Berlin
Where was the headquarter of International Federation of Trade Unions located from 1931 to 1933?
International Federation of Trade Unions The International Federation of Trade Unions ( also known as the Amsterdam International ) was an international organization of trade unions , existing between 1919 and 1945 . IFTU had its roots in the pre-war IFTU . IFTU had close links to the Labour and Socialist International . The IFTU was opposed by the Communist-controlled trade unions . After the American AFL dropped out in 1925 the IFTU became a mainly European body with social democratic orientation . Its primary activity was to lobby the League of Nations and national governments on behalf of the International Labour Organization ( ILO ) . There were various International Trade Secretariats . The major ITS was the International Transportworkers Federation . As of 1930 it had affiliates in 29 countries and a combined membership of 13.5 million . Its headquarters was in Amsterdam 1919–1930 , in Berlin 1931–1933 , in Paris 1933–1940 and in London 1940–1945 . Walter Schevenels was the secretary-general of the IFTU 1930–1945 . The IFTU dissolved in 1945 to be replaced by the World Federation of Trade Unions ( WFTU ) . Founding . The European trade union movement had been divided by the First World War . An international meeting of trade unions was held in Bern , Switzerland , February 5-February 9 , 1919 , after the First World War . The constituent congress of IFTU was held in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in July 1919 . Union representatives from 14 countries took part ( United States , Belgium , Denmark , Germany , France , Great Britain , Holland , Luxemburg , Norway , Austria , Sweden , Switzerland , Spain , Czechoslovakia ) , representing a combined membership of 17.7 million . All delegations at the 1919 congress were Europeans , except the American Federation of Labor . However , the AFL delegate Samuel Gompers participated with a mandate from the Pan-American Federation of Labor . The only major industrial country absent was Italy , whose delegates encountered passport problems . In the refounded IFTU the general principle was that only one national centre per country would be admitted . However , at the founding congress there were exceptions . The British delegation consisted of both TUC and GFTU representatives . From Germany and the Netherlands both Social Democratic ( GGWD and NVV ) and Syndicalist ( VDGW and NAS ) trade unions participated . At the congress there were two candidates for the presidency of IFTU . The Briton W . A . Appleton was elected with 31 votes against 18 for the Dutchman Jan Oudegeest . Appleton had been nominated by Samuel Gompers whilst Oudegeest had been nominated by Arvid Thorberg . Two vice-presidents were also elected . In the election for the first vice-president the German Carl Legien was defeated by the Frenchman Léon Jouhaux . The defeat of the German candidate could be seen as an indication that many trade unionists in the former Allied countries were suspicious of the Germans , who had dominated the international labour movement before the war . Following Legiens defeat , the German and Austrian delegations abstained from nominating candidates for the second vice-president . The Belgian Cornel Mertens was elected to the position . Jan Oudegeest and fellow Dutchman Edo Fimmen were elected general secretaries . Political contradictions . The new international was politically Social Democratic . In the pre-war IFTU there had been both socialist and non-political union centres , but at the Amsterdam congress Oudegeest pronounced that the refounded IFTU would have a socialist orientation . The socialist profile was important , as in most countries in Europe the IFTU faced communist opposition at the time . The Amsterdam congress adopted a resolution advocating the socialization of the means of production , a resolution opposed by the Gompers . In the end , the Gompers decided that the AFL would not affiliate itself with the IFTU . IFTU was an almost exclusively European organization . Four non-European countries were had IFTU affiliates ; Canada , Argentina , Peru and Palestine ( Histadrut ) . Histadrut joined IFTU in 1923 . But these affiliations were largely dormant . Prior to 1937 the American affiliates played no role in the organization , and had no representation in the IFTU membership . Notably , the British TUC was reluctant to expanding the IFTU activities to India and other British colonies . The socialist orientation of IFTU was complicated by the fact that the president , Appleton , came from the non-political camp and had been an ally of Gompers . Moreover , IFTU demanded that the British TUC and GFTU had to merge into a single organization . The result was that TUC decided that it would be the sole British representative in the IFTU . Thus the GFTU leader Appleton resigned as IFTU president . He was replaced by J . H . Thomas . London and Rome congresses . In 1920 an extraordinary IFTU congress was held in London . In 1922 the second IFTU conference was held in Rome . At the Rome conference several new members were affiliated to the IFTU , from Greece , Bulgaria , Czechoslovakia , Yugoslavia , Hungary and Latvia . Through this expansion , the IFTU membership reached its peak of 24 million . However , the Norwegian LO withdrew from IFTU in protest to the policy of IFTU towards the Soviet Union . Soon after the Rome conference , the fascist regime in Italy would repress the Italian unions . The Rome congress elected Theodor Leipart as vice-president . It also chose Vienna as the site of the next IFTU congress . Both of these decisions were seen by contemporary analysts as a partial rehabilitation of the Germans inside the IFTU . Hague Peace Conference . December 10-December 15 , 1922 the IFTU organized an internal Peace Conference in The Hague . The conference took place in the backdrop of mounting military tension over the Ruhr . The Peace Conference marked the height of influence of IFTU . The initiative to hold the conference had come from Edo Fimmen , who represented a radical and anti-militarist position . 700 delegates assisted the conference . Unlike other IFTU events , delegates from the Soviet Union were invited . In his inaugural speech , Fimmen , stated that any new world war would be confronted by a global general strike . However , when French troops occupied the Ruhr a month later , the promised general strike did not occur . The German ADGB opposed initiating a general strike . The IFTU did not go beyond a general call for peace and arbitration through the League of Nations . Fimmen became increasingly disillusioned over these developments . In November 1923 he resigned as ITUF general secretary . At the Hague Peace Conference Johannes Sassenbach was appointed as the third general secretary of IFTU and John W . Brown as assistant secretary . After a protest from the TUC , Brown was elevated general secretary in August 1923 bringing the number of IFTU general secretaries to four . Impact of crisis in Germany . By 1923 , the influence of IFTU had already passed its peak . As hyperinflation surged in Germany , the economy of IFTU suffered . Moreover , the ADGB lost 1.5 million members , whilst the British TUC 2.3 million . The French CGT lost 750 000 members as the communists split and formed a parallel Confédération générale du travail unitaire ( CGTU ) . The Greek , Peruvian and Argentine union centres had pulled out of IFTU . The economic situation in IFTU was grave , and the secretariat had to downsize . The federation survived due to the financial contributions of the TUC . The congress of IFTU was held in Vienna from 2 to 6 June 1924 . By the time of the congress , the situation in Europe had stabilized somewhat . The Vienna congress elected A . A . Purcell of the TUC as the new IFTU president . In 1926 IFTU went into financial crisis . Nine of the national affiliates had not followed through with their financial commitments to IFTU . The offices in Amsterdam were mortgaged . The IFTU printing office in Germany had to be sold . The TUC decided to freeze their contributions to IFTU , demanding an audit of the IFTU expenses . Paris congress . In 1927 the IFTU congress was held in Paris . At the congress , TUC confronted the continental unions . TUC demanded that the headquarters be shifted away from Amsterdam , that Purcells mandate be renewed , and that fellow Briton Brown should be elected as the sole general secretary . In his speech to the congress , Purcell called for the inclusion of the Soviet union movement into the IFTU . The proposal was rejected by the leaders of continental unions . The congress continued with mutual accusations of intriguing between the TUC and the continental Europeans . Brown and Oudegeest decided to resign from their positions . Purcell was re-elected as president , but by only one vote . Johannes Sassenbach was re-elected general secretary . Two vice-presidents was elected , Carl Madsen from Denmark and Rudolf Tayerlé from Czechoslovakia . The TUC and IFTU reconciled later in 1927 , as the TUC broke its links to the Soviet trade unions . However , the continental unions had zero confidence in Purcell . In the end , Purcell resigned on his own . He was replaced by the TUC general secretary Walter Citrine in 1928 . By 1927 IFTU had around 13.5 million members . The decline in membership was mainly due to membership losses in the German union movement . However , the IFTU had attracted some new affiliates ; in Lithuania , Memel Territory , Argentina ( CORA ) and South Africa ( Industrial and Commercial Workers Union ) . In 1928 the Danish vice-president Madsen resigned , and was replaced by fellow Dane Hans Jacobsen . Expansion outside Europe . During 1928-1929 , the IFTU broadened its contacts to the Middle East , Asia and Australia . Citrine , like his predecessor Purcell , had seen the geographic limitations of IFTU as a major weakness of the organization . In 1928 , IFTU organized a meeting in Buenos Aires , which formed the short-lived Confederación Obrera Ibero Americana . Participants at the conference were the Confederación Obrera Argentina and pro-government trade unionists from Venezuela , Uruguay , Cuba and Spain . In 1928 the Arbeiterverband für Südwestafrika was affiliated to IFTU ( initially IFTU had demanded that the Arbeiterverband would scrap its ban on African membership , but later retracted the demand ) . Confederación Obrera de Argentina rejoined the IFTU , but the contacts were lost again soon afterwards . Persatoean Vabonden Pegawai Negeri from the Dutch East Indies joined IFTU . In 1934 the Argentine CGT and the National Trades Union Federation from India became a member of IFTU . International financial crisis and the rise of fascism . As of 1930 , the Executive Board of IFTU consisted of Léon Jouhaux ( France ) , Johannes Sassenbach ( Germany ) general secretary , Walter Citrine ( Britain ) president , Walter Schevenels ( Belgium ) , Theodor Leipart ( Germany ) , Rudolf Tayerlé ( Czechoslovakia ) , Corneel Mertens ( Belgium ) and Hans Jacobsen ( Denmark ) . Ahead of the 1930 Stockholm congress of IFTU the TUC and ADGB agreed to share the two main positions ( presidency and secretariat ) between themselves . The secretariat headquarters would , according to the deal , be shifted to Germany . At the congress several delegations from European countries opposed moving the headquarters out of Amsterdam . Fear of the consequences of the rise of National Socialism in Germany was one of the reasons cited in their argumentation against the move . However , in July 1931 , the headquarters of IFTU were shifted to Hansahaus , Köpernickestrasse , Berlin . On February 1 , 1931 Sassenbach resigned due to old age . He was replaced by his assistant , the Belgian Walter Schevenels . Georg Stoltz from Czechoslovakia was appointed as Schevenels assistant . As a result of the financial crisis and rise of fascism , the bonds between IFTU and the Labour and Socialist International were strengthened . Effectively the political situation radicalized the IFTU . In April 1931 , an IFTU General Council meeting held in Madrid decided to shift the IFTU demand for 44-hour working-week to demanding 40-hour working week . Ahead of the 1932 disarmament conference of the League of Nations , the IFTU president Citrine and the LSI president Emile Vandervelde drafted an appeal against war and fascism . The appeal was signed by 14 million people . The IFTU headquarters had to shift away from Berlin as the NSDAP took power in Germany . Paris was selected as the new venue of the IFTU secretariat , which was set up in the CGT office at Avenue dOrsay . Soon after this shift , the German trade unions were banned . The disappearance of ADGB created a great void in IFTU . The financial situation of IFTU deteriorated as contributions from the German and Austrian unions ceased . The 1933 IFTU congress in Brussels discussed how to confront the advances of Nazism . The congress resolved to turn the existing initiatives of boycotts of German goods into a general blockade . That decision was however never implemented . On the whole the IFTU was divided on how to confront Nazism , much to the dismay of the exiled German union leaders . In 1936 IFTU held a congress in London . International Trade Secretariats . As of 1932 , the following trade secretariats were affiliated to the IFTU : - International Bookbinders Union - International Federation of Boot and Shoe Operatives and Leather Workers - International Federation of Building Workers - International Clothing Workers Federation - International Federation of Commercial , Clerical and Technical Employees - Universal Alliance of Diamond Workers - International Federation of Enginemen and Firemen - International Union of Food and Drink Workers - International Federation of General Factory Workers - International Federation of Glassworkers - International Union of Hairdressers - International Union of Hatters - International Union of Hotel , Restaurant and Bar Workers - International Landworkers Federation - International Federation of Lithographers , Lithographic Printers and Kindred Trades - International Metalworkers Federation - International Federation of Miners - International Secretariat of Painters and Allied Trades - Postal , Telegraph and Telephone International - International Federation of Pottery Workers - International Printers Secretariat - International Federation of Employees in Public Services - International Secretariat of Stone Workers - Teachers International Trade Secretariat - International Federation of Textile Workers Associations - International Federation of Tobacco Workers - International Transport Workers Federation - International Federation of Woodworkers Publication . IFTU published the periodical The International Trade Union Movement . Bibliography . - Notes - References Further reading . - Linden , Marcel van der , ed . The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions ( Bern : Lang , 2000 ) . 624 pp . - Reiner Tosstorff , The International Trade-Union Movement and the Founding of the International Labour Organization , International Review of Social History 2005 50 ( 3 ) : 399-433 - Fabio Bertini , Gilliatt e la piovra . Il sindacalismo internazionale dalle origini ad oggi ( 1776-2006 , Roma , Aracne , 2011 , 616 pp . External links . - The International Federation of Trade Unions , 1936-1939 : Its history and organisation , Modern Records Centre , University of Warwick , with links to digitised documents of the period