The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-02-19
AN HISTORIC PAMPHLET
By CHARLES ASHLEIGH.

just as there are certain events IN
the individual lives of men, which may
be recognized as marking new period,
fresh point of departure, in their per
sonal careers, so are there outstanding
happenings in the lives of nations, Of
movements, or of all the people of the
earth which are also as "white stones"
marking definite stages of progression
on the highway of life.
This pamphlet which have just read
seems to me to signal, very definitely,
a elimination Of an old period and the
starting of a new. 1t marks with pre-
cision a new orientation for the labor
movements of the world 1t is a ralying
of scattered forces, and channel for
the new streams of effort which are
manifesting themselves, ever more Wig
orously, among the working classes Of
our time
The book is called, "The Interna-
tiona Council of Trade and Industrial
Unions, " by A. Losovsky. 1t is publish
ed by the Union Publishing Associa-
tion, of New York City.
The war and the wars catastrophe
aftermath have stressed the vital ne
cessity of international workingclass
organization. Not the old international
labor organization, which consisted mere
ly of sort of central clearing house
for information, but of an international
of action. Out of the turmoil of the
war have emerged a certain number of
labor unions to which the term revo-
lutionary may be well applied. They are
industrial organizations which recognize
the class struggle, and which aim at the
abolition of capitalism
Where are such organizations to turn,
for International affiliation9 Shall
they seek the feeble, new International
Bureau of Amsterdam? Losovsky, in
this vigorously written pamphlet, shows
exactly why they should not He cx-
poses mercilessly the temporizing and
rcfOrmistc nature of the "Yellow In
ternatiOnal,' y as it is now called by all
militants. He shows that it is but the
weak appendage of the Labor Bureau
of the League Of Nations, that express.
sion of international capitalism which
has been formed by international fin.
'ancicrs for the suppression, on world
wide scale, of labor. Its leading spirits
are JOabapx, Appleton, Lesiea and
other "labor leaders" who have earned
| the confidence of the master class, by
becoming expert in the befuddement
and misleading of their proletarian fol-
lowers. The Amsterdam International.
in fact, is an International of labor
bureaucrats and reactionaries.
LosOvsky describes the birth of the
International Council of Trade and In
dustrial Unions, or, as it is more po-
pularly called, the Red Labor Union
International. In June and July, 1920,
there were several delegations of labor
unionistS in Russia, who had been sent
there by their organizations for the
purpose of studying conditions in that
country. As the Second Congress of
the Third (Communist) International
was also to be held at about that time,
there were also number of prominent
union leaders of various countries who
were present in their capacity as dele.
gates from the revolutionary political
parties to which they also belonged.
And then, again, there were a few in.
, dividuals, members of various unions,
carrying no credentials, who had come
to Soviet Russia to ascertain condi-
tions. Among these last may be men.
toned Taro Joshiharo, Japanese member
of the American I. w. W., who attract.
ed much attention at the famous Mooney
Convention in Chicago, Joshiharo was
later elected member of the Pro.
visional Council of the new industrial
International.
Among Others present at this historic
conference were Rosmer, representing
100000 members of the Revolutionary
Minority of the French General Con.
federation of Labor; A. Madison, Nor.
wcgian Industrial Unions; Pescana, of
the Spanish Syndicalists; J. T. Murphy,
of the British Shop Stewards AID Work.
ers Committees; Robert Williams, of
the British Transport Workers; NJ. Tom.
sky, All.Russia Trade Unions; Shablin,
Bulgarian Unions; and many others,
The occasion Of the presence of all
these men of Importance in the revo.
I