -and to unite them in pursuit of the objective;; _~ought by all freed-(}tll-}0\f~g peoples... >>

= _, _:__ This pz:ov isio~ d-emands a coritmuo~s acti~ity on the part ~f t}1~ Secretariat and of the _deliberative organs of the W.F.'I'. U., the latter at_PO tin1e h~ving the :FOWer of disregarding or giving up this· fundamental ?bject.ive, ~~cept through an appropriate decis­ ion_n1ad _e _b)r the Congress. - l'vioreover: a·g.ain un-der sub-paragraph a) of the preamble, one o f the essential objectives of the W. F. T. U. ; is

We reach the same conclusions \\rhen we examine point:s 2, 3 and 4 of the principles which are set forth at the end of the pream­ ble as the basis for the organisation of the work of the W. F. T. U. Let.-us here under line the categorical "terms in- which-. the preamble states that the ,V.F.T.U. bas~ its -'"·ork,. among others, on the principle of (( pennan.ent co-ntact with affiliated Trade Union Organ- isations. . . >> • • ' ~ <( • - • • • : - 4) 1\loreover, article: 3 -of .: the ·· Co~stit~tion~ which is the .basic text of the_ structure of the W.F.T~ _ U., provides that the Wot:ld 'I'rade Uni9n Congress, the General Council, the ~x.ec.uti~e Com­ mittee and the Executive Bureau are. the delibera:-tiv:e organs pf th~ W.F.T. u:, ·the.-competency" of. each ot_{hes~ o~gans being defined by the Constitution. The: General C~:mncil mu~t meet at least once .each year (article 5, paragraph Y), the Exec~tive Commi~.:tee twice each year (article 6, paragraph VI). - It is very clear, however, that under the :British T.U.C.'s pro­ posal -the deliberative orga~s of the W. F. T. U. could no long¢r meet during an undetermined period, and that they would therefore, in violation of the Constitution, have to Tenounce their functions- a.nd their responsibilities. _But these organs - - the General Ccrunci~, the Executive Com·mittce, the E -xecutive Bureau - have no power to- make this kind -of decision, for they are· !esporisible to the Congress which is ·the sovereign autho1 ity in the \V. F. T. U. (article 4, paragraph 1)~ · - · 5) ._ The T.U.C ..'s proposal attempts to: 9onfer extremely -b~o;d competencies and responsibilities upon an ad hoc organism- of five trustees and agents composed of ·one from each of the five chief dues-paying National Centres. 'This constjtutes a rad~cal departure, not only from the normai functioning of the organi-sation, but froin the essentially-- democratic structure of the organisation-provided for in the .Constitution, the ·aim of which was to guarantee' and safe­ guard the interests of all affiliated organisations. -The sovereign _authority, i.e. t,tle Congress, alone could confer su~h poweis ·upon a .restricted committee of such nature: · -- - : ' . 6) Similarly, - point _z- of the T. ~-C. 's_- proposal sugges~ - t:l;at an agreement be ·~ sought between the orga.t_t~ativrls whicli have- ful­ filled their finan~ial obligations under__ t~e ConstitUtion as to =tbe precise mariner ·and: terms- o~ putting _ the suspension . info .effect. Here again, it- 5eerils iilronceivable to ignore -or to go _oVer . fhe head -of the ·bod-y ·_ competent ·- und~!-r the ·Constitution, to carry on c'ontacts 63 apci consultations · which have_ Q.eet~ cop~e~p~a~ed . nowhere in the

Let· us quo~~ on this subject article 8 of the Cortstitution :

<< I. - The Coniress shall elect three Auditors whose function s?-all be periodically to audit or provide for the audit of the books of the "\Vorld Federation of rrrade Unions.

« II. - The Auditors shall submfit i·epoi-ts of their activ{ties to the Executive Con1mittee, the General Council and the ·Congress. l> . One can see inunediately the importance· of -the function of the Auditors directly . elected by the Congress and directly responsible to' it. Indeed, while the Constitution instructs the Executive Com­ rh.i"-tte-e to subm·it to the General Council .an annual budget (article 9,. paragraph III) and while the General Council is empowered to approve this budget, (article 5, paragraph ·IV, sub-paragraph b ) , it is the Congress which is given the power t:J o~amine and to di3- cuss, in last resort, the reports submitted by the Auditors (article -1, paragraph IV, sub-paragraph a)." .· 'The T.U.C.'s prorosal would therefore take away . from , the Auditors the functions conferred upon them by the ~ Constitution and would deprive the affiliated National Centres, represented by th~ Congress of the guarantees provided for in this respect bv the Constitution for the . safeguard of their rights and interests. · Certain objections n"light be made to the thesis just presented, sudh objections being based upon the Annex to the Constitutio:t (interim powers of General Council and Executive Con1mittee). In this regard, several remarks are called for : It is tr.ue that between t:he first Constitutional Congre~~ and the second regular Congress,_the Execut_ive Committee and the General Council can enact such amendments to the Constitution as are necessitated bv circumstances a11J exercise all the functions of the Congress. But let us ~t~t 64

fmget that it is here only a question of functions whitft_. in the opinion of the Exet.utive ,Committee and of· the­ General Council, would be « essential for the effectiV"te carrying on of the World I•-·ederation of Trade :Unions • It is of course obvious that the purpose of the T.·u.C. 's pro­ posal is in no way the effective carrying on of the W.F.T.lL's w~k. · Nloreover the text of the annex states : « Nothing in this para graph shall permit the alteration of the fundamental rules ~r prin · ciples of this World Federation of Trade lJnions as laid down bv the Congress or contained in the Constit11tion • . 1..,he puq:ose oi this text, adopted by the Conference-Congre~~ at Faris aftet having been proposed by the T.U.C., is made clear by the explanations given to the Congress by Sir Walter Citrine : « We want flexibility in the Constitution. · . Therefore in that transitional period we want power to be given to the Executive Council of the Federation. We want pow·er to be devolved by Congress to the Exeeutive, and even, if necessary, to alter the rules as experience ·may find to be neces · ary to meet such contingencies, provided always that no fundo~ ntental principle is altered ii'J the process ~- ·we must also quote the following passagt. from the repotc made to the Congress by Sydney Hillman, Rapporteur 9f th~ Cons­ titJition Committee_ : « It should be clear that the proposed Ann...:!x is designed solely to meet the special problem to which reference has been made arid that adequate safeguards have been afford~ to protect the interests of all our affiliated organisations 11. · It is obvious therefore that the~ provisions in the Annex to th ~ Constitution -conferring special powers upon the !Executive Cc·n~mit­ tee and the General Council during the period from the Constitu· tional Congress to the second regular Congress cannot apply .whete it is a matter of changing the W.F.T.U.'s fundamental principles, its aims and methods, its organic ·stnlcture, and the management and control of· its finances. ·

DE CLARATIOK . FROM THE E:XECl.JTIVE BUREAU OF THE WORLD FEDERA1.-ION OF TRADE UNIONS T·o THE WORK.ElZ"i . . ()F ,.rHE 'VHOLE WORLD ill en and women wo-rkers :

The interrrational unity of the workers -1s in danger. The rerre5entatives of the T.U.C. and C.I.O. have placed tht: E xecutive Bureau in the following dilemma· : either to suspend the 65 activities of the W.F.T.U. or to dissolve it -as was ·proposed by the C.LQ. leade;rs, : failing which they would withdraw from the W.F.T.U. By this method, they have sought to impose the wiH of the T.U.C. and the C.I.O. upon the 67 National Centres whic-L unite the organised workers of the whole world. A major,ity of th~ E~eoutive Bureau proposed that a certah""l number of FOints of -:agreement on the· activites of the W. F. T. \..,. should be sought for. The T.U.C. and C.I.O. representatives remained adamant, accepting no arguments and demanding of the· other members of the Executive to bow to their determination to dissolve the Federa­ · ~ion. The majority of the Executive Bureau could not accept such an ultimatum. The majority of the Executive Bureau violently protested against this attempt to force the Executive Bureau to take a decision upon a matter which put the very life of the Federation a..3 'vell as international trade union unity at stake.

Such a decisi~ could be made only by a Congress . . The majority suggested that the British proposal be transm1t ted to ·the Executive . Committee, to the General Council and tr the Congress. The T. U.C. and _C.I.O. representatives declareu that they did not intend to take into account th~ majority 7 s opinion Thereafter, the following members of the Bureau, Messrs . ..Jeakin (T. U.C.), Carp-y (C.I.O.) _and Kupers (N .V.V.), left the meeting, thereby - demonstrating that they : were severing themselves from the W. F. rl'~ U. anJ that· they categorically ref·used to examine any solution capable of preserving trade union unity.· , H .owe;ver, the Exe_cutive Bureau continued its work, Comrade Di Vittorio (Haly),.- Vice-President of the W.F.T._U., being desig­ n ated to _preside until_. the end. of its meeting. . ill en a:izd ·woinen ·workers -.. .. ·rhe "\Vorld - Federation of Trade · Unions is the joint property f;f all workers.- It is the spokesman of their aspirations, and thF; f'mbodiment of their hopes. . ·\Vhen it was founded, the World Federation of Trade - Union ~ set down its aims and objectives in its Constitution, as follow ·: z: . - · - To organise· the · common struggle of tradt" unions 1n aU countries against tlle _encroachments on · economic cv-d social rights of all workers and on their democratic libertie~, - to guarantee· full employment to all worker!j, . tp improve w~g·es_ and raise· standards of living, ,

66

to reduce· working -- hours, to obtain ~al ·security for .workers and their fatnilies, in case of unemployment, sicki1~ss · or accident, to secure old age J.n:surance, and all other measures assurh\~ the economic and social w.ellbeing of workers, · _ . - ;. - to fight at the same time for f!nal extermination. of the remnants of Fascism, . under whaJever form it operates . and by wh~tever name it may be known, -to act constant} y against war and its causes for a stable and lasting peace, · - to defend and represent the interests of workers within all

international bodies. ; . · For more than 3 ·years the W. F. T. U. has been very active 1n pursuing its aims-and objectives.

Through action· und~rtaken . by . the W. F. T ._U. ,. ~en, _ fighting comrades, have been sayed from death in nun~e~ous countries. The 'V. :F. T. U. co~ld have done much mo~e if its activities had not been restrained by the very ones who today have propOsed officially that it should suspend all its ac.;tivities and that it should disband. . - When they ma.de their proposal, the leaders ot the Geneial Council of the British trade unions· did not , unuerstancl what profound ohaTiges had · taken place in the development of trade union maturity and of the independence of peoples, as we1 .. as ID the distribution of trade union forces throughout the world since the Second World War. The time is past when a single K ational Cen!:re could, through its force of numbers and its past history, dominate and rule by itself the destinies of the International 'l'rade Union lV!ovement· In many countries, since the end of the First and especially of_ the Second \Vorld War, trade union organisations have reached a very high level . of organisaJ iGn ; they have .become mass organis­ ations covering all branches of trade in which the ,,·orkers are organised by thousands. The in_fluence of this false estimate of the present trade union situation in every country has been to cause the T.U.C. leaders to continue to believe that they should impose their own conceptions rather than try to co-operate fraternally with their colleagues on an equal footing and on mutually acceptable terms. The attempt to divid~ and destroy the World Federation ot 'I'rade Unions is also based on a most categorical denial of the elementary principles of Democracy, a denial apparent in a 67

-p·roposal whicb in fact leads to dispossessing the W.orl_d Trade ·union Congress of its own powers and to· transfenng them exclusively to two or three organisations .. The international . unity of the workers within the W.F. T. U. is based upon the voluntary and free cooperation of trade unions. Th~ trade unions are not I=Olitical organisations. ~ Their essential .purpose is the iinprovement . of the standard of living 'of the working class irrespective of the . political, . religious, philosophic or racial differences between their members. The trade union~ · cannot be dragged into the political arena. The Exeootive Bureau declares that the World Federation of Trade Unions goes on. It does not eliminate nor keep out fron1 it~ ranks any national trade union organisation. It goes on because everywhere . in the world there.· exist working men and women to be defended, to be united. To weaken the working class at tht present time, to attempt to destroy its international and national unitry, is to perpetrate an unpardonable deed upon which the workers, and History, will pass an overwhelming judgement on it;; initiators. - The Executive Bureau has decided to convene the Executive Committee of the Federation for January 28th in Paris.. It will recommend to the Executive Committee the convening of the Second World Congress for the latter half of June 1949. From all countries messages are being received which confirm the neccessity for the maintenance and the strengthening of the World Federation of 'I'rade Unions.

M e1l and U-'Offzen workers : The objectives of the World Federation of Trade Unions are gr-eat and noble. They expres~ . the mutual interests of all manual and intellectual workers. To achieve these objectives, it is. indispensable that the unity of the workers of the whole world be strengthened, that the Wor~d Federation of Trade U aions be consolidated and developed. Despite all the political intrigues against it, the W. F. T. U. shall live and grow in importance. The world's working class learned a great lesson in the course of the Second World War. It discovered that the dispersion of its ranks prepared the way for Facism, made possible a new war and the impoverishment of the workers. If you do not want to witness a manifestation of Fascism urider a new form, if you do not want to live through a new World War tighten your ranks, achieve the unity of the working class throughout the world. Therein will be found the chief hope for peace, for democracy and for prog-ress. Do not belive the slanderous attacks upon_ the World Federa­ tion of Trade Unions. Workers of the whole wolrd, maintain your ties \vith · ti1e World Federation ·of Trade Unions. ·Present and suppOrt the .demands put forward by the W.F.'r. U. Long live the world unity of the working class l Lonf!, live the World Federation of Trade Unions!

RESOLUTION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

ON THE PROPOSAL FOR THE SUS~ENSION OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE W.F.T.U.

Having heard and discussed the report of the G~neral Secr~t~ .concerning the proposal made by th~ General Council of the Bnt1sh Trades Union Congress, the Executive Committee of the W. F. T. U. approves the decision of the Exe~tive Bur~au taken during _its last session to call an an extraordinary meetmg of the Executive Committee, as well as its action for the defence of the W.F.T.U. : ~nd the respect of its _Constitution. ' ~ The Executive Committee points out that only the World 'l'rade Union Congress is competent to take a decision in regard to the proposal of the General Council of the British T. U. C. to suspend the activities of the W. F. T. U. Nevertheless, the Executive ·Committee in its capacity as a deliberative body of the W.F. T.U. and actirig· within the frame\vork of its constitutional authority, wishes to express its opinion on the matter. . It declares ·that the position adopted by Deakin (T.U.C.) Carey (C.I.O.) and · ~upers (N.V.V.) on the Exectitive B-ureau constitues a "direct attack on the Constitution of the Federation, established on a completely democratic basis. : The 1=roposal of the General Council of the T.U.C. calls into qu.estion world. trade union unity ; and oonstitutes a violation of the decisions unanim?usly adopted at the World Trade Union Confe­ rence m Lon_don and the Constituent Congress of -the W. F. T. U. jn Paris.

_ . The Executive Committee rejects . the proposal for ~ .st.tspension or the cessation of the activity of the W. F. T. U., and 69 declares that it will continue to carry out its mandate consisting of too implementation of the decisions and resolutions unanin1ously adopted by the '\Vorld Trade Union Conference in London (1945), the Congress in Paris (1945), the General Council in Prague (1947} and the Executive Committee in Rome (1948). The Executive Committee declares that, in accordance w·ith these decisions it will ·continue its activity of organizing a common struggle of the trade unions of all countries against any attem.pts, on the economic and social rights of the workers and their demo­ cratic liberties, and for the guarantee of full employment to all the workers, the elevation of their wages and standard of living, the reduction of working hours, the guarantee of social insurance to the .-workers and their families in case of unemployment, illness and accident, old-age pensions, and the applic~tion of any other measures increasing the economic and social well-being of the workers. . It will fight for the final extermination of the vestiges of Fascism, under whatever form they present · themselves or by whatever _name they are concealed. It will fight against war. and their causes, and for a ·stable· and lasting peace. It· will represent and defend the workers interests in all international institutions. The Executive Committee reaffirn1s the all-inclusive character of the W. F. T. U. whose aim it is to unite the vvorkeTs irrespective ot . considerations of race . and nationality, or of their politicaL philosophic and religious convictions. The Executive Committee confirms its Rome decision On. bhe existence within the W.F .T. U. of diverse trends of the labour n1.ovement without any of them being the subject of discrimina6on, an~ declares that the W. F ;T. U. -remains open td all genuine trade UTllOn5. The Executive Con1mittee is convinced that these sentiments are shared by the workers of all countries, including . those of Great Britain and the United States of America.

rrHE CONVENING AND ORGANISATIO~ OF 1.' HE

znd CO~GRESS OF THE :W.F.T.U. , 29th. JUNE 1949 After an exchange of views, the Executive Committee decided that the Congress would meet at Milan (Italy), and that it w~uld be preceded and followed by various meetings of the Executive_ The following dates were fixed : ·70

J u:qe z6th Executive Bureau, June 27th Executive Committee. June z8th -General Councjl. June 29th-July -10 th : Congress. July i 1 th : General Council, July I zth : Executive Committee. The following draft .A-genda was adopted

1 Opening of the Congress. 2 . Election of the President and Vice Presidents of the Congress. 3.·· Adoption of the Agenda of the Congress. 4· Nomination of the Credentials Comm,ittee. 5 Nomination of the Standing Orders Committee. 6 Report on the General Activity of the W.F.T.1}. (rapporteur : L. Saillant, General Secretary) .

I ...\ction of the W . .F.T.U. and the Affiliated National Cemtres for the Defence of the Economic and. Social Interests of the Workers (Rapporteurs : Frachon (France), Okhab (Poland), Wickremasinghe (India). Implementation of Article I 3 of the · Constitution of the W. F. ·r.l.J. on Trade Departments (Rapporteur : Di Vittorio (Italy). · 9"· General Policy and Action of the W. F :r. U. for International Trade Union Unity and in Favour of Peace and the Defenoe of the Democratic Rights of the Peoples. (The Executive Committee charges the Executive Bureau with the nomination of the rapporteur for this question.) '10. Trade Union Activitv in the Countries of Asia, Australasia, Africa and Latin Arri:erica (Rapporteurs : L.iu Ning I (China), Monk (Australia), Le Leap (France), Lombardo Toledano (Latini America). II. The Problem of the Migration of Labour. Equality of Eco­ nomic and Social Rights for Immigrant Workers (General rapporteur, Monk (Australia) : Co-rapporteur, Santi (Italy). I 2. Election of the General Council, the 'Executive Committee and the Auditors (paragraph e) point IV, article 4 of the Constitu­ tion). I.). Fixing of the Plaoe and Date of the Next Congress (paragraph g) point IV, article 4 of the Constitution).

RESOLU'I'ION OF THE EXECUTIVE CO·Ml\IITTEE ON TRADE DEPARTMENTS The Executive Committee of the W. F. T. U., Having heard and discussed the report by Comrade D. Vit­ t@rio on the constitution of Trade Departments. 71

·Recalls that, .stnce its ·creation, the _ \V.F·/f.U. has done everything possible to bring about ·the A est;Iblishment -of Tr.ade Departments, that the General Council of the WF. T. U. at P raguc adopted :. unanimously · the l"~gulations oi the Trade Departments -\vhich were adjusted, also utianiinously, by the· Executive Bureau ir .N-ovember. I 947 and that thj:s doctunent corresponds to the clearly understood interests of the trade union moven1ent as a 'vhole.

Sta~es that, in spite of concessions agreerl to by theW. F/1'_. U., the I. T.S. have not ceased to amass obstacles to the establishment of the Trade Departments thwar6ng in every way the activity at­ the W. F. T. U. on the trade level and even going so far as to refuse all co-operation -with the ·w.F.T·.U. This strikes a·blow: at 'vorkers unity on the trade level and considt~at>ly "·eaken-s t'~ whole of the trade union movemen• .. ~.1\ddresses, ho\vever, in the interests of international trade union unity, an appeal to all the I..T.S., inviting 1hen1 to collaborate \Vith _ the W.F.T.U. with a view to creating Trade De:rartments whose constituent confetenc;es \viil be able frec.Iy and dema<;ratically t•-, detern1ine t4e structure, the col).stitution and the links with the V\.-.F. T. U. _ This method shou_ld. · permit the elimination of all ·the obstacles ~~ the way -of the creation of all - including ·Trade Departments which 'rVOttid conform to trade interests and to the needs of all the- workers.

. Declares ·that now when it is pr~paring ·to develop and to extend its activities on an all-inclusive basis, ih order .to defet~d the economic and social rights of the workers at present menaced in numerous countries, the ""'·F. T. U. · must strengthen tracte union organisation on ~he trade level .by the rapid ·creation of Trade Departments. · · · · Proclaims its desire to consolidate international trade union unity by· proceeding to the constitution of Trade Departments ·with the co-operation ·of all the workers of the interested trades without rlis_crim::nation :--~s to i.ationality, race, colour, political opinion, phi- losDphy or rellgion. · · · · DECIDES :

1. To recogn-i~e the Teachers international in · accord with its o\~-~ r~ques~, as the Education Tra

2. To instruct the Secretariat of the W.F.T.U. : · a) to invite each I .T. S. to join its efforts ,,-ith those of the '·\"'. F ..1\ U. with a v.ie.w to covening international trade~ conferences in whkh wpulcl participate \Vlthout any distinction, the interested

organisations of all countries. These r conferences should he instruc~ed to establish Trade Dep3rtrrents in agreement with the 72

"Y. F. T. U. and to define with every free-dotn the ties of these Trade Departments with the W.F.T.U. -- ·

b) to convene immediately, should the I. T.S. refh ... ~ their co-operation, international trade conferences whose purpose would b3 to establish with the participation of the interested trade t!Zlio:J organisations of all countries, Trade Departments, the first of w~hich should be constituted before the nd. W.F.T.U. World Congress.

APPEAL FROlVI. TH,EI EXECUTIVE COMlVIITTEE OF THE W.F.T.U. TO ALL THE WORKERS OF THE "TQRLD llf en and fJlo1n·en Workers, The EXECUTIVE C01-IMITTEE of the WORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE1 UNIO·NS confirms to all the workers of the world that the first grea.t World Trade Union Organisation which has ever existed is continuing and will continue to defend' the interests of the 'vorkers of all countries. The workers have bee111 informed of an attempt, which was revealed in the course of the session of the Executive Bureau of the W.F.T.U. which opened on January r7th. 1949, aiming at the destruction o-f the Workers 'Vorld Trade Union Organisation. The motives which "-ere the basis of this attempt appeared as being totally foreign to the interests of the workers and as an absolute negation of the fundamenta 1 principles of internation3l solidarity. The Executive Con1mitttee of the W. F. T.U. in appealing to all the workers of the world, knows that a certain nuroner of them may be withdrawn frotn the World Federation of TradP Unions without their consent. We know that even in the United States of America and Great Britain many trade union members retain their confidence !n the World Federation of Trade Unions. They were not consulted in order to ascertain ·whether or not the lead-ers of the 1,.U.C. and the C.I.O. were right in withdrawing on January 19th, 19-19, fr01n the session of the Executive Bureau ·a.f the ~T.F.T.U. The workers of the "·orld should know that tho:;:e who have broken the international trade union cooperation which prevailerl between all the National Centres of the world 'vitlhin the W.F.T.U. have, in this n1onth of January 19 ~ 1-9, taken on a heavy responsibi­ lity. . 73

. They had, first of all, throughout the course of the year 1948, ~ccumulated numerous difficulties within the Executive of .. the. W ..Jt'. T. U.. In this way was blocked rl:te work of QUr organisation· fo~ ~e · cr~a ·t_ion. C?f Trade Departments, for the convening of the A.uat1c Trade Un1Gn Confe-rence and for the implementatiol'. of the decisions of the General Council of Prague on the trade union situa­ ti?n in Gennany. ·rhe.y made use of ultimatums in their dealings ""':t!h. the· Exeoutive. ·rhey wished to impose their will ; in then op1n1on they alone were fervent trade unionists and perfect demo­ crats. 'rbey gave an unconvincing proof of the soundness of their ~serti

The Executive Committee has been placed in th}s oilen11~a : either it must stop the life of the W.F.T. U., which would anlDunt to annihilation ; following which, useless contacts could exist be­ tween five members of a comn1ittee of << trustees », a committee which would be inert and lifeless ; or, this proposal to suspend the activities of the W. F. T. U. being rejected, its authors would with draw from the organisation. The Executive Corrunittee approved of neither the first sug- · gestion nor the second attitude. The decision of the Executive was not to cease its activity but to recommend to all organisations to be persuaded that if such is their sincei~e and real desire they all have, tc-day as yesterday their place within the ranks of the \VORLD FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS. The Executive Comn1ittee has decided to convene the. Second Wor.ld Trade Union Congress. Under present conditions, this Congress assumes an unusual · importance. It will study ·the trade union situation created throughout the 'vorld and will establish the 1neans and the direction of developn1ent of the W. F. T. U. as well aJ the economic ·and _social dem~inds of the men and \vomen workers of all ~ountries. The Exe~u.tive Committee appeals' to all the Trade Union Cen- · tres affiliated to too W.F.'l'.U. to give their attention to the Fre­ paration of the Second \Vorld Trade Union Congress and to assist the W.F.T. U. in every way so that this Congress may fulfil its tasks successfully. The Executive Com1niltee has also taken a very important decis­ ion concerning the creation of Trade Departments of the World Federation of Trade Unions. It has rtnce more addressed an appeal t J the International 'l"rade Secretari&ts asking them to collaborate 74

w-ith the \V. F -. T. U. in the creation of ·these Departments in a spl.r t ot the widest trade uni~y. The Trade Departments must undertake to. serve t~e inunediate ·trade· interests of a~l . branches of ptoduction an~ must. Include the workers of all countries without any disc~im:- nahon. · · ·- · . / _.. 'The Executive Coininittee has. also stuqied the _trade uni~ - ; situa.tion in the countries of.Asia .and Latin America and has adop­ ted Important decisions aimed at giving effective assistance frotn the _W. F. T. U. to the trade.unions of. these countries. · At the present time it is more than ever indispensable to oori:sol­ idate the ·unity 'of the workers throughout the world, and to develop nnd _strengthen the World -Federation .of Tra~e Unions. :By its blood and by its labour the working class ·powerfully_ contributed to the military defe::1t of Fascism during the Secon-d World War. These heavy sacrifices which it accepted during the struggle against the most brutal form of oppression must not be ir. vain. The ·working class, with the democratic forces of the· ept~re world, has the right to h<_;>pe fo~ a beltter and happier life. This. life can ·be built only by the democratic forces united on a world· scale: ·The working class can and must become the backbone o• these forces. The \Vorld Federation of Trade unions· is an organisation repr~senting tlae workers and employees of all. countries of th? \VOrld. It .defends their interests ·w·ithout discrimination; In spite of the particular .cireumStances, existing in each country, the work­ ers and employees of all the countries of the world, whatever their race and their political or religious conceptions; have common intet­ ests and objectives. During the Second Wor!d War the pripcipal task consisted in routing Fascism. At the _present time it consists in I?uilding a new world, freed froin need and hunger, .freed from unemployment, a world in which all the wcirkers will be ·assured .. of a. wage worthy of those who create all the world's goods. Trade union rights and liberties must· be guaranteed and extended-as must also be guaranteed legislation relating to social secunty. The World Federation of Trade Unions supports the colonial and semi-colonial j;~ples who, in consequence of their indefeasible right lo free self.:: determination, are fighting for their indeFen9-ence and their con- ditions of life~ . · . . . The . W. F. T. "C. is fighting for. the extermination ·of .the ·evil influence · of the trusts and monopolies on the social, economic an'd political life of the world. The W. F. T. U. is assisting the demo­ cratic forces to wipe out th~ :fascist regimes and the forces of }1' as­ cism which still exist in a certain number of countries 3Jl1d constitute a ·constant tl~reat to Peace .. ~ . . .. -· The W.F.T. U. is fighting and will fight to ensure a stable·and · 75 lasting peace bet,,reen the peoples and will denouuce those attempt­ ing to provoke a new world war. The Executive Committee appeals to the workers to strengthen the· World Federation of Trade Unions and to support it day by day by assisting in the achievement of its aims of peace and social progress. For this it is indispensable for the trade union organisation3 of all countries to fight for the consolidation of their trade union unity on a national scale. For this it ]s indispensable to strengthen the activity of the trade union organisations throughO'Ut the world, the essential factor for the consolidation of international trade union unity. The Executive Conunittee declares that nothing divides the workers of all countries. It apr:eals especial! y to the British and .....-\1nerican workers to support the 'Vorld Federation of Trade Unions. There are no fun1 la.rnental differenres nor h i ....; has a l w ~n . · 11CPI1 the aim of the forces of capitalism.

~~fen and Women Workers, The Executive C onznzittee appeals to you -- to develop _vour efforts to create a better u'orld, - to carry on unceaszng acti'i;ity for the success of l'£ 11/r t'(D- notnic and trade demands, - /{) fight for your trade union and denzocratic rights and liberties. - to u.nite against all attempts to drag the world to1.vards a ;;r,u ·world 1.var, - to rally to guarantee and e·nsure a stable and lasting peace bctuJeen tile peoples. - to group yourselves together to safeguard international trade union uuity by according your support to the TVorld Federa­ tion of Tradt' [ 1nions.

PARIS, February 2nd, I949· The ·Executive Committee of the W.F.T.U. ~. · ~' Imprinlerie AVOUKA

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