Trade Unions of the World
The most important outcome of the World Trades Union Con- ference was the decision, taken in the final session last Saturday, to create a new trade union federation embracing all branches of the movement. The committee which had been appointed to consider this matter produced a unanimous report, and on the basis of this it was decided to set up a representative continuation committee with headquarters in Paris, which would both act as the executive instrument of the conference and prepare a draft con- stitution for the world federation. This would have to be submitted to the constitutional bodies, and finally, before the end of this year, be presented to the conference for final amendment and approval. The difficulties to be surmounted are recognised to be great, but if there is give and take they will not be insurmountable. No existing organisation will be willing to abandon its essential
character. The British T.U.C. and similar bodies, mostly in western Europe, which belong to the existing International Feder- ation of Trade Unions, will not be willing to give up their demo- cratic constitutions and their independence vis-h-vis the employers and the State. The Soviet trade unions for their part will certainly continue to perform their functions within the Soviet State system. There are two rival organisations in the United States, and the trend of the Labour movement in Latin America is by no means Identical with that in this country. A world federation will have to accept diversity of function among its members. It will only succeed if it concentrates its• activities on ends which all have in
• common. Some of the subjects discussed in the concluding session Indicate the wide field of common interest—full employment, adequate pay, welfare work, housing, nutrition, education. These are of supreme interest to trade unions everywhere, and are objects which a world federation can properly set itself to attain.
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