' ' 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 • 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 _:. · · · · · ._, ·<i · ·I. During the year 1948 ·the leaders of the_ BritiSh T.U.C. ~ addressed ultimatums to the \V.F.T.U. on three different occasions.- This is the negation of international 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 • 4 << 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. » i . 5 ·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. • 1 • J t I ..; . ) t •I ! I 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 I 8 General Council but knew that in fact it gave authority to 11Iessrs.