The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 4, 1925, Page 7

“The idea becomes power when it pene- trates the masses.” -—Karl Marx. (Continued from yesterday) The Attitude of the Trades Union Congress. On September 1, Mr. A. A. Purcell, delivering his’ president’s address to the Hull Trades Union Congress, at which a fraternal delegation frdm Russia, headed by Tomsky, was pres- “ ent, referred to the decisions of the Vienna, meeting, and uséd one or two phrases, of which: ‘the ‘most significant was:— > We must assuredly make the most of every opportunity, dignified or otherwise, to bring every national trade union center within the four corners of a genuinely united and avowedly anti-capitalist Internatio- nal Federation of Trade Unions. This was taken up by Mr. Pollitt and Mr. Hallsworth in the discussion of the British delegation’s report on the Vienna Congress. An all-in con- gress was suggested. Finally, - the Trade Union Congress unanimously agreed to the following statement made from the chair -by Mr. A. A. Purcell: — | think | ought to take this op- portunity of impressing upon Con- gress the significant fact that we have now received from practically all those Continental nations where the labor movement is in a dis- turbed condition indications that they are looking to the British _ Trades Union Congress as a demon- stration of that unity which it ap-~ pears to me is so vitally necessary. From Italy and Germany, and now from France, the dissident sections have intimated their desire for uni- ty, and if our movement is to fulfil its great destiny, something might be done to consummate thatzdesire. In no country is unity so firmly esta- blished as in Great Britain, and it seems incumbent upon this Con- gress, without any formal resolution or indulging in long discussion, to take such steps in bringing together the different elements of the labor movement in Europe in an effort to establish that solidarity which will make for world peace. |, therefore, suggest to Congress that they em- power the general council, through the International Federation of Trade Unions, to take all possible steps to bring the parties together. Immediately after the Hull Con- gress, a meeting of the’ executive com- mittee ‘of the I. F. T, U. was held at «Amsterdam ‘on September 11, The © British délegates. put forward prop- osals, and.as a result a letter was sent _to Moscow:—- . To the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions, Moscow, Amsterdam Sept. 11, 1924. Comrades, Our executive committee, at its meeting on the 11th Sept. consider- ed your letter of the 26th July, and instructed us to reply as follows: — The desire for the restoration of the organizational unity of the trade union movement, for the destruction of which we are not responsible, has always been present with us, and has been repeatedly expressed by us. We also agree with what you say: “That the struggle between labor and capital, which is becoming more and more acute, can be suc- cessful only when the forces of the economic organizations of the pro- letariat will be concentrated, and the unity of the international trade union movement achieved. + ‘It must, however, be realized that between the policy that you recogn- ize as the basis of trade union act- ivity and that to which we adhere, | SPECIAL MAGAZINE SUPPLEMENT THE DAILY WORKER. , APRIL 4, 1925. British Leaders Urge Trade Union Unity FOR WORLD TRADE UNION UNITY We publish herewith the second instalment of extracts from the Special Supplement to the Monthly Circiilar of the Labor Research Department of the British Trade Union Congress ‘devoted to further- ing world trade unton unity, The Special Supplement began with a preface by A. A. Purcell, president of the International Federation of Trade Unions (Amster- dam) and is composed largely of original documents; correspondence between. the Red International of Labor Unions and the Amsterdam right wing officialdom, reports of conferences, etc. ‘ The publication of this Special Supplement, the very frank and militant announcement of its purposes by the president of the Amster- dam International, the complete exposure of the treacherous and dis- ruptive tactics of the right wing which it contains, all are indicative of the tremendous hold that the Slogan of World Trade Union Unity has gained upon the British trade union movement, the most powerful section of the Amsterdam international.—Ed. Note. there is a fundamental difference, which is much wider than that of more or less radical policy. To bring these widely different lines of thought into agreement can be no light task, but we are willing to _Strain all our powers to perform it. Before we can consider entering into negotiations as proposed by you, it is in our view desirable to have something in writing as a basis for discussion, so that we may see where agreement on principles and policy is possible. We would therefore request you to make writ- ten proposals, from: whieh we can judge whether a common basis of Agreement can be found. As you know, the instructions which we received in Vienna, in re- gard to any negotiations as to unity that might take place, were quite definite, but ths queston can be left for the time being. We need not emphasize the fact that the execut- tive committee could not, in this most impgrtant matter, take any binding decisions that exceed the instructions we received at Vienna without consulting our general coun- cil, and- possibly even another con- gress. Looking forward to receiving your reply, With international greetings, For the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Trade Unions: A. A. Purcell, chairman, , J. Oudegeest, Secretary. The. reply to. this came in a long letter (given below), despatched from Moscow on October 23. In this note the desire of the I, F. T. U. for “some- thing in writing” is met by full and explicit statement of principle, togeth-. er with a proposal for an all-em- bracing World Congress of Labor as the best means of obtaining unity. To the International Federation of Trade Unions, Amsterdam 4 Moscow, Oct. 23, 1924. Dear Comrades, We received your letter, of date the 11th of September, on September 20, but as the Presidium of the All- Russian: Central Council of Trade Unions only met in full session on the 23rd of October, we had no op- portunity of replying te you. ~ It was not without satisfaction that we learned of your declaration that you, too, were desirous of cre- ating organizational unity in the trade union movement. * It appears to us‘to be out of place here to go into details with regard to the party on whose shoulders blame must be laid for the split in the international trade union move- ment. We would only wish to point out that in reality a united, all-in- clusive and firmly welded interna- tional trade union movement has never hitherto existed. Only our present—as we suppose “common efforts will lead, we hope, to an end being put to the split. We willingly fall in with your wish that you receive something in written form which would serve as a basis for the coming negotiations. We on our part are striving to create unity within the trade union movement on an international and | national scale, that is to say, as far as possible to get the closest. unifi- cation of all trade union organiza- tions, those affiliated to the Red In- ternational of Labor Unions or the International Federation of Trade Unions as well as those standing completely aside from any interna- tional federated bodies, on the ne- cessary condition that these organ- izations standing apart from these federations recognize the principle of the class struggle. -~ ‘We think there is no need to ex- plain why we are striving to achieve this unification, this alliance of trade unions with an orientation genuine- ly anti-capitalist. You know as well as we do that the unity of the in- ternational trade union movement is the very first precondition to a suc- cessful fight both against the of- fensive of capital and the fascist reaction and against the capitalist ‘order as a whole. We hold that the best means of attaining unity and being able to _create one single Trade Union In- ‘ternational would be the convening general joint congress, of a world congress of labor. As to how, when and where this congress could take place would not be a difficult matter to agree to during the course of the negotiations. We note your view that between “the policy” which we lay down as the basis of our work in the trade unions and yours there exists a fundamental difference, that here there exists a profound abyss, “much wider than that of a more or less radical policy.” The significance of this phrase Is not quite clear to us. For as a matter of fact those differences which exist as between us are noth- ing new—they have been in exist- ence for a number of years now and were probably known to and taken into consideration by the Vienna Congress of your Federation. It is self-understood that in the proper place and at the proper time we will be ready to discuss in all de- tails the differences in opinion which divide us from you, In any case we are pleased to confirm the fact that there is a desire on your SECOND SECTION This magazine supple ment will appear every Saturday in The Daily Worker. part—no matter what may be the real divisions between us—to do all that lies in your power to find a common line of action. As we on our part have the same desire, we declare that the chiefest and most important guiding prin- ciple: in the activities of the trade union and workers’ organizations, as we hold, is to get free of the irre- concilable contradiction in interests between labor and capital, this de- manding a class war to the knife between the wageslave and ‘the capitalist classes for the final abo- lition of the capitalist system and the emancipation of the proletariat from the oppression of capitalist ex: ploitation and the beggary, barbar- ism and slavery which it brings in its train. Hence the reason for our prop- osal: a complete break with every form of class collaboration with the bourgeoisie, a common fight of the workers and their organizations, on a national and international scale against world capital—and thanks to this, the full readiness of all genuine militant organizations fight- ing for the emancipation of the working class might be rendered possible. We await your reply and parti- cularly notices as to when and where in your opinion the first ne- gotiations between your represent- atives and ours might be held. Although we for our part are also ready to continue,“ a8» farae, this might be necessary, correspordenge on the question of unity, it seems desirable to us, however, and it would be more useful as far as the business itself is concerned, if with the aid of the first exchange of views and opinions—even if such a meeting were not to bear any kind of binding character whatsoever— the way was to be prepared for all further steps towards the goal we have in view. With comradely greetings, President of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions: M. TOMSKY, Secretary of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade oe A. DOGADOV. To this again a reply was sént ftom the Bureau of the I. F, T. U. on ‘De- cember 1, George Hicks being pres- ent as British delegate in the absence of Purcell and Bramley in Russia. The wording of the I. F. T. U. letter is as follows:— We gather from your letter of July 26, and also from this last letter, that you do not appear willing to af- filiate with the |. F. T. U. on the basis of its rules ang resolutions. Instead of doing so you propose the convening of a joint general con- gress, a world labor congress, to which would be invited not only the organizations affiliated with the 1. F. T. U. and the R. I, L, U., but all other organizations outside these Internationals which recognize the principle of class war, We have already called your at- tention in our fetter of September 11 to the fact that the Vienna Con- — gaveé us definite directions for pening of negotiations on the pat on of affiliation of the Russian trade unions to the |. F. T. U, It is for our general council which together with the executive commit- tee, constitute the two bodies com- petent to interpret and execute the decisions of our International Con- gresses, to consider and define its attitude regarding your new prop- (Continued on page 8)