The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-12-15
BY A. LOZOVSKY
Secretary of the Red International
of Labor Unions

ScCTtthTy Oh the heu 1nteruatlOflal
of Labor Unions
THE fight for unity of action and
trade union unity in the strug-
gle against the offensive of capital
against fascism and the war danger,
has spread to all the countries and
workers organizations. The trend
of the masses towards unity of ac-
ton has grown to such an extent
that many leaders of the social
democratic parties and reformist
trade unions are compelled to fol-
low the sentiment of the masses.
The most enthusiastic fraterniza-
ton of the workers of all tenden-
cies is taking place before our eyes.
This sentiment of the masses not
only rouses fury and alarm among
the bourgeoisie but also great alarm
among the leaders of the reformist
trade unions, most of whom are in
the extreme right flank of the in
ternational reformist labor move
ment. Ever new facts come to the
fore every day proving that the
leaders Of the Amsterdam Interna-
tional are conducting systematic
work directed towards hampering
the united front and trade union
unity. Thus the leaders of the c.
G. T. in France repudiated the pro-
posal of the unitary trade unions
for merging the entire trade union
movement from top to bottom and
for the formation Of a unified Cen
eral Confederation of Labor.
Leon Jouhaux, the leader of the
reformist G. c. T. of France,
brought pressure to bear upon the
reformist trade unions of Roumania
to make them abandon the united
front and unity with the revolution
airy workers. The General Council
Of the British Trade Unions does
not even want to hear about a
united front with the revolutionary
workers. The leaders of the re-
forrnist trade unions Of Sweden.
Denmark, Holland, Belgium and
Czechoslovakia proceed along the
same line. Thus the leaders of the
sections of the Amsterdam Interna-
tional are carrying through-with
a stubbornness and insistence
worthy of better application = the
decisions of the Amsterdam Inter
national made in Weymouth against
the united front and trade union
unity.
We are not going to contend here
the right of the leaders of the re-
formist trade unions to pass what
ever decisions they wish. We are
not going, also, to tell the leaders
of the Amsterdam International
that the decision they made in
Weymouth to the effect that all
revolutionary trade unions, includ-
ing the r. I. L. u, should be
liquidated, is merely thrusting a
sword into water. Such a decision
is only apt to make the revolution
airy workers of the world enrolled
in the r. I. L. U. burst into hearty
laughter.
The leaders of the Amsterdam
international got into blind alley
because their policy and tactic went
bankrupt. They hope evidently to
come out of the blind alley which
they themselves created by demand
ing the liquidation of the revolu-
tionary trade unions. Any group of
people, of course, including the lead
ers of the reformist trade unions,
has the right to adopt absurd deci-
sions. But those millions of work.
ers who are organized in the ro-
forniSt trade unions should ask
themselves: Where are these deci-
sions finally leading us? What is
the difference between the resolu-
ton of the General Council OF the
British Trade Unions and the deci-
sion on this question made by the
leaders of the reformist trade unions
of Czechoslovakia, Sweden and
Denmark, or the decisions against
the united front and trade union
unity adopted in their time by the
leaders of the trade unions of Ger
many and Austria? There is no diff
ference whatsoever.
The leaders of all the sections
of the Amsterdam International are
carrying through the same policy
as that Of the trade union leaders
of Germany and Austria The work
ers should draw logical conclu-
sion, i.e., consequently the results
will be the same. This is what
every worker should think over. And