The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 16, 1925, Page 8

By A. LOZOVSKY. Speech of the Secretary of the Red In- ternational of Labor Unions to the Enlarged Executive Committee Meeting of the Communist International. HE line laid down on. {We union question by the fifth world congress of the Communist Interna- tional has been strikingly confirmed by the course of events. The unity of the trade union movement has be- come the most popular and the most vital fighting slogan, which appeals to all the masses, Since the fifth world congress, rather important changes have taken place in the political picture of the world trade union movement, which must be taken into consideration if the future line of our work is to be laid down correctly. The new events in the course of this period have been: (1) The trip of the British delegation to the Soviet Union; (2). the sixth trade union congress of the Soviet Union and the conclusion of a funda- mental agreement between the British trade unions and the Soviet unions; (3) the action of the Second Interna- tional and of the right wing of the Am- sterdam International (Brussels, Jan. 1-6, 1925) against the British delega- tion and the new tendencies in the world trade union movement; (4) the coming to a head of the differences of opinion in the executive bureau of the Amsterdam International on the question of the attitude towards the Russian trade unions (Session of the executive bureau on Feb. 69); (5) the endorsement by a large aumber of reformist trade unions and trades councils in France, Germany, Bel- gium and other countries of unity and of the Anglo-Russian Unity Commit- tee; (6) the decision of the general council of the British trade unions to call a conference of representatives of the All-Russian Central Trade Union Co of the British Gen- eral Council of Unions for the discussion of difficulties which have arisen in consequence of the ses- sion of the executive bureau of the Amsterdam International; (7) the con- ference of representatives of the So- viet trade unions and the British trade unions which begins in London. on April 2; (8) the publication of the re- port of the British delegation upon its trip thru the Soviet Union; (9) the campaign for unity which has been developed in all countries, and into which millions of workers have been drawn; and (10) the evidence of the relations of German and international social-democracy with the profiteers, thru which our often expressed opin- ion that the enemies of trade union unity are direct agents of the bour- geoisie, is confirmed. EB most interesting aspects of these events are as follows: That the ideological differneces of opinion within the Amsterdam Inter- national have come to such a head that they not only paralyze the activ- ity—or putting it better, the inactiy- ity—of this organization, but also eompel the individual sections of the Amsterdam International to come in the open against one another; (2) That the slogan of unity and of the united front are beginning to take on practical organizational forms despite the obstinate sabotage of in- ternational social-democracy. The fight within the Amsterdam In- ternational has been going on for a long time already; up to recently, this struggle has been going on hori- zontally, between the upper strata and the lower strata. The opposition in the Amsterdam Internationa] conists of two groups, a crystallized one and and amorphous (loosely knit) one. The former has been organized by the Communist Parties upon the platform of the R. I. L. U. and bears the name: Minority Movement, Opposition Bloc, Fraction, etc. The other section re- flects the discontent of the masses, but it does not touch the fundamental kernel of the tactics and politics of the Amsterdam International. The dissatisfaction of the masses grew more intense after the occupation of the Ruhr as a result of the inactivity of the Amsterdam International. It ())]- rose during the whole of 1923 and was most clearly expressed in 1924, when the British trade union move- ment, as a result of the continuing economic crisis and the lessons of the MacDonald period, went over to the left wing of the Amsterdam Inter- national. The entire trade union movement of Great Britain entered the opposition to the traditional policy on a very essential and extremely im- portant question of the world labor movement: whether the united front with the Soviet trade unions should be established, or the hostile acts against the revolutionary trade unions in general and the Soviet Union in particular should be continued. HE action of the British delegation displeased the reformists to such a degree that the entire international social-democracy and the reformist trade union bureaucracy attacked the British delegation and requested as- sistance from their colleagues in the labor party and in the right wing of the trade union movement in Great Britain itself, in order to divert the British trade union movement from its “pernicious role.” This entire campaign came to an end at the last session of the executive bureau of the Amsterdam International (Feb. 6-8) with the acceptance of the allegedly “compromise resolution” of Steen- huis, against which the British dele- gation voted. Even the most lenient critics had to admit that this revolu- tion was nothing but a very stupid and clumsy maneuver. Politically, this resolution signifies the victory of the right wing over the left, which was well understood by the general council of the British trade unions, when it decided to hold a conference with the Russian trade unions for a discussion “of the difficulties, which have arisen in’ consequence of the session of the executive bureau of the Amsterdam International.” The state of excitement of the social-democrats over the British trade unions is dem- onstrated by thé umashamied attacks of the Russian mensheviki (in “Sozia- listitchesky Vestnik” of March 19) upon the report of the British delega- tion. The mensheviki write in an ar- ticle headed A Dishonest Book, that this report “is a deliberate conceal- ment of the truth and a_ leading astray of the reader,” etc., etc. That is the tone employed by the Russian mensheviki in speaking of their col- leagues of the Second International. leaders of the British trade union movement could not let such attacks go unanswered. In the first number of the monthly International Trade Union Unity, which is published by the labor research department, Purcell writes as follows: “The so- called socialist press of the continen- tal countries cannot serve as a reli- able source of information at present » » It does not give an unpreju- diced account of the facts.” And later on “Oudegeest, as well as Jouhaux (not to mention the Vorwarts) have shown beyond all doubt that they con- sider the so-called ‘compromise mo- tion’ a cunning step which is intended to thwart our 9 months of effort for the establishment of international unity.” He calls the methods of the right Amsterdamers “trickery.” In the official organ of the Amster- dam International Oudégeest (the secretary) ridicules the statements of the president and states that the bureau of the Amsterdam Interna tional gave no instructions for the writing of such an article. This en- tire polemic shows that the differ- ences of opinion in the Amsterdam International are mch more serious than many people believe. HE world trade movement was never entirely united, neither ideo- logically, nor from the point of view of organization. At present the trade unions are differentiated along politi- cal, national, religious and racial lines. The largest numbers of workers are organized in the reform- ist and revolutionary trade unions. But, the problem of unity posed by the fifth congress of the C. L, set the Communists before the question of uniting, not only the revolutionary and reformist unions, but of drawing into the united trade union move- nti niesasinenaenetincinva nore nent eneniaimenliihnta—te eaten ment the unorganized workers as well as the members of the catholic, pro- testant and similar trade union or- ganizations. The most serious obstacle on this road is the line of tactics of the right wing of the Amsterdam International, which want to choke off the initiative campaign for unity at any price; the methods of sabotage employed to this end are extremely varied. The or- ganizational and political focus of the campaigns against unity is however, the Second International, and this for a very simple reason: Whoever advo- cates the united front of the bour- geosie must be against the united front of the workers. The complexity of the situation, the difficulty of the struggle, old hab- its and traditions, insufficent_ flexibil- ity, and the inability to make the necessary organizational changes have also given rise to several deviations in our own ranks. The moré openly we speak of those deviations, the sooner will we succeed in overcom- ing them. HESE deviations are as follows: (a) Organizational conservatism; (b) the interpretation of the slogan of unity as a maneuver; (c) unity at any price; (d) the blunting of the struggle against the social-democracy in trade unions; (e) tendencies for the dissolution of the revolutionary trade unions, and even of the R. I. L. U. : The fight against organizational conservatism must be carried on by us in the most decisive manner. If the dissolution of any independent union may be of service in the con- quering of a mass organization, this dissolution must take place, for or- ganization is not an end in itself but a means towards an end. Everything depends upon the situation and the ratio of the strength of the Com- munists and the reformists in the labor movement. On the other hand comrades are of the opinion that our slogan is SHly a} gat; (f) “participate of “the “Trade—}-— maneuver. This entirely incorrect point of view must be combatted most energetically. We demand a serious, self sacrificing and sincere struggle for the unity of the trade union move- ment. Every Communist, every party member, must take note of this once and for all. obstinate resistance of the so- Cialdemocrats to unity has led several adherents of unity to the fol- lowing considerations: Since social-de- mocracy bitterly opposes any endea- vor for unity because of fear of Com- munist propaganda and agitation, it may happen that the Communist struggle against reformism will be blunted for the sake of the unity of the trade union movement. This is the most dangerous tendency in our campaign for unity. If it should chance to happen that in our strug- gle for unity the intensity of our Communist criticism against reform- ism should be blunted, then the unity which we might have attained would be turned against us. We must fight any such tendencies in a most decis- ive manner, Further, we should notice that the desire for unity with some comrades takes on the form of stormy impati- ence. This impatience serves as an explanation also for those tendencies which consider the liquidation of the entire trade union movement as fhe only right solution, The Communist International was and remains de- cidedly against any such tendencies, The struggle for unity does not sig- nify liquidation. The liquidation of the R. LL. U. is proposed as liquida- tion in order to bring about a united international, it presupposes the liqui- dation of the Amsterdam International. vakia), where we have a serious mass movement of revolutionary trade unionists, EGEL says that truth is concrete, on its struggle for unity, ods and forms according to place. & The Fight for World Trade Union Unity it is possible to group together a number of. countries. (1) Countries with a united revo- lutionary trade union movement (the Soviet Union), (2) Countries with a unified trade union movement, con- taining strong revolutionary minor!- ties and where there exist small paral- lel revolutionary or reactionary trade union. organizations (Germany, Great Britain, Italy). (3) Countries where the trade union movement is »split, where the reformists are in the ma- jority (Czecho-Slovakia, Holland, etc.) (4) Countries where the trade union movement is split and where the re- formists have a majority due to the police terror of the bourgeois state (Jugo-Slavia, Roumania). (5) Coun- tries where the trade union movement is unified, but where because of the political and police conditions the trade unions are affiliated to no in- ternational (Norway, Finland). (6) Countries where in addition to the céntral organizations independent, re- actionary and revolutionary trade unions exist, thus causing the trade unions to be without any interna- tional affiliation (United States). (7) Countries where the trade union movement is split and the revolution- ary workers have the majority (France). (8) Countries where in addition to the big organizations small syndicalist and anarcho-syndicalist or- ganizations exist. In accordance with this we can formulate our tactics for the struggle for unity on broad out- lines, (1) In England the struggle for unity must be conducted on the fol- lowing lines: (a) further consolida- tion of the Minority Movement, (b) struggle against groups and _ guild tendencies, (c) struggle to bring about the affiliation of all trade unions to the Trade Union Council, (ad) struggle for the creation of in- dustrial unions on the basis of fac- ‘tory council, (e) transformation of the general council into leading or- Council in the national union con- gresses and development of its role in local organizations, (g) definite sup- port of the left wing in all its endeav- ors to attain unity, (h) decisive strug- gle against the right wing, (i) strug- gle against the influence of imperial- ism on the working class, (j) strug- gle against the labor aristocracy in the labor party which is intent on stemming the onward march of the workers. . (2). In Germany the struggle for unity must be on the following lines: the creation and organization of an oppositional of revolutionary minor- ity, intense struggle against the pol- icy of expulsion and an endeavor to reunite the independent unions with the reformist unions. The party’s chief endeavor should be in the direc- tion of organizing the revolutionary opposition and the crystallization of a real left wing in the trade unions. The center of the struggle for unity must be in the factories and factory councils. The struggle for the fac- tory councils signifies the struggle for unity. (8) In Czecho-Slovakia. The strug- gle in the factories must be our chief (Continued on page 7)