Following on the British Trades Union Congress the Anglo-Russian Joint Advisory Council held a meeting and issued a report reviewing the whole situation. After commenting on "the growth of economic reaction"; the return of "reactionary groups of capitalists" to power in various parts of Europe; the new wars in Morocco, Syria and China, and the alliance under the Locarno Pact "directed against the U. S. S. R." (Soviet Russia), the report concludes: "The establishment of an all-inclusive worldwide Trade Union International has therefore become more necessary than ever. … The Joint Advisory Council … appeals to the workers of every country to their organisations and leaders, to join their efforts with the British and Russian trade union movements, in order to secure the removal of all obstacles and difficulties in the way of national and international working class unity, and to help them bring into existence one all-inclusive world-wide federation of trade unions."[1]
Labor sentiment is gradually crystallizing about the unity issue. The masses of workers all over Europe feel its need. The leaders are beginning to speak out the demand for its consummation in unmistakably clear language.
XV. Next Steps Toward World Labor Unity
There is little difference of opinion regarding the immediate steps that must be taken to unify the Labor Movement. Five distinct aspects of the problem demand attention. First, there is the necessity of organizing each shop, mine, department or factory—each unit of occupational activity—and having it under the direction of a shop committee. Second, there is the task of organizing by trade or industry or occupation, within each country, and internationally. Third, there is the work of federating these organizations within a given country into one Trade Union organization. Fourth, for the workers in imperial countries, there is the problem of assisting the workers in exploited countries to organize. This can be done most effectively where the assistance comes from the workers in the exploiting country to the colonials that are being exploited by that country. And fifth, there must be organized one single International Federation of Trade Unions.
Purcell states the immediate program in this way:
"(1) The organization of the workers of the East.
"(2) A common defensive fight against the conspiracy of capitalism to worsen the conditions of the workers.
- ↑ Trade Union Unity, Oct., 1925, p. 111.
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