The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-05-22
COMMENT ON WORLD
EVENTS

French and Belgium workers, in col
laboration with the British labor
movement and the International Fed
Grafton of Trade Unions.
1t was reported that separate ma
tional groups of workers from Aus
tria, Poland and other Nazi-occupied
countries was proposed. Now comes
word that this organization of nation
al groups is going forward, the latest
to organize being Austrian workers
living in Britain.
Like all other groups, says the In
ternational Federation of Trade
Unions, the Austrian trade unionist
group accepted, as a fundamental
principle in it's rules, that every
Austrian worker in Britain is under
obligation to belong, not only to the
Austrian national group, but also to
his appropriate British trade union.
"Under the wing of democracy and
of the right of asylum, and in collab-
oration with the l. F. II. U. and the
British Trades Union Congress, every
thing which was destroyed by Hitler
is now being built up again in nucleus
in Britain-the traditional home of
trade unionism," the |. F. T. U. bulle-
tin comments.
Word of the formation of the Aus
trian trade union group in Britain is
not the only interesting labor news
coming from across the Atlantic. The
l. F. T. U. bulletin tells other news
of interest, dealing with Nazi tactics
in Belgium and Communist treachery
in Norway at the time of the German
invasion last year.
"In February" says the I. F. T. u,
"the Nazis began the work of trans
forming the Belgium trade union
movement into something conforming
to the German type. 1t has been en-
trusted to M. Christophe, who comes
from the camp Of the Catholic trade
unions. He has set up an all-in or
ganization, the Union Of Workers by
Hand and Brain corresponding to the
German Labor Front.
"The first discussion took place at
the beginning Of February, with rep
resentatives of the bookbinders and
paper workers and with officials of
the leather and clothing workers. The
leather and clothing workers are now
amalgamated in the Union of Work
ers by Hand and Brain--Leather and
Clothing Section
"Other union organizations will fol-
low. The members were not asked,
of course. They are to he informed
about the details in the future"
X X X
Telling of Communist shenanigans
in Norway, the |. f. r. U. says: "The
part played by the Norwegian Com
munists during the German invasion
has only just became known Before
that invasion, they could not shout
too vociferously about the lack of help
and support from Britain and France
for resistance.
"When hostilities began, they sud
denly discovered that surrender with
out fight was an extremely revolu-
tionary act. Once again, they played
the Nazis' game. They were such
close confederates to the Nazis that
they denounced to the military author
tiles trade union officials as they one
by one resumed their work.
"They endeavored to insinuate
themselves into posts temporarily
vacant because of the Imprisonment
of the officials in question. Their
hope was to make these positions
starting points for the launching of a
Popular Front movement.
"At the end of 1910, they received
a hint from abroad to cease this ac-
tivity, and as obedient puppets of the
Comintern they carried out this order
too. 1t is worth mentioning that
about this time the Norwegian Com
munists who had been imprisoned were
released by the Nazis and their
agents"