The International Council of Trade arid Industrial...

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.000 '7 30 The International Council of Trade arid Industrial Unions By A. Losovsky (S .A. DRIDZO.) FlORIDA AnANTJC uN,VERSITY LIBRARY . SOCIAL/ST. LABOR COLLECTION .P rdce 25 cents. Published by THE UNION PUBLISHING ASSOCIATIOJI- New York City.

Transcript of The International Council of Trade arid Industrial...

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. 000 '7 30

The International Councilof Trade arid Industrial

Unions

By A. Losovsky(S .A. DRIDZO.)

FlORIDA AnANTJC uN,VERSITY LIBRARY .

SOCIAL/ST. LABORCOLLECTION

.P rdce 25 cents.

Published by

THE UNION PUBLISHING ASSOCIATIOJI­

New York City.

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The international organizat ion of t he trade union mov e­ment is proceeding much less quickly than the internationalorganization of the Communist Party. 'It is a lr ea dy a .yea rand a half since the foundation s of the Third Communist In­ternational were laid and t he cent re for revolutionary activityf or all Communists and revolutiona ry class elements in theworld labor movem ent wa s cr ea te d, whereas the trade unionshave r emained right up to the last moment unorganized in as ingle in t ernational or ganization. Mor e than that, just at themoment when the Se cond Internat ional has become a corpsefrom which t he most opportunist par t ies are fleeing, and whenits most ardent support er s a r e compelle d to admit t ha t it iscomple te ly bankrupt, a n inter na t ional f ederation of tradeunions is being formed at the head of which stand t hose whowere the most a ctive participators in the Second International

· and who su ppor te d the war policy of their Governments.The trade union movemen t is la gging behind the Communist

movement. The trade union s are the army, the closely massedcolumns of t he proletariat, while the Communist Party is theadvance g uard, the p ioneer fighting detachments of the work­in g class. The later international organization of the tradeunions means t hat the con nect ion between the advance guar d

·and the army is broken. This is a sa d, but undoubted fact inall countries in Eur ope and America. This break between theadvance guard and the army is ex la ine d by the 's low develop­ment of the social r evolution, the con t inue d domination of thedictatorship of the bourgeoisi e and the painful form whichthe class struggl e is' assuming in Western E ur ope and America.

·A sharp struggl e is proceeding within the labor organizations,part of which stand solidly f or the old capit a li st system andserve as a defence of bourgeoi s dictatorship.

This backwardness and reaction of many trade unions in

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•capitalist cou n t r-ies found t he ir expression in the formation ofan in ternational ce nt re which is but a rather bad edition of theSecond International, and whose function is to realize on aninternational scale that co-operation of cla sses that was so"successfully" realized during t he war.

What is the r eason of the backwardness of t he internation­al proletarian movement? W,hat forms of International organ­ization existed previously among the trade unions? ' What hasbeen done and what should have been done to fight against theinternational of strikebreakers, as the Amsterdam Federationof Trade Unions is , and what should be the r elations betweenthe newly established Third Communist International and theinternational organiza tion of trade unions? These are thequestions we have to solve.

* * *Trade Unions arose as organs of the working class to counter­

balance the growing .ex ploit a t don. In its early form the tradeunion was a union of workers in a certain ' craft, having forits object to assist its members employed in a definite categoryof labor. A s the capitalist system grew and developed so theform of organization of 't h e trade union changed also, and w it hthat the scope and cha r act er of its work also changed. It isnecessary to obs er ve, however, that the form of organization ofthe trade union s always lagged behind the form of organizationof capitalism which during the last n ine years has developedsuch powerful organization s, like trusts and syndica tes, thecompetition among which, a s is known, led to the world war.

While. capitalism in the course of its development assumednew f orms of organization which facilitated it in exploitinglabor and subjecting to itself the apparatus of the State, thetrade unions lagged behind like a shadow, in many countriespreserving the old forms of organization, with all their closecorporative character, narrowness and limitations. In counter­acting the increasing exploitation, in st r iving to raise thestandard of living , to improve the conditions of labor, and

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secure the principle of collective agreements the trade unionsalways acted on . the basis of capitalist relations, and as theunions grew and became internally consolidated the idea of anunbreakable tie between the trade unions and the existing orderof things became stronger. The older the trade union move­ment became and capitalism the more powerful the moreclearly and definitely did the idea become of the necessity forthe existence of capitalism and the co-operation of classes as a .condition for the improvement of the standard of living of theworkers.

The capitalists of England, America and Germany, thanksto their strength and their dominant position in the worldmarket were able to make frequent concessions to the workersand were able to imbue them with the firm conviction of thestability of the capitalist system. The national greatness ofthe country, and particularly the economic ·impor t ance of in­dustry is the world economy, influenced the minds of the work­ers and subjected their class interests to the badly understoodinterests of the moment.

It would be a rmstake to believe that the bourgeoisie kept theworkers enslaved only by material necessity; the modern bour­geois state has created a tremendous arsenal for the enslave­ment of the working class. The schools, science, the church,religion, literature, philosophy created by capitalist society, allrepresent weapons for the perversion of the minds of theworkers. One must confess that the spiritual weapon is muchmore powerful than those methods which a bourgeois govern­ment adopts to subject the will of the revolting workers. Thisspiritual . dependence of the workers on bourgeois ideology wasin greatest evidence during the war when the trade unions be­ca me not only a . material support of war policy, but developeda complete theory of class co-oper a t ion , the essence of which ·was that the workers are interested in preserving the bourgeoisState and the capitalist syst em, and should subject their in­terests to the interests of the whole; i. e. , the bourgeoisie.

The history of the trade union mov ement during the waris the history of the conversion of the trade unions into· sub-

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sidiary organs of the bourgeois State, an apparatus of theimperialist bourgeoisie. Just as during the imperialist war thebourgeoisie split up into two hostile coalitions each fighting forworld hegemony, so did the trade unions in their respectivegroups split into two hostile comps, not because they had dif­ferent points of view on principle; but I because they based alltheir theory and practice on . the principle of national defenceand on the support of their own capitalism at the expense ofthe other.

The war disclosed the . extraordinary degree to which thetrade unions were dependent upon bourgeois ideology. Theexclusive domination of national motive in the trade unionmovement is the fundamental reason for the collapse of thoseinternational connections that had been made previous to thewar.

There were forms of international connection in the TradeUnion movement previous to the war. The majority of tradeunions participated in the international socialist congresses,thus demonstrating their association ·with the socialist move­ment and the international solidarity of trade unionism of thevarious countries. This connection with the socialist move­ment, however, was purely formal, for the trade unions on theeve of the war were -opportunist and stood on the right wingof the socialist movement. The purely formal connection ofthe trade union movement with social democracy was evidentfrom the fact that although the trade unions in Germany werereg-arded as social democratic they nevertheless conduct ed adefinite policy often in opposition to that of the socialdemocrats.

This purely formal con nect ion between the internationaltrade union movement and the International Bureau .certainlycould not satisfy the demands for unity among the trade unionsof the various countries and so at ' the beginning of the 20thcent ur y we saw the rise of the interna'tional secretariat who sefunction it was to inform the workers of various countries onthe Iabor movement in other countr ies. The international

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secretariat au the head of which was Legien was not an inter­n'ational organization in the full sense of the word. Organiz­ation presupposes unity of .action and power to act, while theSecretariat of Trade Unions was engaged in nothing else butissuing literature and did not even dream of any internationalaction. It ~as a centre which was not responsible to its con­stituents each 'of whom maintained their independent existence.On the eve of the war the trade union movement embracednearly 10,000,000 workers divided into loosely connected ter­ritorial organizations whose work was confined chiefly to itsown national ' questions. Its internationalism was an abstractprinciple rather than a guide in every-day policy. The workof the international secretariat during the many years of itsexistence prior to the war better than anything else shows itsbankrupt character. For the thirteen years of its existence thesecretariat did nothing more than publish several reports anda few pamphlets. It was more like a post office or an inter­national inquiry bureau than the international centre of theworking class movement.

The trade unions were inter-connected not only throughtheir national centres. At the end of the 19th centu r y variousinternational unions arose whose defects, however, lay in theirbeing craft unions pursuing narrow, limited aims. The inter­national unions .existing on the eve of the war,-metal workers,miners, textile workers, transport workers, painters, cap­makers, woodworkers, builders, tailors and bootmakers, etc.,­were all constructed on the principle of information bureaux.The national interests stood above international interests, andthese international organizations were the germs of inter­national organizations rather than active international fight­ing centres of their respective category of labor. During themany years of existence of some tens of international unions,it is impossible to recall a single international campaign, nota single example of international action. It is true that therewere attempts at international boycot, collection of money forworkers on strike in other countries, agreements on condit ionsof labor, agreements on the transference of membership fromone country to another, and a number of other examples of

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international solidarity, but one has to confess that the out­standing feature of the pre-war trade union movement was thatinternational solidarity was but in its embryonic stage. Thepreponderance of national questions over . internationalquestions, and the subordination of class interests of the move­ment is brilliantly illustrated by the war.

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The war broke all the three threads that connected thetrade union movement of the various countries. Simultaneouslywith the collapse of the Second International and its conversioninto a tool of the Entente, the trade unions formed diplomaticcoalitions,-Allied and Central-European-according to theparticular government they existed under. The formal advant­age lay with the Central European coalition, for the reasonthat the International Secretariat was in Germany, and Legien,

, following the example of Vandervelde, strove to use the nameof the international secretariat for purposes having nothing incommon with international solidarity. Just as Vandervelde re­fused to surrender the president's hammer, and used his titleof President of the International Bureau for sanctifying thelofty war aims of the Entente, so did Legien set the inter­national into motion in defence of the "just and sacred" warof his government.

The, International Secretariat, together with the Inter­national Bureau, ceased to exist with the commencement of waroperations. The leaders of the trade union movement, Legien,Huber, Jouhaux, Appleton and Gompers, were the civil generalswhose task it was to carry out the moral mobilization of themasses. In justice to these gentlemen one must admit thatthey carried out their instructions brilliantly. The trade unions,

. these mass organizations of the working class, became the 'mainbulwark of the bourgeois State, and its support in its struggle,not only ' against the external but also against its internalenemies.

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The activity of the leaders of the t r ade union movementin this direction consisted in discrediting -t he leaders of theenemy countries by accu sing them of being the servants oftheir governments, and on the other hand denouncing everyanti-government action of their worke~s as a "crime." Thebreakup of the revolutionary movement, and implanting andfostering chauvinistic instincts in the masses brill iantly carriedout by them. 'I'h e bourgeoi sie could not have dreamed of betterexecutioners of their desires.

The Allied trade union leaders made an attempt to set upa trade union in ternational, for which a conference of Alliedt rade unions was called in Leeds in 1916 . The task of this con­f erence was to draw up a programme of social legislation, con­demn the trade union movement of the Central Empires, and toset up its own international secretariat of trade unions. Ofthese tasks the conference carried out only one-it made a de­monstration against the criminal association of the Ger manand Austrian trade unions 'with their governments. The ironyof the story lay in the fact that those who condemned the as­sociation of worker s' or ganizations with their governmentswere just those who themselves led the workers in their owncountries into shamef ul slaver y of the bourgeoi sie.

The individual international trade union organizations byno means cut a prettier fi gure. They split up according to thecoalition on whose territory the centre of their organization wassit uated. Thus the International 'Bureaux of Textile Workersand Miners bein g situated in England, maintained the policyof the Allies; while the International Bureaux of Metal Work­ers and Builders havi ng their centres in Germany adopted t hepolicy of the Cent r al Empires. The peculiar f eatur e of thewhole period of the crises in the inte r na t ional trade unionmovement is the almost complete di sappearance of the oldgroupings and tendencies. Former revolutionary syndicalists,pure and simple trade unionists, "new-patented" trade union­ists, supporters and oppone nts of socialism all, with few ex­cept ions, became patriots of their fatherland and politically re­sembled each other like peas in a pod. Betrayal of the interests

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of the workers brought uniformity among the most divergenttendencies.

«0 * *The end of the war compelled people to think of the re­

establishment of international connections, and this raised thenecessity for the bourgeoisie to strengthen that co-operation ofclasses' that was developed during the war. The re-establish­ment of international relations proceeded along two lines; thefirst by means of the Labor Bureau of the League of Nations,the second the International Federation of Trade Unions.

The fundamental idea lying at the basis of the LaborBureau is to convert the working class into a shareholder in theinternational trust called the League of Nations. The Leagueof Nations, as it is known, was the flag around which pacifistsand socialist simpletons of various countries rallied. According .to Its founder, Mr. ' Wilson, the League of Nations was to havebeen the supreme .international tribunal which was to establishjustice and truth in the whole world. Of course it was under­stood that the League could only carry out its lofty aims withthe victory of the Allies. For that reason support of the Allieswas a first condition for' the creation of the League of Nations.This assistance was forthcoming from the trade unions of theAllied countries and it is natural that as a reward they de­manded the participation ~f labor in the League of Nations.

It is true that this demand was conceded to a minimumdegree. During the war the European and American Gom­perses pictured this participation differently. They wanted totake part in the Peace Congress itself, and to convene an inter­national trade union congress at the place where the 'PeaceCongress was to be held in order to bring pressure on thediplomatists. A number of other combinations were intendedin order to secure the carrying of their "own programme"through their gover nment s. But as soon as the war ended theEnte'nte governments made their lackeys understand that theirmission was ended, and the Peace Congress could very well do

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without them. Besides this , the y were given to understand thatto convene a n in ternational tra de uni on congres s at the placewhere the P eace Congr ess was t ak in g place would be very in­conven ient , and tha t , it would be much mor e desirable if theyfound a spot somewha t further away for t heir little exc ur si on .Allied diploma cy, however, was opposed to the entry of Laborin the Leagu e of. Nations only where qu estions had to be decided,but had no obj ection to it coming in where quest ions were to bedis ,,·ussfd. Thus t he Interna ti onal Bureau of Labor was estab­li sh ed, which was to dem onstrate the unity between Capital andLabor, discuss quest ions of la bor legislat ion , speak of reforms,propose in novat ion s, bu t t o lea ve the decision to t he more com­petent a nd mor e interested bourgeois gover nment. The Inter­nat ional Bur eau of Labor is r emarkable for the fact t hat it in­cludes r epr esentatives of t he t r a de unions of t he CentralPowers, al though this incl usi on cost the latter dear. Theburea u is composed of six 'r epresenta t ives of "neutral" gover n­ments ; a t t he head is t he well-known t r ait or , Albert Thomas.This Bureau of Labor is a symbol of achievement of the socia l­patriot s of var ious cou ntr ies as a r esult of their chauvinist warpolicy . F our years of f lunkeyis m and t reache r y, f our yearsof co-operation wi th · the bou r geois ie a nd talk of new r elationson t he ba sis of defence of national saf ety produced a power less ,insig n ificant Bureau of Labor whose decis ion s a re obliga t or yon no one, wh ich nobody de sir es. The mountain of class co­operati on brought f or th a mouse.

Simultaneously wi th the set t ing up of the Bureau of Laborof t he Lea gu e of Nations the leaders of the bankrupt tradeunions com menced to r eor ganize the Trade Union Internationalwhich they had dest r oyed. Immed ia tely after t he concl usionof the war an inter national t r a de union confe rence was con­vened at Berne, a t which the r epresen tatives of t he Alliedt r a de unions, Jouhaux , Appleton and Gompers gave battle toLeg ien a nd hi s suppor ter s . This conference was nothing in

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the world like a labor gathering, because its main work wasdevoted to attacking the German chauvinists for supportingtheir government. It was assumed that for the Germans tosupport their government was bad, while being lackeys of theEntente governments was conducting "labor" policy. Thismiserable quarrel ended in a complete victory for the Alliedpatriots. Legien was removed from his post and the Secretariatwas transferred to Holland. The Entente trade unioniststriumphed over the trade unionists of the German Empire.

The second International Trade Union Congress was heldin Amsterdam, to which the German and Austrian trade unionswere permitted with equal rights as worthy members of thecongress. An international organization was formed at Amster­dam, as well as a bureau, and the trade union leaders who formany years called the workers to mutual extermination formedan intrnational union. For what purpose? On the basis of whatprogramme? What have these deadly enemies united? Whathas compelled Legien, Appleton, Huber and Gompers to unite?These questions naturally arise in the minds of every particip-ator in the present day labor movement. .

In the first place it is necessary to point out that theirstriving to set up an international organization of trade unions .

. is a reflection of the tremendous demand of the workers of allconntries for the re-establishment of class unity destroyed bythe war, and to set up an organization which could in a periodof storm and stress conduct a defensive and offensive struggleagainst the capitalist class. Of course the Amsterdam Feder­ation was not created for this purpose, but the old trade unionleaders very well understood that if they did not hasten to setup an international organization, one would be set up withoutand in spite of them. Thus the main reason for the re-establish­ment of the international by the hands of. its assassins was thefear of their own future.

That our explanation is the correct one is seen from thefact that the Amsterdam Federation of Trade Unionswas formed without any programme. After such a

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•tremendous war, after such colossal sacrifices made bythe workers of all countries, it should have been naturalfor. real representatives of labor organizations to estim­ate the effects of the great shock, to give some reply to thegreat questions which' interest the workers of ' all countries atthe present moment, and to show the way out of the cul-de-sacinto which the imperialist bourgeoisie have led humanity. Butthe Amsterdam Conference did nothing of the kind, it silentlyavoided all the burning questions affecting the present-daylabor movement, believing they could screen. themselves fromhistory by silence. The Amsterdam congress only troubled tocreate a centre, and to place at its head the old friends of theEntente; all other things were removed to the background.This aim was achieved; the warm defender of ' British Im­perialism, Appleton; the worthy defender of the French bour-

,geoisie, Jouhaux, and several other not less representative per­sons of the dying socialpatriotism came to the head of the In­ternational Federation. They united in order to retain thebanner of the international organization in their hands, andto use it for the purpose of class co-operation.

It was precisely with this' that the International Federationbegan its work. The very people who restored the classorganizations destroyed by the war bound these organizationswith the general staff of international imperialism­the League of Nations. The International Federation ofTrade Unions and the 'Labor Bureau of the League of Nationsare connected by personal and intellectual ties, and on the fieldof class co-operation can be seen the distinguished figures ofJouhaux, Appleton, Gompers and other heroes of the rear.

What has the International Federation of Trade Unionsdone during the period of its existence? Absolutely nothing.One cannot consider the mere existence of the InternationalFederation as activity. One can take no account of the vapidand colorless resolutions which the International Federationpasses from time to time and sends into space in order to re­mind the world of its existence. An international, like anational labor organization can exist only when it has a definite

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•militant aim, when it knows what it wants, and when rangingitself against the whole of the bourgeois wor ld goes -directlyfor its aim. There is nothing like this about- the InternationalFederation. There is no class definiteness about it. It desires,by means of manifestos, appeals, by persuading the bourgeoisie,to secure the improvement of the conditions of the proletariat.This is the programme upon which st a nd all bourgeoi s reform­ists, all the advanced bourgeoisie and the most backward leaders

• of the most backward labor organizations.When t he International Federation does at last expr ess

itself on some ques t ion it s every word express trifling opportun­ism and compromi se. In January, 1920, the Amsterdam F eder­ation ex pressed itself in f avor of the socia liza t ion of industry,and in its First of May manifesto to the workers of all count­ries it put forward two demands; the socia liza t ion of the meansof production, and the ca r r ying out of the Washington Con gressresolutions. But how ca n the socia lization of the means ofproduction be carried out? By persuading the bourgeois ie, orby revolution? Nothing is sa id about this in the r emarkableFirst of May manifesto. . Further, how are the resolutions ofthe Washington Congress to be ca r r ied out? That is , a ssum­ing that it is the last word 'in socia l legislation. How is this allto be done ? Alas! No reply is forthcoming, in spite of thefact that this is the period of the severest class struggle in theworld's history. At the moment when the leaders of theAmsterdam Federation see how the bourgeoisie of all count r iesinsist on their privileges, when the expe r ience of Soviet Russiaand Hungary cries aloud to the .heavens a gainst the hope thatthe bourgeoisie will make any' voluntary concessions, when thebourgeoisie of all countries r epresent a united block, conduct­ing a mortal struggle against all the st r ivings of the workingclass for emancipation, to speak of the socialization of themeans of production in May, 1920, without indicating h ow t hisis to be done, to put f orwar d t he demand for the ca r r yi ng ou tof t he resolution s of the Washington Con gress, that labor­bourgeois talking shop, and a t th e same time call their organ­ization a labor organization, is not only senseless, but conscioustreachery. It is no wonder' therefore that the Amsterdam

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Federation, composed of sl aves of national governme nts, ca n­not speak in any other language' than the language of slaveryand treachery.

Under these circumstances, what does the AnmsterdamOongress really represent? A guiding center of class unions?A revolutionary staff in the str uggle against capitalism?Nothing of the kind. It is the centr e of r ea ctionary nationalunions whose task is to conf use class distinctions on an inter ­national scale , and to crea te t he illusion t hat an internationallabor or ganization exists, to spread the idea of class co-oper­ation, and class peace,-in a word, it is the international centreof labor reaction, and is the most r eliable support of internationalimper ialism. It is necessary .to prove that such a centre mu stbe destroyed, and the trade union centre of labor reaction mu stbe opposed by a trade union of workin g class revolution.

,.. * *Immediately after the February Revolution, at the first

attempt at forming an All-Russian centre, the Russian tradeunions stood on the point of view of the ne cessity of formingan in ternational fighting centre of trade unions. Alreadyat the Third Conference of Trade Unions held June 20-28, 1917,the necessi ty was recognized of f or ming an in ternational tradeunion or ganization. The First All-Russian Congress of TradeUnions went further, a nd in the gener a l r esolution on the task sof the trade unions in the period of proletarian dictatorshipthe Congress resolved that: "The Ru ssian Trade Union move­ment ca nnot carry out its task s without ente r ing in to closecontact with the international t r ade union movemen t . TheCongress regards it as it s du ty to co-operate to t he f ullestext ent of its power in the r evival of the in ternational tradeunion movement and to make the calling of a gener al inter­national trade union con gress, as well a s international con­gresses of individual trade unions, an immediate question. Asa first step in this direction the Congr ess resolves to convenean international t r ade union congress in P etrograd on the 5thof February."

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This resolution, however, remained on paper. No confer­ence was called for the reason that immediately after theOctober Revolution, not only did capitalist Europe fling itselfwith gnashing teeth against Russia and against the Russianproletariat, but even the European social-patriots hurledthunder and lightning against the "madness and criminality"of the Russian proletariat. The leaders of the European andAmerican labor movement under no circumstances would per­mit the initiative of calling an international congress to betaken by the Russian workers, and for that reason they hasten­ed to create their own organization, which is a mere substitutefor international class unity.

It was evident from the first days of the existence of theAmsterdam Federation that the path of the revolutionary classunions of Russia and the labor lieuenants of the League ofNations lay in different directions. But our negative attitudeto the Amsterdam Federation took definite expression only in .connection 'with the organization of and convening an Inter­national Conference of Trade Unions and employers' organiz­ations at Washington.

The betrayers of the working class went to the extreme intheir endeavor to consolidate their practice of class co-operationon an international scale. The All-Russian Central Council of ·Trade Unions could not remain silent in the face of this cor­ruption of 't he trade union movement, and addressed a manifestoto all trade unions in Europe and America, denouncing thetreacherous policy of the leaders of the international tradeunion movement.

"They are going to Washington," wrote the Central Councilof the All-Russian Trade Unions in their manifesto of the 8thof October, "to work out a programme of international laborlegislation. After twenty million workers have been sent todestruction, these people now worry about labor legislation!Is this in order to raise fresh crops of cannon fodder to ' sacri­fice on the altar of their imperialist fatherland? They desireto work out a programme, and like faithful servants wait in

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the ante-chambers of their patrons,-Wilson, Lloyd George andother experts in the art of crushing the working class! Theseeunuchs think, that the bourgeoisie whom they served, out ofgratitude for their past services, in confusing the minds of' theworkers, will bring them liberal labor legislation on a plate andsay, 'here are some concessions for your good conduct'. Theselittle people with slavish minds forget that individual personsmay receive presents, but that a whole class cannot take a'tip' or be satisfied with a sop. Many of the labor leaders hang­ing on to the skirts of Wilson have particularly flexible spines;as the working class does not possess .such a spine, hangingaround ministerial ante-chambers is foreign and repulsive to it.This is a request to accept the proletariat as a poor relationinto the limited company for the exploitation of small ' andweak nations, which in the language of the internationalmarauders is called the 'League of Nations'.

"They desire to secure international labor legislation bymeans of friendly negotiations with those who have spent alltheir lives and energy in securing international capitalist legis­lation. They desire to secure advantages for the workers notby means of their organized, independent, revolutionary classpower, but by means of behind the scenes negotiations, cunningcombinations and diplomatic intrigue. Petty deceivers! Wherehave they seen the bourgeoisie grant the most petty, most in­significann social reform without the direct action of themasses? In what country is there a capitalist class that .volun­tarily makes concessions and surrenders part of its profits andincome for the sake of the beautiful eyes of bankrupt laborleaders? There is no such country. . Such a State and such aclass does not exist. The capitalist class will guard their pri­vileges with all the fibre of their beings, and no waiting onministers' doorsteps, no slavish humility on the part of theworking class will compel the bourgeoisie to change its nature.

"Workers, you are being deceived! Watch the hands andthe actions of your leaders. Ask them what the League ofNations has given the proletariat; ask them who crucified theHungarian Soviet Republic; ask them who placed arms i~to

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the hands of the Roumanian assassins; a sk them whose ordersand with whose money were thousands and thousands of Hun­gar ia n workers murdered; a sk them who supports Kol chak andDenikin, who organizes whit e guar d conspir a cies in Russia,who supplies money and arms to the Russian monarchists whoare exterminating the J ewi sh population, who pays all theseRussian pogromchiks, with whose aid are the fields and valleysof Russia drenched in the blood of tens of thousands of work­ers and peasants,-ask them all this, and when they tell youabout t he Lea gue of Nations, about agreements with the bour­geois ie , that the consumpti ve Second International composedof traitors ca n r estrain worid imperialism, that the' ruthlessdictatorship of ca p it a l ca n be softened by an internationalarmistice, and that all this will be in t he in terests of the prole­tariat and socialism,- a nswer them in the firm, determinedvoice of a r evol ted pr oletariat; tell them what the fightingexper ience of the Russian trade union says , 'Dictatorship of thebourgeoisie or the dictatorship of the proletariat; League ofNations or the Third International-there can be no middle .course.'

"Out of the road deceivers and hypocrites, the SocialRevolution is coming."

From this est ima t ion of the activity of the leaders of theLabor Bureau of the Leagu e of Nations, and consequ ently ofthe International F ederation, it is perfectly clear that anothercentre of the trade u ni on movement is essential. The All-Rus­sia n Central Council of Trade Unions therefore took the nextstep and sent out an invitation by radio to all the trade unionsin the world in which it "invited all economic organizationssta nding for r eal revolutionary class struggle for the emancip­ation of labor from the exploitation of capital by means of thedictatorship of the proletariat to close their ranks against theinternational lea gue of plunderers, .break with the compromis­in g Internati onal · and to gether wi th the All-Russian CentralCouncil of Trade Union s orga nize a r eal international con­ference of revolu tionary-socialist t r a de unions and labor syn­dicates. All economic labor organizations standing on the plat-

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form of r evolu t ionary class struggl e are asked to r eply to ourcall and to enter in to direct connect ion with us."

This appeal served as a starting point of a movement infavor of cr ea t ing a new centre of trade unions uniting the r e7volutionary cla ss unions of all countries. In view of thecircumstances which arose, considerable time .ela psed betweenthe declaration of the need of crea t ing such a centre and itsrealizati on. The mere desire of the Russian trade unions wasnot sufficient, a nd it was necessary to 'wait until t he r evolution­ary masse s of all countries converted the old trade union organ­izations from weapons of reaction into weapons of the socialrevolution.

* * *Simultaneo usly with the st r uggle of the Russian trade

unions on the socia l revolu t ionary front t he labor organizationsin Western Europe and America became revolutionized. Thelabor masses streaming into the unions brought about a changein the old decrepit organizations. The trade union bureaucracywho reign ed unchallenged in the unions during the war, beganto feel that their position was becoming unstable. In Englanda movement for direct action is growing up in the old unions.The Miner s' Union, Transport Workers' U nion and the ' Rail­waymen's Union formed a triple alliance and put forward de­mands which the bourgeoisie cannot con cede. A series of gig­antic strikes has shaken England, and if the' government hascome out of it unharmed, it is only du e to the fact that theleaders str ove to substitute fi ghting by agreements, and at coststo find . compro mises. Within the old t rade uni ons in Englandthere is growing up a shop steward movement which , however,is rather a number of groups of revolutionaries of like opinionthan the factory committees in the Russian sense of the term.The British shop steward or ganiza tions exi st simultaneouslywithin and outside of the trade unions. They stand for the re­volutionary class struggle, the viol ent overthrow of the capital­ist system, put forward the ' Soviet syste m as a substitute forthe parliamentary system,' and put forward .the demand for

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labor control. Although the British Shop Steward Movementis not yet sufficiently formed and its ideas not yet clearly de­fined, it is nevertheless a revolutionary class protest againstthe trade union bureaucracy and its hope of a peaceful solutionof the age-long conflict between capital and labor. If the asyet weak shop steward committees were confronted by a com­pletely unanimous trade union movement then the revolutioniz­ation of the British labor movement would be a matter of thedistant future. But the fact is that the trade unions them­selves-not the leaders but the broad masses,-are pressing tothe left with the progress of events. The shop steward com­mittees in their struggle rely on the sympathy of the masses;and as Macdonald said in one of his speeches, the left wing in

.the· British Movement is very weak in normal times, butacquires considerable weight and importance immediately aserious social conflict arises. In order to render a completepicture of the British trade union movement jt is necessary topoint out that the Irish Trade Union Congress resolved to af- .filiate to the Third International and that a number of Irishtrade unions are leaving the British organizations owing totheir compromising tactics. The seven million workers organ­ized in trade unions in England represent the following picture:at the top there is the bureaucracy, nine-tenths of whom arehopeless compromisers; at the bottom there are the discontentedworst paid sections of the workers comprising the militant sec­tions of the shop steward movement, and in the centre there arethe average workers tied by training and a mountain of pre­judice to their fatherland but gradually, under the influence ofthe severe lessons of life, emancipating themselves from thedelusion of peaceful, gradual and constitutional solution of thesocial conflict. At all events there are sufficient elements ofthe new trade union movement in England for the new inter­national centre to rely on at least a section of the organizedBritish workers. This was proved by the conference called inLondon on the 11-12th of March on the initiative of the work­ers' committees. Nearly 200 delegates were present at thisconference, including representatives of eleven local branches

. of the Railwaymen's Union, three branches of the General

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Laborers' Union, si x br anch es of the Amalgamated Soc iety ofCarpenters a nd J oiner s , f our South W ales Miners' branches,two br a nc hes of the Yorkshire Mi ners , t wo br anch es of t heE lect r ica l Trades ' Union, branch es of t he Builders Wor ker s'Industrial Union and a number of branch es of other unionsand political parties. All t he r esolution s of t his unofficial c,on­f erence were satur ated wi th the r evolut ionar y class spi rit . Theresol u tion on the nationalization of the mines says, "th e con­tinued ex istence of the ca pitalist system of production is leadingto the ruination of the mines. T he confe rence ca ll s upon theworkers to set up an industrial a ppar atus t h rough which theyca n t ake control of t he means of production and distributionin to their ' own hands." The conf erence ex pressed it self infavor of direct a ction and a gen eral st r ik e as a means of secur-

. ing satisfaction of the miners' demands. It al so· ca r r ied a re­solution of gr eeting t o Sovi et Russia and congratu lated t heR ed Army on the brilliant vi~tories 'it has a chieved in it ss t r uggle against the united f orces of the ca pita list govern ments,and ex pressed its soli da r it y with the Russian Worker s ' SovietRepublic. In a spec ia l r esolution the conferen ce expressedregret at t he inactivi ty hitherto di splayed by the Britishwo rkers in connection with the a t tack of world ca pi t a lism onSoviet Russia. Besides t h is, the conference deman de d the in- .dependence of Ireland, sent greet ings to the workers of E gyptand India , and demanded the withdrawal of British troop sfrom, and t he granting of independence t o these countr ie s. Itdeclar ed a gainst r ai sing t he pr oductiv ity of labor u nder theca p it a li st system, and in 'a specia l resolution declared that theex is t ing parliament a nd organs of local gove r n me n t su it ed therequirement s of the capitalist system and se r ved a s a meansf or the legal ensla vemen t of the worker s. Soviet s , or Workers'Committees are r ecognized by the workers of all countries to bethe best weapon for t he overthrow of t he capitalist system , andthe best organ of administration in a Communist Republic.Besides other resolutions t he conference resolved t o w elcom ethe Third Communist International formed in Moscow a nd tocall upon all organizations r epresented at the conference to a c­cept the Communist platform and affiliate to the Third Inter-

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national. The conference urges upon all those participating inthe conference to see to it that their organizations leave theSecond International ana the Lebor Party and affilia t e to theThird International. These resolutions indicate that within theBritish labor movement t here are small but nevertheless r e­volutionary gr oups of workers who have completely brokenwith the Second International.

The situat ion in France is somewhat different. The pat­riotic attitude taken up by the Confederation Generale duTravail during the war ca lled forth protests from a number ofsyndica tes already at the end of 1914. In December, 1914,Pierre Monatte, the editor of the syndica list organ, "La VieOuvriere," r esigned from the C. G. T. , · and published a warmpr otest against the war policy of the former revolutionary syn­dicalists. A "Trade Union Defence Committee" was fo r med inParis, around which grouped all the international elements inthe \trade union movement. This committee is part of the"Committee for the Reestablishment of International Con­nections," which is composed of two sections-trade .union andsocia li st . At the end of the war the left wing was consider ablystr engt he ned, and at the congress at Lyons, September, 1919,the minority received one third of the votes. From September,1919, the 'inf luence of the left wing slowly but surely grew,and a large number of unions, including the Par is Metal Work­ers, Railwaymen, various local miners' unions, builders, leatherworkers, te xtile workers and a number of department organiz­a tions expressed them selves in favor, of affilia ti on to the ThirdInternational. When the deci sion of the All-Russian CentralCouncil of Trade Unions to set up a new centre for the re­volutionary cla ss unions became known in France, it met withgrea t sympathy from the left wing unions, and the weeklyorga n of the r evolutionary minority, "La Vie Ouvriere," at thehead of which wer e Monatte and Rosm er, spoke categoricallya g-ainst the Amsterdam Inter na ti onal and f or the new TradeUnion International.

In Italy the situation is different, first, beca use for a longtime two organizations have ex isted, one revolutionary syn-

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dica li st-the Italia n Syndica list Union-and t he ot he r the re­formist General Confe derat ion of Labor . But the sta nd of t heItalian proletariat, its r evolutionary anti-war position, com­pelled the moderate leaders of t he C. G. T. to conduct an inter­national policy in agreem en t with t he Socialist P ar ty. At theend of 1919 the r evolut ionary syndicalist unions ex pressed

! t hemselves in favor of aff ili ation to the Third International,while t he C. G. T. not only a voided g iving a definite r eply tothe quest ions raised by t he r evolution ary epoch, but par t icip­

.a t ed in the Ber ne and A msterdam Conferences and even in t heWashington Conf er ence. This opportunist policy of the C. G.T . roused considerable di ssatisfaction among the ma sse s andvarious unions beg a n to a sk t he ir centres why they did notaffilia t e to the Third Internat ional. The Executive Organ ofthe Confe deration, in March, 1920 , made vague replies t o thesequest ions from which on e cou ld gather that it did not wi sh tosa y anything definite for or aga inst t he Third I nt ernation al.Meanwhile various union s pa ssed r esolut ion s wholly conform­in g to the platform of the Third International. Thus, for in­st a nce, the ge ner a l confe rence of t h e Italian Metal W orkers'Union, which too k place in the beginning of 1920 , definit elyexpressed it self in f avor of affiliation to the T hir d Inter- ,national. This w as t he gener a l temper t hat r eigned in t hemajority of the I tali a n unions in the middle of 192 0.

In Spain al so two orga nizations ex isted, on e patrioticheaded by Vic ente Bario, and the other which arose during thewar-revolutionary syndica list. The new organization had itsbase in Barcelona, w ith its industrial pr oletaria t and oldanarcho-syndicalist trade union s. F or the last two years t heNational Confederat ion .of • Labor of Spa in , as a r esult of it srevolutionary t actics, has domi na ted almost the whole of t hetrade union movement of Spain. Out of t he m ill ion organizedworkers in Spain, 800,000 belong to the r evolution a r y synd ica l­ist Confederation of Labor, while only 200 ,000 belong to theopportunist labor unions headed by Vicente Bario. The pro­gramme of the General National Confederation of Labor ·ofSpain includes the vi olent overthrow of capitalism , and r evolu­tionary class str uggle against the bourgeoisi e a nd the com-

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promisers who co-operate with it. At its last congress, theGeneral National Confederation of Labor of Spain resolved toaffiliate to the Third International. In view of the fact thatthe congress was held semi-illegally and the government hadforbidden a discussion of the question , of the proletariat on thethreat of dispersal, the congress did not pass . any resolutionon this question. One thing is clear, however, and that is thatthree quarters of the organized workers of Spain stand for therevolutionary class point of view and are prepared not in

. words but by action to fight the capitalist class.

In Germany the trade unions have all the time beenunanimous, that is if the weak Hirsch-Dunker and Liberalunions are not considered. The Free Social-Democratic unionsentered the war with a membership of two and a half million,of which only a third remained after the end of 1915. But atthe end of the war we see in Germany, as in all countries, atremendous growth in the revolutionary movement. In themiddle of 1920 the membership of the. German trade unionsstood at nearly eight millions.

The German trade unions were the most powerful appa­ratus and the main buttress of the military policy of Hinden­burg and Ludendorff, and in spite of the defeat of Germany,the influence of the trade union bureaucracy remained evenafter the war, The excellently organized and centralized tradeunions of Germany are to a very high degree adapted to crush­ing the revolutionary spirit of the workers. Here the struggleis much more difficult than in other countries. The tradeunions are the buttress of the Scheidemann regime, and duringthe Kapp affair, and the government crises connected with it,tlie deciding factor i~ constructing the ministry was the tradeunion leader Legien, As a result of the reactionary policy ofthe German unions there arose an opinion in favor of the re­volutionary elements, leaving the trade unions which, in spiteof their revolutionary exterior, are deeply reactionary and playinto the hands of the governing bureaucracy. Besides \thelabor unions having a membership of 60 to 70 thousand thereare in Germany revolutionary-syndicalist organizations with a

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gen eral membership of nearly 200,000~ and it is possible to f indin these organizations strong suppor t for an inter na t ionalcentr e of revolu tionary class unionism. Inside the Legienunions there is at the present mom ent a solid minority whichis fighting against the old policy. The Metal Workers' Unionwit h a membersh ip of 1,800 ,000, the Textile Workers' Unionwith a membership of 450,000, the Leather Workers with200,000 members, 'and the Berlin Council of Trade Unions area lr eady in the hands of t he Independents which means thatthey will soon pass into the hands of the Communists, for thein consistent and half-hearted policy of the Independents com­pel s the workers, not only formally but actually, to break withthe old compromising and half-hearted policy.. ' .

It is sufficient al so to recall the sever e struggle which therank and file members of the trade unions ' in the Ruhr Basinconducted against the Scheidemann and N oske regime to beable to say that ground for a revolutionary class struggle inGermany is sufficiently prepared; it is only necessary to beable to take advantage of the revolutionary energy of themass, and this can be don e least of all by forming separateunions isolated from the masses.

In Austria the trade union movement is in the hands ofthe social-compr omisers, but during the last year the Com­munists have done tremendous work. Communist fractionshave been formed in all the unions, and a special bureau hasbeen formed in connection with the central committee of theAu strian Communist Party for the purpose of co-ordinatin gthe work of the Communist fractions in the unions.

In Hungary, after t he victor y of the reaction, the oldsocial-compr omiser s came to the head of the unions and en­deavored to continue their poli cy under the white terror, butthe victorious counter -revolution does not even allow the social­patriots to develop. The r uthless white terror compels even themost backward Hungarian workmen to understand that it isnecessary to choose between t he dictatorship of the bourgeoisiea nd the dictatorship of t he proletariat.

I n Czecho-Slovaki a , a decree of the Government made it

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compulsory for every worker to belong to a union. With theaid of this decree the government succeeded in crushing manyrevolutionary unions by the influx of backward elements intothe unions. The majority of the official organizations standfor the Amsterdam Federation and the Second Int er nat ional. Theminority stand rather solidly for revolutionary class struggle.

In Jugo-Slavia (Serbia, etc.) , the General Federation ofLabor stands in close contact with the Communist Party andfo~ the Third International.

The last .t r a de union congress in Esthonia voted for theplatform of the Third International and in White Finland thegen eral trade union centre and the large unions also stand forrevolutionary cla ss struggle.

The last conference of the Norwegian trade unions whichtook place in Christiania at the end of July, 1920, resolved toaffiliate to the Third 'Int er na t ional. In Sweden, Denmark,.H olland, and in all other European countries there are im­portant minorities who sta nd for revolutionary class struggle.

The position in America is very peculiar. The powerfulAmerican Federation of Labor is entirely in the hands ofGompers and Co. Side by side with this body there is the re­volutionary organization-the Industrial Workers of theWorld; whose influen ce lies ch ief ly among the unskilled labor­ers. The 1. W. W. is undoubtedly a r evolu tionary organization,but it s theory and tact ics suffer from many serious defects, asa result of which it embraces only some hundreds of thousands( * ) of the millions of the American proletariat. In spite of thefact that the whole apparatus of the A. F . of L. is directedtowards crushing the revolutionary ferment in the Americanunions. the unions are nevertheless becoming revolutionized.Within the large trade unions a serious mov ement is growingup against the theories, and particularly against the practiceof the A. F. of L. and its leaders. Be sides this there are manylarge unions in America who do not belong to the A. F. of L.,and which are becoming r evolutionary under the influence ofthe sharpening social struggle.

In Canada the strike movement of 1919 affected the whole

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of the trade union movement. It particularly affected t he re­volutionary unions, and in a number of towns during the strikesin April-May, 1919, the Strike Committe e became the onlyauthority in the town. .Am erican trade unionism, which in­t ellectually .and organizationally had the Canadian movementin its hands, became discredited among a large section of theworkers. The Canadian movement became not only formallyindependent of the American unions, but also intellectually in­dependent of the bourgeoisie.

The trade unions in Au stralia and other British coloniesare divided, in some cases intellectually and in other organiz­ationally, into two camps-for and against revolutionary clasestruggle, for and a gainst co-oper at ion of classes. This divisionhas reached even such countries as Java, India and Japan,where the movement has only just arisen, where the tradeunions arose as a result of the severe revolutionary strikes,and where as a result of the very conditions of the strugglethe movement cannot take any other stand than that of re­volutionary class struggle. Thus the world trade union move­ment, which in the middle of 1920 united more than 30 millionworkers, varies very greatly. Many trade unions are nothingmore than organized r epresentatives of the bourgeoisi e within thelabor m ovement ,- and the International F ederation of TradeUnions and the Labor Bureau of the Lea gue of Nations are thegeneral staff directing the organized operations of the bour­geoisie against the trade union movement. It naturally f ollows,therefore that the task of the day is not only theoretically tocondemn the policy of compr omise and class co-oper a t ion , andadvocate affiliation to the Third International, but to g ive itform by setting up a revolutionary class centre of the tradeunion movement. This was done in Moscow in July of thepresent year.

* * *The arrival in Russia of British, Italian and other i rade

u nion delega tes for the . purpose of studying conditions in that

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country, served as a starting point for the negotiations for thecreation of a new trade union centre. The preliminary nego­tiations with the representatives of the left wing of the Britishtrade unions showed that there was common ground for reach­ing an agreement between the class unions of various countries.On the initiative of the Executive Committee of the Third In­ternational a meeting took place on the 10th of June, 1920,between the representatives of the British trade unions (Robert .Williams and Alfred Pursell), -t he Italian Federation of Labor(L. D'Aragona and Joseph Bianchi), the Italian Federation ofMetal Workers (E. Colombino), the Italian Federation of Asrt-

"cultural Workers (Dugoni) , representatives of the All-RussianCentral Committee of Trade"Unions (A. Lozovsky, M. Tomsky,G. Tsiperovitch, and V. Schmidt) , and the President of the"E xecu t ive Council of the Third International (G. Zinovieff).

The first me eting was held for the purpose of discoveringto what extent there was unity of opinion on t he fundamentalquestions of the international trade union movement. It be­came clear that the views of the Russian trade unions wereonly partly acceptable to the representatives of both the Britishand Italian movem ent. The differences arQSC on the followingpoints: (1) the r elations between the future trade union cen treand the Third International; (2) the Dictatorship of the Pro­letariat; (3) and the r elations to the Amsterdam Federation ofTrade Unions. Both the Italian and the British representativesassumed that the relations of the new trade union centre shouldbe decided at an early international congress of revolutionaryclass unions. It appeared also that the representatives of threecountries present variously understood the theoretical andpractical meaning of the di ctatorship of the proletariat. Inconnection with the Amsterdam Federation, Dugoni declaredthat "many members of t he Italian trade unions did not belongto the Third International but to the Amsterdam International,neverth-eless they conducted a severe class struggle against thebourgeoisie, and therefore to identify them with the yellowinternational would rouse a protest on the part of the Italianmasses." Nobody of course desired to identify the Italianworkers with the yellow international. The fact that the

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Russian delegation described the Amsterdam Federation as"yellow" was undoubtedly a correct definition of its politicalcharacter. If there was any opposition to so describing theAmsterdam International, it certainly did not came from therank and file of the British and Italian trade unions, but fromthe central organs who still belong to that body.

In spite of .a number of disagreements on principle, it wasnevertheless found possible to agree on the following: (1) thenecessity of forming a new centre of revolutionary class unions;(2) to call an international congress of l~ft trade unions; (3)to elect a committee to make preparations for the congress;(4) to work in close contact with the 'I'hrrd International.These four points served as a basis for further negotiationsafter the departure of the British representatives. .

In the beginning of July of the present year there werepresent in Moscow . representatives of the Italian, Spanish,Bulgarian, Jugo-Slav and French trade unions, British shopsteward committees, the Syndicalists and Labor Unions (Ar­beiter Unionen) of Germany, the 1. W. W·. of America andAustralia. Official and unofficial negotiations and meetingswith these brought to light a number of radical differences onpoints of principle, for the discussions at these meetings center­ed around (1) Dictatorship of the Proletariat, (2) Politics andEconomics, (3) the necessity for a political party for the pro­letariat, (4) relation to the Third International, (5) Proletariangovernment and the Soviet system, (7) splitting off from orconquering the .ma ss unions. These questions, as we see,touched the very foundations of the trade union movement,

. and it is essential to clear them up before anything in thenature of an international organization can be formed.

Dictatorship of the Proletariat was contested from twopoints of view. On one hand it was shown that in WesternEurope dictatorship of the proletariat, i. e., the violent suppres­sion of the exploiters, and the subjection of the peasants and

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petty bourgeoisie 0 the prole ta r iat, as was done in Russia , isimpossible, and that it was st ill less possible too to su bject t heless class-conscious workers to the advance guard of t he work­ing class. Several representatives of the Italian Federation ofLabor argu ed t ha t the question of the dictatorship of the pro­letariat was not a t all clear and for that r ea son t h is should notbe made the central poin t of agreemen t between the revolution­ary class union. T his point of view was shared by Dugoni a ndpartly by D' Aragoni, " Tr a de unions," said comr a des in di s­cussion', "are non-party organizations in clu din g supporters andopponents of dictatorship of the proletariat, and it would there­fore be better not to speak of it in the preliminary declarat ion,but to leave the question to the international congr ess ." Aftera lon g discussion the Italian del egates proposed to formulatethis point in the f ollowing way: "to propa ga t e the method ofproletarian dictatorship as a final and t r a nsit iona l means ofdefen ce a nd consolida t ion of the conquests of the proletar ian .state against the bourgeois reaction." That it is necessary topropagate the idea of proletarian dictatorship ' is beyond theslightest doubt, nevertheless one of the most fundamentalquestions of modern labor policy must not be placed in thisacademic fashion. The German syndicalists, the British andAmerican r epresentatives of the 1. W . W . and the ShopStewards a pproached the question from quite a differ ent pointof view. They qu estioned t he necessity of any f orm of dictator­ship. They regarded the dictatorship not a s the dictatorshipof the proletariat, but as dictatorship over the proletariat andcategorically protested against establishing this principle. Onemust state that t hese representatives were not unan imous onthe question . While the German syndicalists and r epresenta­ti ves of t he Labor Union s would not hear of dictatorship ofany form, the r epresentat ives of the I. W. W. and the ShopStewar ds admitt ed the possibility of the dictatorship of " pro­letarian orga n iza t ions," although they thought that the re­volution will be brought about by the industrial unions whichwill not have to set up any dictatorship. In vain did we pointout that whatever kind of orga nization will overthrow the bour­geoisie, it will, nevertheless, for the protection of the working

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class, become a power to crush, not only the resistance of theexploiters, but also the resistance of the workers who followit,-the industrialists and syndicalists were firm on one thing,

. -dictatorship of the proletariat may be necessary for Russia,but it is absolutely unnecessary for Western Europe andAmerica where the proletariat will be able to make its revolu­tion and manage to protect its gains without it.

After four joint meetings with the industrialists and syn­dicalists the latter proposed a resolution worked out jointly bythem which was to be the basis of the new international tradeunion organization. The main points of the resolution are asfollows: "(1) Recogriition of revolutionary class struggle ' as afundamental principle. (2) The violent overthrow of the Stateand capitalism by adopting the dictatorship ' of proletarianorganization as a temporary and transitional measure for theattainment of Communism."

The insufficiency of these two points as a platform wasquite evident. One must not limit oneself to the recognition ofrevolutionary class struggle; one must demand the practicalapplication of it. On the other hand it was impossible to agreeto the formula of the overthrow of the State unless there .wasa definite indication of what kind of State was meant, thebourgeois State or State in general. All this indefinitenesswag quite natural, for the industrialists and syndicalists notonly could not agree with us, but they could not agree amongthemselves, so much were they divided for and against thedictatorship of the proletariat, and they were, therefore, com­pelled to accept an indefinite resolution in order to satisfyevt>rybody.. As a matter of fact they 'a ch ieved the very op­posite, for their resolution satisfied nobody. In substitution ofthis indefinite formula the representatives of the All-RussianCentral Council of Trade Unions proposed the following pointon the dictatorship of the proletariat : "The dictatorship of thebourgeoisie must be opposed by the dictatorship of the prole­tariat as a transitional, but resolute. measure as the only meansby which it is possible to crush the resistance of the exploiters,and secure and consolidate the gains of the proletarian govern­ment."

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This fo rmula wa s adopted by all ex cept t he syndica lists,and the representatives of the 1. W . W . a nd t he Shop Stewards.

* * ,.,The conf usion in con nect ion with the dictatorship of t he

proletariat arose from the fact t ha t the sy ndicalists and .n­du st rialists appr oa ched the question f rom t he sta ndpoint of theold anarchists on politics and econ omics. In the first place,t he y oppose dictatorship because they r egarded it as politics,and they regarded it a s politics because the di ctatorship wasca r r ied out by a political party. This old .dispute betweenMarxism and anarchism arose now because the representativesof some labor organizati ons (syndicalists, industr ia list s, 1. W.W. ) opposed poli tics in the old anarchist spi r it . " All politics,"said the represen tatives of the German syndicalists, " dist r actt he wor ke r from t he di r ect st r uggle and should, therefore, beabandoned ... " "A political party by its very composition isforeign to the workers and st r ives to dominate them, and thisrepresents a. great danger for the social r evolution. The in ­dustrial unions will m ake the revolution not only without apolitical party, but -in opposition to it." The representativesof the 1. W. W. judging parties by their American experience,stood f or approximately t he sa me point of vi ew . For t hem al sothe weapon of the social r evolution was the industrial unions,

• and it 'd id not even occur to them -t ha t an y other organizationcould play even an auxiliary role. The Shop Stewards' re­presentatives took a middle course, and stood for the necessityof co-ordinating all theparties that be longed to the Third In­ternational, but they did not carry this to a logical conclusion.

In r eply to our arg ument that it is impossible to separatepolitics f rom economics, that there was not a single greateconomic confl ict that was not at the same time a politicalconflict, that to divid e the socia l st rug g le into an economicand political struggle m eant the weakening of the proletariat,they said that the experience of W estern European and Amer­ican parliamentarism proves that politics corrupt the workersand that the political struggle distracts them from their class

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aims. All the wh ile they confused politics with parliamenta rism. Comrad e R osmer, the r epresentative of the French syn ­dicalists' adopted a healthy point of view. He pointed ou ;that, in the f i r st ' p lace, if th~ proletariat -m ade a revolution itmust be able to defend it; it must beat off all attack s of It senemies and fi na lly cr us h them. F or this purpose it is nec­es sary t o have a d ict a t or ship. Secondly he pointed out thatthe Com munist P arty and t he r evolu tionary .un ions must marchside by side, an d tha tonly on such condition s could the victoriesof the wo rking class be secur ed .

It was diffi~ult t o unite these conflicting t enden cies,-'from the denial of the ' n ecessity of a political party-to therecognition of the _necessit y of the inseverable conne ct ion be­

,t ween the party and the unions, on a sing le platform. It wasst ill more difficult t o r econcile the point of vi ew of the Russiant rade unioni sts on the supremacy of the party over the unionswith the various vi ews explain ed above. The discu ssion showe Ion e thing, -and that was that those elements 'of the labor move ,ment which denied the political struggle, which denied the ne­cessity of a political party of the proletariat, and the closestbond between the Communist Party and the trade unions couldnot enter the n ew in ternational trade union centre, because thewhole id ea of international organization of ' the r evolutionaryunions lay in g ather ing all the economic and political organ­izations of the working cla ss into one body-the Third Inter­national-for defen sive and offensive op erations ag ainst thecapitalist class. This point of view was shared not only bythe representatives of Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Jugo-Slavia, andGeorgia, but also Ro smer, the r epresentatives of the Frenchsyndicalists, and even Pestana, the representative of the Na­tional F ed eration of Labor of Spain, an organization whichstands entirely for the an archo-syndica lis t point of view. Pes­tana said that he could not imagine such a relation betweenthe party and t he unions as ex isted - in Ru ssia, in Sp ain, forthe reason that in Spain the unions are a great force, whilethe Communist Party is only in its embryonic stage. , H eopposed 't he subordination of the unions to the party, but wasin favor of the closest contact between the party and the unions

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on a national and internat ional sca le . Neither the r epresenta­t ives of the British Shop Stewards or the Amer ican 1. W . W.objected to co-operating with the Communist P arty , but theGerman syndicalists and the r epresentatives of the industrialLabor Unions w ere categorically opposed to any co-operation.

* * *

The proletarian State was subject ed to severe criticism by .the anarchist wing at these meet ings, It was not for nothin gthat they introduced the point of the overthrow of the Statein general. For these syn dicalists and f or the several repre­sentatives of the I. W. W. the State was a sort of Beast ofthe Apocalypse. The bourgeois State had so . impressed themwith its power that they. imagined that a State by its ve ryconstruction must always be a tool of oppression of the work­ing class. They presumed that after the revolution, and afterthe break up of the State and its institutions the proletariatwill not erect anything in Its place, because any newly con­structed State, independently of the will of "it s creators will ,by its very nature, begin to sh ow exploit ing t endencies. Hereof course we have to deal with a purel y anarchis t ic under stand­ing of the meaning of State as a non-cla ss growth; and to theextent that the syndicalists and t he industrialists app roa chedthe question of the State f rom this point of vi ew; they werequite unable to understand the nature of the proletarian State.For them a proletarian State could not exist . Such a vi ewof the State is a logical outcome of their view of the Dictator­ship of the Proletariat, for dictatorship of the proletariat andthe proletarian State are one. The w riter of these lines, inthe discussion of this anti-state principle, r esorted to the fol­lowing illustration in order to prove the incon sisten cy of theargument. We will presume that the 1. W. W. after a st r ike .and revolt seized the factories an d w orks in America, d rovethe bourgeoisie and the troop s that w ere on their side outof the large centres, began t o organize production and sociallydistribute products. But alth ough the bourgeoi si e has been

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conquered , it has not ye t b ecn di spersed, the - fight still con ­t inues. How will t he 1. W . W: arr ange matters, so that on theon e h and it will be able to pr oceed to t he organization of pro­duction and the social di st ribution of product s, and at the sametime def end itself against the a r med fo r ces of the interna­t ional bour g eoisie ? W ould t hey make u se of the . exist ingcommodi t ie s and mater ia l r esources in order to su;pply the peo­pl e with t heir n ecessa r y r equi reme nt s ? Will they set up someki nd of appar atus f or conduct ing t he st rugg le ' against theexploiters? If t hey will do this,":"'-and the victorious workingclas s cannot r efrain f rom doin g t h is or else they will lose a ll

.their g ain in a fe w days,-t hen they are by that setting up acen t r alized government, no m atter whether the revolution hadbeen carried out by a party or by the 1. W. W: itself. Thust he question of a prolet a r ian State is n ot an abstract theory,but a quest ion of practical politics, for the social revolutionis not "beyond the hills" in W estern Europe and America,and ever y lab or organizat ion must find a r eply to the question," H ow can t he bo urgeois be conquered?

The oppon ent s of the State in any form found it difficultto r eply a concret e example of t h is so r t, fo r however muchone cares t o argue aga inst the State, .no sensible worker willdeny the n ecessity of settin g up an apparatus with which toconsolidat e t he victor y of the w ork in g class and for the finalrout of t he bou rg eois count er -r evolut ion . For this reason onthis quest ion a s on other s there was no unity in the campof the syndi calis ts and industrialists,-the Russian revolutionhas taught m any to be ver y crit ical of old theories and toabando n all that con t radicts the act s of life..

Of course in all the di scussion we laid emphasis on thepoint t hat the pr olet a r ian State is not an end but a means toan end , that \~e are anti-State but not in the sense that w edeny the necessity of State in any form but in the sense thatw e set up a State for the purpose of sm ashin g the resistance

. of the bourgeoi sie, and after it h as served its purpose, toplace it in the museu m of history. The proletarian State isa temporary a nd transitional phenomena, not in the customary,but in ~he historical sense of the word; i. e., it is a weapon of

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struggle of the working class for a whole historical period.With the di sappearance of classes the State in all its formswill also di sappear, and society will only preserve the organsof production, distribution and statistics n ecessary for sei vingthe requirements of the masses.

These comrades al so raised doubts . concerning the Sovietsystem. They a sserted that the Soviet system is not applica­bl e to W estern Europe, and that the industriai unions and theshop stew ards' . committees will perform the function of theSoviets there. Of course it is difficult to di scuss what formthe dictatorship of the proletar iat will take in Western Europe.In all probability some other kind of organization will arisein England" Germany and Am erica which will serve as a bat­tering ram to break up the old wor ld and al so a s the ap pa ra t usf or carrying out the functions of organization and construc­tion. The form in which the apparatus is clothed is n ot im­portant. . : The demand for the Soviet system m eans that theold bourgeois-democratic parliamentary form of State is break­ing down and that n new form is arising in its place whichembraces the wide masses and the proletarian organizations.The future will show whether the British shop stewards' .com­mittees or the industrial unions will play this part or not;what is important is that the social r evolution cannot be real­ized unles s organizations similar to the Soviets ar e set up. Weneed not argue what these organizations shall be called.

* * *On e would have thought that the question of the r elation

to the Third International would not raise much di scussion,nevertheless this was very heatedly debated at all the meet­ings. In the first place the Italian and German syndicalists 'doubted the desirability of affiliating tothe Third International,but at t ent ion w as centered on the relations betwe en the newlyformed international organ to the , Communist International.The r epresentatives of the All-Russian Central Council of TradeUnions w ere of the opinion that the trade unions should organ­ize sections within the Third International. From this it fol-

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lows that the Third Communist International should be thegeneral staff of all the militant revolutionary class organiza­tions of the proletariat.

All the delegates except the Bulgarians opposed the Rus­sian delegation. The Italians, French and English, approach­ing the question from various points of view were inclined tothe opinion that an independent international organizationshould be set up which, while being connected by ideas andorganization with the Third International, nevertheless shouldlead an independent existence. The representative of the Ger­man syndicalists and of the Australian 1. W. W. were againstall connection with the Third International and argued that thetrade unions under no circumstances will associate with a po­litical organizatlon. It. is characteristic that the same pointof view was held by the representatives of the German LaborUnions, Otto Ruhle. who represented the German CommunistLabor Party, the distinguishing feature of which is that itdenies the necessity and usefulness of politically organizing theworkrng class. On \ this question, as on other questions, thesyndicalists and the 1. W. W. differed. On this occasion itwas due to the I. W. W. supporting affiliation to the ThirdInternational and formal affiiiation would compel them at all

• events to express themselves in favor of co-operating with theThird International. The objection to forming sections withinthe Third International was based on purely form s z roi-nds,-the delegates stating that they had no authority from theirorganizations to do this, but it was clear, however, that thisformality was merely an excuse for the Italians, French, Amer­icans and the British to turn down the proposal of the Russiandelegation. Finally it was decided to agree to inter-representa­tion of both bodies .an d to submit the question for final dis­cussion to the International Congress of revolutionary classunions which should take ' place at an early date.

* * *The question that raised most discussion was that of the

tactics ot the Communist revolutionary elements within the

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trade union movement in connection with the old mass unions.The qu estion was: Should the old union s be spli t or captured 'fCons ider a ble differences were r evealed among t he delegates ont h is point. Recognizing their weakness in comparison with theGerman "free" unions which embr a ce nearly 8,000,000 mem­bers, the German syndicalists and representatives of the Ger­man Lahor Unions declared that the present day "f r ee" union sof Germany were hopeless, that it was necessary t o dest r oythem and only by destroying them it will be possibleto conquer the bourgeoisie. The representat ives of the1. W . W . held the same viewpoint. In their opmionthe American ' Federation of Labor is an invincible for­tress. The only thing to do was to abandon it a nd set up asepar a te organization outside of it. They further asserted thatthe reactionary characer of the American Federaion of Laboris bound up wi th its very con struction, and to think .of fightingthe treacherous policy of Gompers inside the unions was a nutopia. All this eviden ce of the invincibility of the tradeunion bureaucracy created a curious impression. On one ha ndthese comrades were preparing to bring about a social r evolu­tion in their country; i. e., they ca lcula te on overthrowing thepowerful American ca pit a list class with its excellently organ­ized State ,apparatus and in' its place t o set up the power ofthe working class,-and on the other hand they speak of Gom­pers with such holy ' h orror as if to drive Gompers and theother traitors out of the trade unions was a much more difficulttask than overthrowing t he mighy ca pit a li st class of America.Both the German and the American comrades were clearlyillogical, for it is ridiculous to think tha t it is possible to bringabou a social revolution in W estern Europe wit hout or in spiteof the trade unions. To leave the, union s and to set up smallindependent union s is an evidence of weakness, it is a policyof despair, and, more than t ha t, it shows lack of faith in theworking class. One must choo se between t wo positions, ei therthe social revolution is inevitable, that the wor k ing class ispressing toward the overthrow of capitalism, and t he tradeunions, however r eactionary t hey may be at pr esent, will changetheir charact er under t he inthIence of the revolutionary mass,

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-or the social r evolution is a matter of the distant future,­in that case no unions, however revolutionary their programmesmay be, will be of much use. Those comrades who despair ofcapturing the working masses floundered in this contradictionall time. It is obvious that a conference of representatives oftrade unions of various countries could not adopt a point ofdespair, and it was resolved to "condenm the tactics of advancedrevolutionary elements leaving the existing unions. On thecontrary, these must take all measures to drive the opportunists.ou t of the unions carryon a methodical propaganda for Com­munism within the unions, and to form Communist and revolu­tionary groups in all the organizations for conducting propa­ganda in favor of our programme."

This point was severely attacked not 'only by those who sup­ported a split from the unions on principle, but also by theBritish Shop Stewards, who like their American and Germancomrades, desired to have their hands free on the questionleaving and splitting the trade unions. But the conferencecould not sanction such a desertion of the mass organizationsof the workers. That the conference took up the correct pointof view is proved by the Second Cong-ress of the Third Inter­.na t ional which sharply opposed the tactics of leaving the unions.The motto put forward by the Communist International, andwhich is our motto also, is: "Not the destruction, but theconquest of the trade unions."

It may have been possible on other questions to compromisein order to secure agreement, but on this cardinal question ofinternational labor policy no compromise was possible. Thematter should not be reg-arded from the point of view of theinterest of this or that g-roup, or from the peculiar conditionsof this or that country, but from the general interests of therevolution. If thi s method of regarding the question is adopted,then it will be clear that neither the Communist Internationalnor the trade union org-anizations affiliated to it could put for­ward any other motto, because for the revolutionary elementsto leave the unions would mean playing- Leziens' and Gompers'hand; it would relieve the unions under their influence of the

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restless elem ents. The revolutionary cla ss union s must notand will not render Legi en, Appleton, J ouhaux, and ot he rtraitors such a service.

* * *These conferences ended in the acceptance of a declaration

which should serve as a basis for gathering all the revolution­ary class unions into one organization. . This decla r a t ion wasdiscu ssed for a whole month, and is t he result of a compromisebet we en various tendencies. In view of t he extreme importanceof the declaration we quote it here in full:

"We, the undersigned representatives of Russian, Italian,Spanish, French, Bulgarian, Jugo-Slav and Georgian tradeand industrial unions called together by the Executive Com ­mittee of the Third Int er na t ional, consider:

"That the position of t he working class in all countriescreated by t he imperialist war from da y to day demands moredistinct and energetic class struggle for the f inal cessation ofexploitation i nd the establishment of the Communist system;

"That this strugg le must be conducted on an internationalsca le with the closest orga n iza t ion of all workers-not in craftgroups but in industrial organizations;

"That so-called social reforms, like the reduction of theworking day, increases of wages, regulating conditions of labor,etc., under certain circumstances ease the struggle of theclasses, but are in themselv es unable to solve the social problem;

" T ha t in the majority of the belligerent countries thegr ea t er part of the t r ade unions-neutral, or non-politicalunions-during the deplorable years of the war became theser va nts of imperialist ca pit a lism and retarded the fi nal ema nci­pation of labor;

"That t he workin g class · must g a the r all the trade unionorganizations into one powerful revolutionary class associationwhich, working side by side with the political organization ofthe international Communist proletariat, and in close contactwith it, could develop all its strength f or t he final victor y of

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the social revolution and the establishment of world-wide SovietRepublic;

"That the possessing classes are sparing no efforts tocrush the movement for the emancipation of the exploited;

"That the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie must be opposedby the dictatorship of the proletariat, as a transitional and,resolute method, which alone is able to crush the resistance ofthe exploiters and consolidate the gains of the proletarian gov­ernment;

"That the Amsterdam International Federation of TradeUnions is unable with its programme and tactics to lead to thetriumph of the above mentioned prmciples, and cannot securethe victory for the proletarian masses of all countries;

"Therefore resolves:"(1) To condemn the tactic of the advanced revolution­

ary elements leaving the existing unions. These on the con­trary should adopt all measures to drive out of the unions theopportunists who have coo-perated with the bourgeoisie by sup­porting the imperialist war, and who continue to serve theinterests of capitalist imperialism by participating in the ac­tivities of the pseudo-League of Nations.

"(2) To conduct Communist propaganda within the tradeunions in all countries, and organize Communist and revolu­tionary groups in every organization for the purpose of propa­ganda for the acceptance of our programme.

"(3) To organize a militant international committee forthe reorganization of the trade union- movement. This com­mittee , will function as the International Council of TradeUnions and will act in agreement with the Executive Committeeof the Third International on conditions that will be laid downby congresses. All trade and industrial unions affiliated tothe Council should be represented on it. One r epresentativeof the International Council of Trade Unions should 'be in­cluded in the Executiv~ Committee of the Third Internationaland a representative of the latter should be included in theInternational Council of Trade Unions.

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"Signed:

A. LOSOVSKY,All-Russian Cen tral Council T'rade Unions.

L. d'ARRAGONA,General Confe dera tion ·of L abor, Italy.

A. PESTANA,National Confe dera tion of L abor, Spain.

N. SHABLIN,General Syndicaz.ist Labor Unions, B ulgaria.

A. ROSMER,R evolutionary Syndicalist Minority, C. G. T ., Frallce.

N. MIKADO,Communist Mi n01'it.y T rade Unions, Georgia.

N. MILKITCH,Gen eral Confederation of Labor, Jugo-Slavia (Serbia,

etc.) ,

A close r eading of this document will show that it surrersfrom a number of defects. In the first place t he declarationdoes not sum up the period through which we are l iving at thepresent moment ; it does not des cribe the activity of the Am-

I sterdam Federanion of Labor, bu t only says that it is incapableof doing anything with its programme and tactics . The de­claration does not sufficiently brand these trade union leaderswho sta nd at the head of this organizat ion. It limits itselfto gene r a l declarations on the necessity of driving the oppor­tunists from the governing positions in the unions. But themain defect in the declaration lie s in that it does not sufficientlydefine the r elations to the Third Communist International, be­ca use inter-presentation on the r espective executives presup­poses the ex is t ence of an organization parallel with the ThirdCommunis t International which unites the revolutionary classunions. Su ch a division of organization may lead to the aliena-

tion of the trade unions from the centre of the world Commun­ist movement, parti eularly if such a state of affairs lasted for

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any length of time. The inter ests of the revolutionary classmovement s demand t hat t here should be more clear ness ont h is point a s on all the other question s.

'Wha t is the reason of the vaguenes s and incompletenessof the declaration? It is the fact that several of the organ­izations r epresented,-the General Confederation ,!f Labor . ofItaly, the unions which Robert Williams and Albert Purcellr epresent,-still belong t o the Amsterdam Federation of TradeU ni ons, and t hat the leaders of · even t he revolutionary classunions of We stern Europe la g behind the revoluionary masses.

* * *Thus, on t he 15th of July, 1920, an International Council

of Trade Unions was formed in Mos cow. What does t his newlycr ea t ed organization r est on? The numerical stren gth of theInternational Council of Trade Unions is as follows :

All-Russi an Central Council of Trade Unions .Genera! Confeder ation of Labor, Italy .Nationa l Confederation of Labor, Spain .Revolut iona r y Syndicalist Minority, France .General Confe deration of Labor, Jugo-Slavi a .General Labor Syndica l U ni on s, Bulgaria .Communist Minority, Georgia .

Members5,200,0002,000,000

800,000700,000150,000

90,00015,000

Total " 8,965,000

We thus see that t he newly created centre of the interna­tional trade union movement embraces more than 8,000,000organized workers. But this figure does not by a lon g way

. exha ust the r eal strength of the new organization. Althought he 1. W. W. , and t he representatives of the Br itish ShopSt ewa r ds r efused to sign the declaration quoted above, owingto their attitude on the dicta torsh ip of the proletariat and split­t ing the old unions, nevertheless these or ganizations have no-

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where else to go; they cannot but go with the InternationalCouncil of Trade Unions.

They cannot join the Amsterdam Federation of TradeUnions, they are not in a position to form their own interna­tional organization, and as they are revolutionaries and prole­tarians they will have to go together with the Communist In­ternational and consequently with the International Council ofTrade Unions. As for the left unions in England, Robert Will­iams and- Alfred Purcell gave the Russian and Italian delegatespower to sign the declaration on their behalf, But on its finalrevision their names were not included. The writer of theselines and the .general secretary of the General Confederationof Labor of Italy sent them the following radio:

"In view of the considerable revision of the declarationwhich we drew up together we have decided not to includeyou among the signatories, in spite of the fact that you hadgiven permissio nto do so. Inform us by radio whether yourorganizations have agreed to affiliate to the InternationalCouncil of Trade and Industrial Unions? Bring the questionof the new inter.national centre of the trade union movementbefore all the unions standing for energetic revolutionary classstruggle, direct action and the dictatorship of the proletariat."

Although no reply to this radio has up to the time ofwriting been received (August 10th), nevertheless one can saywithout fear of error that out of the 7,000,000 organized work­ers ' in Great Britain there must be many tens of thousandsstanding for our point of view.

If we add the whole of the trade union movement ofEs­thonia, Norway, Finland and the revolutionary unions of Ger­many, Austria, and Holland, a number of revolutionary unionsin Canada and America, and the Irish trade unions, we getmore than 10,000,000 organized workers upon whom the Inter­national Council of Trade Unions can ~ely in its revolutionarystruggle. This is not much if one bears in mind that the pro­gramme of the International Council of Trade Unions is the

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programme of the Third International; i. e., social revolutionand dictatorship of the proletariat, but it" is much if one re­members that the new international centre of the trade unionmovement has ' jus t com menced its existence. In contrast tothe Amsterdam Federation the new centre embraces a unanim­ous revolutionary mass while the former has many millions ofworkers out of the 18,000,000 who belong to it, who are con­ducting a revolutionary struggle against compromise and oppor­tunism, and for the social revolution. The International Coun­cil of Trade Unions only exists a f ew weeks, and yet a tremen­dous army of workers has already rallied to its banner. Thisis a sign of the times. All the organizations which stand forthe co-operation of classes wither and .collapse every day. Thiswas the fate of the Second International, that will be the fateof its double-the Amsterdam Federation of Trade Unions.On the ot her hand these organizations which stand for revolu­tionary' s t r uggle and civil war grow and develop to the extentthat the class conflict becomes more intense. As the develop­of the r evolution finally destroyed the Second International,from which even the most moderate parties are fleeing as iffrom a plague spot so is the Amsterdam Federation doomed todestruction. The revolutionary epoch does not tolerate half­heartedness and indecision. Every labor organization mustchoose with whom and against whom it is going to take astand,-with the Amsterdam Federation, the last bulwark ofthe bourgeoisie and social reaction,-or with the InternationalCouncil of Trade Unions, the complementary and inseparablepart of the Third Communist Internanional, the world centre ofthe Social Revolution: It will be difficult to m'ake the choice.We are convinced that the day is not far off when the workers,on a national and international scale, will take their deceivedand deceiving . leaders to the front door of their organizationsand firmly and r esolutely say to them, "We've had enoughof you; clear ou t !" They will do this because the cleaningout of the ranks of labor is a preliminary condition of victory.

Petrograd-Murmansk, 8-12 August, 1920.

A. LOSOVSKY.

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APPENDIX 1.

MINUTES OF THE FIRST CONFERENCE OF REVOLU­TIONARY TRADE UNIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN,

. ITALY AND RUSSIA.

The minutes of the Conference of the Representatives ofthe Revolutionary Trades Unions of Great Britain, Italy andRussia, held in Moscow in the Union House, the premises ofthe Moscow Council of the Trade Unions, the 16th of June,1920, on the question of organization of the Red Internationalof Trade Unions.

Chairman: G. Zinovieff.

Secretary: C. Ziperevitch.

The del egates present: G. Zinovieff (chairman of theExecutive Committee of the Third International); Great Bri­tain: Robert Williams, Transport Workers' F ederation; \ A. A.Purcell, t{he Parliamentary Trade Union Congress; Italy: d'Ara­gona and Guiseppe Bianchi, delegated by the Italian NationalConfederation of Labor; Enrico Dugoni, Italian National Fede­ration of Landworkers; Emilio Colombino, Italan Metal Work­ers; Russia: A. Losovsky, M. Tomsky, G. Ziparovitch, V.Schmidt, members of the Presidium of the All-Russian Centr a lCouncil of the Trade Unions; G. Melnichansky, delegated bythe Moscow Council of Trade Unions.

Comrade Zinovieff explained the poin of view of theExecutive Committe of Communist International on the questionof the international unification of the trade unions. He pointedout the serious danger threatening the revolutionary movementof the world proletariat, owing to the destructive work of the

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Amsterdam International, which is still ga t her ing around itselfmillions of workers. The yellow Amsterda m International ofTrade Unions is not by any means m erely a technical organof , the International movement. Bound strongly t hr ough thesocialist-oppor t u nist s : J ouha ux , Legien , Appleton, and otnerswith the League of Nations, first of all t hr ough the Washing­ton Labor Bureau, t he Am sterdam Inter na tional is a politicalweapon in the hands of the E ntente, the strongest it ever po s­sessed. The task ,con front ing the proletariat i s to tear thisweapon from it s hands. But how shall this be done? By thecr ea t ion of a Communis t centre in the heart of the AmsterdamInternational, in order to blow it up from within, by the f orma­tion of an indep endent Interna t ion al of R ed Unions a s a contrastto the yellow Amsterdam Internat ional ; or by the organizat ionof a trade union secti on of t he Third Communist International,which, under t he di r ection of t he lat ter, shou ld commen ce acampaign a ga inst the Amsterdam Int er national under the ban­ner of Commu nism .

Comrade Zinovieff declared that the Executive Committeeof the Communist International, a ccording to t he decision of theFir st Con gress , ha s chosen the la t ter point of vi ew, as the onlysound one for the pr esen t time, and named sever a l countries,some of which have already a gr eed to this poi nt of v iew, andsome are ready to a gr ee t o it in conseque nce of ou t side circum­st a nces. Thus, f or in st ance, all the Trade Unions of SovietRussia have already joined the' Third Com mu nist Internationalin accordance with the r esolution of the Third Conference ofthe Russian Trade Unions.

The Scandinavian countries, Bulgaria, some . of the mostpowerful German unions and t heir association (viz., t he MetalWorkers' A ssociation , the Railway E mployees, the CentralCouncil of the Berlin Trade Union ), a s well as the 'I'ripl e Al­liance of the r ailwaymen, miners and transpor t workers inGreat Britain, and the I. W. W. in the United States of NorthAmerica, etc., are inclined toward his view. That is why, inthe opinion of Comr a de Zinovi eff, t he organization of the TradeUnion Section of the Third International would be highly im -

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portant and practically easy to realize, and at the present time,in order that the second Congress may deal with an actuallyac complished fact, the organization of this section as an anti­thesis to the yellow International would not only make clearthe attitude which the Trade Unions and syndicates adopt to­wards the dictatorship of the proletariat, but also give a strongimpetus to the growing separation of the working masses of thewhole world from the yellow International, which is spendingits energy in support of the counter-revolutionary Entente.

Comrade Williams, agreeing with the essential thesis de­veloped by Comrade Zinovieff and urging the growth of sym­pathy in the ranks of the British trade unions towards 1lheThird International, pointed out that the present conferencecannot definitely resolve the problem in question, as noll all thedelegates present are authorized to do so, and on the other hand,it is necessary to carry out a considerable amount of prelimi­nary work in order that the first step towards uniting therevolutionary trade unions and syndicates should be firmer andmore efficient. Accordingly, Comrade Williams proposed first,to confrim the opinion expcessed by Comrade Zinovieff on theposition of International Trade Union movement and to accepthis criticisms of the Amstredam Congress and the yellow Inter­national of Legien, Jouhaux and others; and second,. immedi­ately to appoint a provisional committee con'1~osedof the dele­gates present at the conference in order to convoke as soon aspossible an International Conference of the Trade Unions stand­ing on the platform of the Third International. This confer­ence should be authorized to decide concretely as to what formthe Red International of Trade Unions should take.

Comrade Zinovieff read the first clause of the resolution,which was translated into English and Italian, and after thatproposed to consider it.

Comrade Dugoni declared that he must decline to sign thisresolution firstly because he is not authorized by his organiza­tion to do so, and, secondly, because he does not agree withsome of the expressions used in the clause of said resolutions.Many members of the Italian Syndicates do not belong to the

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Third Internation al and a r e mem bers of t he Amsterdam Inter­national, yet they are conduct ing a fierce class struggle againstthe bourgeoisie. Their identification with the yellow Interna­tional may call forth a protest on the part of the Italian work­ers.

Comrade Losovsky pointed out that the authority to signthe resolution does not play any essential part in the appoint­ment of the pro vi sional committee for the preparation of a..International Conferen ce which sh all decide the question of itsrelation to the Third International and the Amsterdam Confer­ence.

Comrade Zinovieff had no objections to make against thesoftening of some sharp expressions and proposed to read thewhole resolu tion. Comr a de d'Aragoni agreed to the proposal 'of Comrade Williams and asked at the same time to · clear upmore preci sely the connection between the Red Trade Untos.s,that will join the 'section 'of the Communist International, andtheir national centres .

If, for instance, some union joins the Third International,does that mean that the said union should automatically leaveits national federation because the latter continues to be a mem­ber of the Amsterdam International?

'Comr a de 'I'omsky a sked whether the English and Italiandele gation are r eady to a p point at on ce a provisional committee ·composed of the repr esen tatives of the Russian, British andItalian delegations with the obj ect of conducting propagandafor organization work, a nd also of preparing for an interna­tional conference , proposed by Comrade Williams and st a ndingin the closest connection to t he Communist International?

All the dele gates presen t gave a n affirmative reply to thequestion put by Comr ade Tomsk y, and proposal made by Com -rtul e William s was accepted. '"

Comrade Losovsky gave hi s vi ew on t he question raisedby Comrade d'Aragoni. 'H e pointed out that the admittanceof a union to the Third International through the section by nomeans compels it to leave its own national f ederation, but it isobliged while remaining a member of t he sa id federation to

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pr epare the latter to pass to the Inter nati onal of t he Red TradeUnions by working const a ntly in t h is dir ect ion , H e is bou ndas well t o aim at splitting all t he workin g masses off from theAmsterdam International Federation of Tra de Union s, usin gfor this object all the practical qu estions, the answer s to whichare determined by the character of their relation 1;0 t he dict a t or­ship of the proletariat.

Comrade Zinovieff on the quest ion r aised by Comrade d' Ara­gon i pointed out that an analogi cal posi t ion has been obs ervedat Zimmerwald. The delegates taking part a t that congree«were not obli ged at the time to previou sly r esign their mem­bership of the Second International, althou gh Russia had evenat that time taken this decisive measure, t he justice of whichhas been later on fully confirmed by life itself.

Comrade Losovsky thought it necessary 'to make all po ssibleefforts to shorten the stage of preliminary orga n ization work.There is no time for waiting. The trade union movem ent haslagged considerably behind the political movement. The isola­tion of the trade union organizations from the decisive a ctionsof the political vanguards of the r evolutionary working classis keenly felt in many countr-ies. It is neces sary, therefore, thatall unions holding to a determined point of vi ew on the r evolu­tionary class st r uggle by their a dhe rence to t he Third Interna­tional, should clearly and decid edly dem on strate to the workingmasses t he gu lf existing between them and t he yellow Interna­tional Federation of Trade Union s. That does not m ean, ofcourse , that these unions will not take part in their own inter­national congresses. On the contrary, suc h a par ti cip ation isobligatory for t hem . For that r eason Comra de Losovsky pro­posed to charge the Provi sional Commit t ee, which shouldbe a ppointed immedia tely to begin working forthe organization of an internationalconferen ce of Trade UnionFederation, Syndicates and Trade U ni on s. A t t he same timehe pointed out that, according t o information pu bli shed by t heInternational Department of the Centr al Cou ncil of RussianTrade ' Unions not only. Russian bu t al so t he trade unions inSpain, Argentina, Brazil, and most of the P olish 'tr a de unions

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have al ready jo ined the Third Internati onal. T he same desirehas been ex pressed by the representative of t he Bulgar ia n tradeunion s ' " t esniak" Commu nist, the Comra de Nedelkoff now stay­

'ing in Moscow.Comrade d'Aragoni said that, having heard the above ex­

pl anation s, he withdraws his previous declaration.Comr a de Zinovief f pointed out that the conference will not

elaborate a detailed pl an of the new organization of interna­tional revolutionary trade unions, but shall establish immediatelythe followin g principles, whether it is necessary or not to beginat once with the or ga nizat ion of the Red International TradeUnions in one or another form on the basis of the resolutionspass ed by t he Third International. As far as the Russian tradeunions are con cerned t his qu estion has been decided in theaffirma t ive. N ow it is the turn of the trade unions of theother count r ies and firs t of all, of course, of the Italian andE ngli sh t r ade unions. If the delegates at present do not feelsufficiently empowered and able to make a definite decision onthis essentia l point, this question sha ll be transferred for con­sideration and decision to the workers of the Europeon count r ies.

Comrade W ill ia ms r ead the f ollowing declaration to thefirst clause moved by Comrade Zinovief f :

" The present pr ivate conf erence of the revolutionary lead­er s of t he militant trade union movement of Great , Britain,Russi a a nd Italy, r ecogni zing that t he existing Trade UnionInternational is in ca pable of directing and controlling the classstrug gle a nd cr ush in g t he interna tional bourgeoisie throughthe dica t orship of t he pr oletariat, r esolves to convene a morecomplet e a nd r ep r esentative confe rence of revolutionary tradeunioni sts fo r the establishme nt of a true Trade Union Interna­t ion al , f r ee from any connection whatever with the capitalistLea gu e of Nati ons and with the so-ca lled leaders of the labormovemen t who have ac t ed t he part of socia l-pa t r iot s and .cha u­vinists dur ing the world war a nd cont inue to maintain the samepolicy up till the present t ime." ,

The above declaration wa s ac cepted by all the members ofthe conference in stea d of the first clause proposed by ComradeZinovieff.

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Comrade 'l'omsky proposed in view of the departure of the>English delegation, to charge two members of the Italian dele­gation and two Russian delegates among those present at theconference to finally work out the declaration. The proposalreceived full approval and consent of . Comrades Williams andPurcell and was accepted. .

It was agreed that the Revision Committee meet on thefollowing day. This Committee has to work out the 'final formof the declaration and to confirm the minutes of the conference.

The same committee was charged with the drawing up ofthe proclamation addressed to the trade unions of all countriesin accordance with the resolution proposed by Comrade Zinovieff.

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· ,

APPENDIX II.

DECLARATION OF' PRINCIPLES

(This is the same declaration quoted in full on pages 23-24.)

Moscow, July 15, 1920.

APPENDIX Ill.

PROVISIONAL RULES.

The body formed by representatives of trade unions ofvarious countries shall be known as: The International Councilof Trade and Industrial Unions.

II. Aims and Objects of the 'I n t ernation al Council of Trade andIndustrial Unions:

(1) To carryon an insistent and continues propagandafor the ideas ' of the revolutionary class struggle, social revolu­tion, dictatorship of the proletariat and mass revolutionaryaction with the object of destroying the capitalist system andthe bourgeois State.

(2) To fight the disease of class' co-operation which isweakening the labor movement, and against "t h e hope that apeaceful transition from capitalism is possible. .

(3) To unite all the revolutionary elements in the worldtrade union movement, and to conduct a determined struggleagainst the International Labor Bureau of the League of Na­tions and against the programme and tactics of the Interna­tional Labor Bureau of the League of Nations and against the

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programme and t actics of t he International Federation ofTrade Unions in Amst erdam.

(4) To take the initiative in or ganizin g an internationalcampaign on t he outstanding facts of the class struggle andorganize the colle ction of funds f or the support of str ikes andgreat socia l conf licts, etc.

(5) To collect all material concerning the internationailabor movemen t a nd . t o ke ep all the organizations affil ia te dto the Interna t ional Cou nc il of Trade U nions in fo r med as tothe movement in other count r ies.

(6) To publish books, leaflet s, pamphlets affecting t heinternational movement.

III. Compo si ti on of Organization.

This is composed of r epresentatives of Russia, Italy, Spain,Jugo-Slavia, Bulgaria, Fra nce, Geor gia, one representat ive fo r 'each cou ntr y a nd one delegate for each ge ne r al national cen trewhich belongs to the International Council of Trade Uni ons.The Council al so includes a r epresen t a tive of t he ExecutiveCouncil of the Communist International. The Counc il . a lsoelects an executive bureau of t hree persons, including a gener a lsecretary and a delegat e to the E xecutive Council of the Com-munist Internat ional. '

TV. B ulletin.,

The International Council of Trade Unions ' shall publi shits own organ in four .la nguages, entit led : " The Bulletin of theInternational Cguncil of Trade Unions."

v. Conferenoes.

Only those trade ' unions or minorities of trade un ions whoconduct a r evolutionary st r uggle in their cou nt r y and r ecognizeproletarian dictato r ship are entitled to r epresen tat ion at. fnter ­national conferences.

General national centr es , trade unions separate u nions,

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and internati onal f ederations may be represen ted on the fol­lowi ng basis: Gen eral national cent res of t r ade unions, sepa­rate unions a nd minorities or unions whose membership is le ss't ha n 500,000 h ave .t he right to send two delegates. Organiza­tions having a memb ership grea ter than 500,000 may send anadditional delegate f or: ever y 500,000 members. Internationalf ederation s of trade unions, like textile workers, metallsts, etc.,send a delegate with a cons ult ative vote. Nation'al federationsare allowed r epresentation on' the conditron that their gener alt r ade union cen t re is not taking part in the conference. ' /

Wi th r egard to t hose trade unions who have not yet clearlyexpressed them selves on the question of proletarian dicta tor­ship (1. W. W. ) the Council in struct s the E xecutive to is su e anappeal to t hese, asking t he m to su bmit this question to theirlocal organiza ti on s and invite them to take part in the Inter­national Conference.

VI. H eadquarters

Until the meeting of the International Conf erence appotnr­ed to ,t ake place on January 1, 1921, the h eadquarters of theInternation al Council of Trade Union s sha ll be Moscow.

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APPENDIX IV.

<T'o the T rad e Unions of All Countries.

Comr ades :

The gr owth ,of the trade union movement of all countriesca u sed asu r esult of the in credible disaster imposed upon theinternational proletariat by the war, raises the question beforethe workers of all countries of ,establi sh in g an internationalgene r al staff of trade unions. The every-day facts of theclass struggle show that outside of thednternational strugglethere is no salvat ion . Class stands against class as never 'before. All the stren gth of the international bourgeoisie, a ll

• its means and r esour ces are accumulated in one internationalclass organization. The bourgeoisie has its general staff inthe League of Nations and has in its possession the whole ofthe colo ssal appar a tus of t he modern capitali st State so that atthe first sign of dang er it may throw in the whole of its strengthand r esources. The degree of class consciousness and organ­ization which international capitalism has attained can be se enfrom the events in Soviet Russia and Hungary. Soviet Hun­gary was crushe d by the triumph of the exploiters of all coun­tries, a nd if Soviet Russia has up till now not been crushe d, itis not the fault of international capital but its mi sfortune. Butthe bourgeoi sie is strong not merely because of its class con­sciousness, organization and complete understanding of the un­folding international struggle, 'it is st ill stronger as a resultof the lack of class experienc e of the masses and above allbecause it relies u pon the worker s' organizations in its struggleagedns t the workers. This is strange 'bu t true.

Wh at indeed hav e the trad e unions of the large and smallcountri es done during the years of war? Ho w did they carry

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out the traditions of international class solidarity and prole­tarian fraternity? The trade unions in the large majority ofcases. were the main 'supporters of the military policy of theirgovernments, they co-operated with the bourgeois nationalistscum of their countries and roused the lowest chauvinist in­stincts among the workers. If the war was prolonged for sucha long period" if we miss millions of our brothers from our,ranks, if Europe has been converted into an enormous grave­yard and the masses driven to desperation, then a large shareof the blame falls 'upon these leaders of the labor' movementwho betrayed the masses and instead of hurling forth' thebattle cry, "Proletarians of all countires unite," shouted "Prole­tarians of all countries murder an'd strangle each other."

And so the very people who, during the course of manyyears were the servants of their governments and who em­ployed their energy for the mutual extermination of the peo­ples, these peoples have commenced to reconstruct the TradeUnion International which they destroyed by their treachery.The experienced fighters for the interests of the bourgeoisie,Messrs. Legien, Oudeguest, Jouhaux, Appleton, Gompers, andothers gathered in Berne and Amsterdam, and after long na­tionalist quarrels and chauvinistic accusations, set up an in­ternational 'F eder at ion of Trade Unions. What is the basisof this fedaration? What is its program? How does thisinternational organization regard the epoch of . acute socialconflicts through 'which we are living? How does it proposeto extricate humanity out of the cul-de-sac into which it has

. been led ' by the imperialist bourgeoisie? We can find the an­swers to these questions in the fact that the inspirers and lead­ers of this Federation of Trade Unions in Amsterdam are atthe same time the most active participators in the notoriousBureau of Labor of the piratical League of Nations which L;composed ' of representatives of organized employers, tradeunions and neutral bourgeois governments, As is known; thechief function of this bureau is to continue and strengthen theco-operation of classes which lies at the basis of the miiltaristpolicy of the imperialist countries for the further exploitationof the workers by international capital.

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From this it is perfectly clear that the Amsterdam Fede­ration is simply a screen to conceal the "yellow" leaders ofthe trade union movement, who having .definitely gone. overto the -side of the imperialists, now as during the war, striveto use the organized power of the workers' unions in the inter­est of capitalist society. The natural results of such an un­natural union of interests of two completely opposite classesis the complete fruitlessness and unability of both the Am­sterdam Federation and the Paris Labor Bureau of the 'Leagueof Nations to the slightest degree to defend the interests ofthe 'working class, because these organizations defend the in­terests of the bourgeoisie.

I . ,

A striking example of this fruitlessness is the relation ofthe international federation of Soviet Hungary and Soviet Rus­sia. It allowed 't he first to , be crushed without the slightestprotest and if now they are making weak attempts by organ­izing a boycott to bring Horthy, whose policy of white terrorunceremoniously compromises the whole idea of class ' co­operation-to his senses, then it is done 'only in order to enterinto compromises with this very execution. The attitude ofthe Amsterdam Federation is exactly the same and up till 'nowit has riot even attempted definitely and resolutely to expressitself against-intervention in Russia, although it knows per­fectly wen that such indefiniteness is especially important anddesirable for the Entente.

This conduct of the Amsterdam Federation Is the logicaloutcome of its policy and the composition of its national sec­tions. An organization composed of social patriots and be­trayers of the interests of the workers of various countriescannot create anything else but an international union of de­ceit and treachery.

The trade union movement of the world together cannotsatisfy itself simply by asserting this fact . The social strug­g.le is becoming more acute. Civil war has long ago broken 'through national frontiers. In this bitter struggle of two hos­tile worlds, of two systems, the revolutionary class unions taketheir place, and can do ' nothing else but take their ;place, sideby side with the Communist parties of the various countries.

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It is self evident that the Amsterdam Federation of the unionsplaying this subordinate role to the League of Nations cannotserve as the guiding centre of the revolutionary class tradeunion movement. It is necessary to act up such a centre,such a general staff as 'a counter-balance to and in spite of theAmsterdam centre. This centre was formed on the 15th' ofJuly in Moscow, by the trade unions of Russia, Italy, Spain,Jugo-Slavia; Bulgaria, France, and Georgia, under the titleof "The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions."The new general staff already uniting nearly three millionmembers, commenced its activity by appealing, to the unionsof all the world to break away from those who are conductingthe criminal policy of compromise with the bourgeoisie, andto stand under the banner of a ruthless class war for the emanci­pation of the oppressed humanity.

The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unionscarries not peace but a sword to the' bourgeoisie of all countries.,This defines the essence of our activity. Our ' program is theviolent overthrow of the bourgeoisie, the establishment of thedictatorship of the proletariat, a ruthless class war 'on an inter­national and national scale and a close unseverable alliancewith the Communist International.

Those who think that the working class may solve the ,social question by means of negotiations and agreements withthe bourgeoisie, those who think that the bourgeoisie willvoluntarily surrender the means of production to the proleta­riat and that it is only necessary to secure a parliamentarymajority, those who suppose that in the period of the break-'up of all the relations and the fate of the world is being .decided, that the unions can remain "neutral," those who in 'aperiod of civil war through which we are living, preach civilpeace, let them know that we regard them as our class enemies,and thaf we will conduct ruthless war against them andagainst the organization which they have set up.

The International Council of Trade and Indusrtial Unionsand the Amsterdam Federation are on the opposite sides of thebarricades'. On the one side of the barricade there is social

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revolution, on the other-social reaction. A proletarian, anhonest revolutionary can make the choice without dif f iculty.

Long live the proletarian revolution!

Long liv e the dictatorship of the proletariat!

Long live the International Council of Trad e and IndustrialUnions!

Long live the Third International-

. Moscow, August 1st, 1920.

The International Council ofTrade and Industrial Unions.

, I

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APPENDIX V .

.MOSCOW OR AMSTERDAM.

By A. Lsovsky,

(1) At the present moment there are two internationaltrade union centres; one in Amsterdam, bound to the SecondInternational with its theory and practice, and the other inMoscow, connected by ideas and organization to the Third In­ternational. Between the two existing trade union internation­als there is the same chasm as there is between the Secondand Third Internationals.

(2) ,Tr ade unions organization standing on the revolution­ary class point of view and particluarly those belonging tothe Third International, cannot belong to the Amsterdam TradeUnion International because their presence in the AmsterdamInternational ties the left unions with the League of Nationsthrough the Executive Committee of the Amsterdam Federationof Trade Unions which in its turn is bound to the InternationalLabor Bureau at the head of which stands the betrayer of theworking class-Albert Thomas.

. (3) For those unions which already belong to the ThirdInternational and who took part in its last congress the ques­tion of leaving the Amsterdam Trade Union International isno longer a debateable, but a practical one. It is a matter ofcarrying out the resolution of the Second Congress of the ThirdInternational, which says: All unions belonging to the ThirdInternational must also belong to the International Council ofTrade Unions. Not' a single trade union can remain within 'the Third International if it does not enter the InternationalCouncil of Trade Unions.

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(4) The exit of trade union centres from the Amster­dam International does not by any means mean that a splitmust take place in international trade union organizations, likethe metal workers, t extile' workers, typographical workers, et c.Industrial unions of various countries standing; on the revolu-

\ tionary class position must not only remain within their inter­national organizations, must t ake t he initiat ive in calling inter­national congress on , and ot he rwise raising the question of tnoclass struggle. They must a t ever y conference and congres sraise the question of! joining the International Council of TradeUnions, of direct act ion , of dictatorship of the proletariat andthe centralization of the international struggle against inter­national capital. If the r evolutionary union finds itself in amajority at the conference it must remain inside the interna­tional organization, striving to influence the correspondingunions of other countries in order even t uall y to gain themajority.

(5) The ' exi t of trade unions and revolutionary sectionsof international organizations will take place ' all the sooner 'and the less painfully whim the qu estions of international trad eunion policy are brough before the masses. Ever y worker or­ganized in a trade union should understand that the ties be­tween hi s union and the general trade union centre of hiscount r y and the unions and centres of other countries is nota matter of the f ormal affiliation to one or other organization,but a vital qu estion of national and international class struggleupon which depends the success of the st rug gle of the inter­national proletariat for socialism.

(6) Thus the new international organization of revolu­tionary class unions demands of every trade union really stand ­ing for the class struggle and the dictatorship to ' rouse theinterests of the masses in the international labor movementand to a ssocia t e the st ruggle against the centre of resistanceof the world bourgeoi sie,-the Amsterdam Trade Union Inter­national with the pressing questions of the day , affecting hi sunion and 'the whole trad e union movement. Only in thismanner will the national limitations, which many even r evolu­tionary class unions have not yet outgrown, be overcome.

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ADDENDUM.

After this pamphl et had already been se t up and printeda r adio was r eceived from Moscow, dated September 8, t o the.eff ect t hat the following organ izations had affil iated to theInternational Council of Trade Unions:

1. British Shop Stewards' and Workers' Committees.

2. Transport Workers' Federation of Holland and DUt '::1Indies.

3. The German Syndicalists.

4. The Syndicalists' Unions of Italy.

The affiliation of the British Shop Stew ards and GermanSyndicali sts to the International Council of Trad e and Indus ­trial Unions is the result of the further conferenc es that tool,place in Moscow after the conclusion . of the Second Congressof the Third International. Thus the r epresentaitves of theBritish Shop Stewards and the German Syndicalists fi nallyacc epted the point 'of view whi ch the Russian delegates urged.One can onl y welcome this affiliation, as in this m anner t heunity of the left wing of the Trade Union movement of thewhole wor ld is se cured. The deb ates which took pl ace at t hepreliminary conferenc es were of great importance, fo r it I S

essent ia l that the wo rkers should understand the differenceswhich ex ist n ot on ly in the trad e union movement as a whole,but even in the left ·wing . The existence . of an Internat ionalrevolutionary organization of trade unions is only po ssible onthe basis of a clear and defi nite program, Such a programcan only be drawn up when the exis t ing differenc es and mis­understandings are r emoved and a unanimous understandingof problems is r eached between all the sections of the revolu-

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tionary trade and industrial organizations. Unanimity amongthe representatives of revolutionary trade union organizationshas already been reached, we must now see to it that the 'tens of millions of organized workers in all the world accept'the same point of view. The victory of the social revolutionwill then be assured.

Christiana, September 9th, 1920.

A. LOSOVSKY.

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