Reflections on the International Trade Union Movement

Abstract

become powerful, only if workers need them in solving their problems and improving their living and working conditions. This formulation is also valid for the international trade union movement. The precondition for a powerful international trade union movement is the need of the national working classes and their trade unions for international cooperation and solidarity in solving their problems and promoting their interests. From the onset, a clear distinction should be made between internationalism and international cooperation and solidarity. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels published the Communist Manifesto (Manifest of the Communist Party) in February 1848. The book ends with the following sentences: “Die Proletarier haben nichts in ihr zu verlieren als ihre Ketten. Sie haben eine Welt zu gewinnen. Proletarier aller Laender, vereinigt euch!” (English: “The proletarians have nothing to lose in this world but their chains. You have a world to win. Workers of all lands, unite!”).1 This was a call for internationalism, that is, the joint struggle and unity of fate of the workers of the world. More than 170 years have elapsed since the publication of this book, which is one of the books read perhaps by hundreds of millions of people ever since. Marx and Engels were not calling for the solidarity or the cooperation of the workers of different countries. Their expectation, desire, and hope, was the unity in fate and struggle of the workers worldwide. The International Workingmen’s Association (the “First International”) was an attempt at this direction; but it failed. Ever since then, many international political and trade union organisations of workers have been founded. According to the World Employment and Social Outlook, Trends 2022 report of the ILO, in 2005 there were 1282.3 million waged and salaried workers in the world, and in 2021 there were 1739.6 million2. Today we have the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) with its claimed 200 million members organised in 338 national affiliates in 168 countries and territories of the world. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) in the Russian Federation with a claimed membership of 20 million disaffiliated from the ITUC in April 2022, due to the differences of opinion concerning the Russian – Ukrainian War. There is the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), claiming to represent 45 million workers organised in 93 trade unions in 41 European countries. Then there are also the global union federations (GUFs), and the European Trade Union Federations. While the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) today claims to represent 195 million workers in 133 countries. And the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), with its claimed 260 million members, is not officially affiliated with any international trade union organisation. Apart from the aforementioned organisations, there is the BRICS Trade Union Forum, established on 11 December 2012 in Moscow. This informal trade union body is the reflection of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) cooperation initiative. The trade unions in this informal organisation claim to represent more than 200 million workers, exceeding the total membership of the ITUC. Another informal initiative is the Southern Initiative on Globalization and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR), formed in May 1991 by COSATU of South Africa, ACTU of Australia and trade union centres in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Today it claims to include trade unions in 35 countries in Africa, Asia and Australia. The International Islamic Confederation of Labour established in 1981, and which convened its first congress on 10-11 June 1999 in Geneva, proved to be a failure. There are also many more regional and even international organisations of trade unions, which are not worth mentioning. Are these organisations effective in uniting the workers or at least practicing genuine international solidarity and cooperation? If not, what are the objective conditions for the emergence of internationalism and international solidarity?