A timely and useful book on the history of the international trade union movement
From William Foster to George Mavrikos
In the period from 1 to 8 December 2024 I was in charge on behalf of CITU India of the general coordination and organization of the presentation of the book by George Mavrikos entitled:
”Critical Notes on the History of the World Trade-Union Movement, Issues of Tactics and Strategy’’
The book of 290 pages, was published in 2023 in its first edition in the capital of Greece, Athens, by the International Workers’ Institute (IWI).
The foreword of the book is written by a great Vietnamese fighter, the iconic Cu Thi Hau, who started as a textile worker, a fighter in the war against the imperialists, a leading member of the Vietnamese Communist Party and for many years head of the General Confederation of Vietnamese Workers VGCL and Vice-President of the WFTU.
The first necessity was to print the book in India; because of the high cost of transport it was impossible to get the books from Athens. On the responsibility of CITU, a considerable number of copies were printed in English and in Tamil. We did not have the time to ensure translation and printing in other dialects, although there are plans to do so.
The Presentation was held as planned in the cities : New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Trivandrum and lastly in Calcutta. The participation in all cities was very high. In all the locations together a total of about three thousand workers took part in the presentations. There was dialogue, questions, suggestions and exchange of experiences.
I accompanied the author to all the cities and I was responsible with my speeches to make the main presentation of the book. Besides, I was the first to read the book very well as I had this central responsibility mentioned above. A first edition of the book with a special dedication had already been given to me by the author February 2024 in Brazil during our meeting at the annual PC Conference of the WFTU.
In my speeches in all six [6] cities I tried in an understandable way to give the basic logic of the book, which is first and foremost the knowledge of the history of the international trade union movement and at the same time the use of knowledge and experience of the past and future of the class struggles.
The author of the book divides and analyses the history of the international trade union movement into five periods. This makes the book easier to read and also allows the worker to read it, to study it and in sections when he succeeds in finding the necessary time for self-education.
The first period starts with the emergence and establishment of the capitalist mode of production, the first attempts to establish syndicates in different countries and continents and ends in 1864.
It is the infancy of syndicates at the national, sectoral, national and sectoral level, regional and international level.
The second period starts from 1864 to 1917. That is, with the founding of the First International and the publication of the communist manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. They are two leading thinkers who, with their theory of social classes and class struggle, changed the history of the trade union movement forever.
The third section starts with the great October 1917 revolution in Czarist Russia that influenced world developments and the world map at all levels and goes up to 1945 with the end of the World War II and the great antifascist victory of the people.
The fourth period, beginning with the foundation of the World Trade Union Federation which took place on October 3, 1945 in Paris, France with the first world trade union congress which took place under the influence and enthusiasm of the anti-fascist victory. This period ended in 1991 with the world-historical changes in the international balance of power and the capitalist restoration in the USSR and in a number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
The fifth and most recent period covers the period from 1991 to the present day.
My personal assessment is that this chronological coding is a good advantage of the book so that one can easily refer to the pages of the book in the specific period of interest.
Another great asset of the book is its documents. There is a wealth of documents, many of which are being published for the first time. It’s a book that proves with documents what he writes. Its documents are a real treasure.
They come from the archives of the WFTU, from the archives of the international trade union movement in Moscow, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Prague, Cuba, and Vietnam. It also contains many elements of declassified documents from the secret services of capitalist countries which, usually after 30 years, release some of their documents to the public.
In addition, the reader of the book will have the opportunity to learn about all the most important strategic and tactical issues of the movement as they appeared in each period and on each continent. With their general characteristics and their particularities.
The personality of the author
With comrade George Mavrikos we have been very close for more than 20 years, working together through the lines of the World Federation of Trade Unions throughout the period of the titanic attempt to rebuild and strengthen the WFTU.
The most important features of the organization that I consider it necessary to note and in which I have referred to in my speeches during the presentation of the book can be summarized as follows:
The historical role played by Comrade Mavrikos as General Secretary of WFTU must be understood from the fact that he took over the responsibility at a most challenging situation as never before. The book has many shivering and revealing historical facts and features of the period corroborating the fact that defeating the conspiracy of the agents of imperialism under the guise of trade unions to dismantle WFTU Mavrikos provided political-ideological-organisational leadership not only to protect WFTU but push the organisation to today’s height.
For the evaluation of the Book
In our countries, in our branches and in our regions there have been written valuable books that have helped us in trade union courses and trade union education of young trade unionists.
It is important and necessary to write books with such content .This effort should be continued so that we can be close to the historical truth from the perspective of the working class and the militant movement.
While there are many historical books on the national and sectoral level with the militant perspective, there is a significant lack of books on the international trade union movement.
There was basically the book by William Foster [ 1881-1961 ], an American a steel worker born in Massachusetts, USA of Irish immigrant parents. As a child of immigrants, he honored his social background with his trade union and political activities. He became a leader of his branch, later General Secretary of the US Communist Party, a member of the executive committee of the Communist International and wrote the great book “History of the World Trade Union Movement”.
His contribution was unique and important. He helped the greats. He preserved and gave us the historical truth from a class perspective.
The effort of George Mavrikos comes to continue the history of the international trade union movement in our time. This effort is necessary and timely because developments are running, upheavals and changes are bombarding all our lives, the working class has new characteristics, the times are changing and we are constantly facing new phenomena and new challenges. The international correlations have been overturned and capitalist and imperialist aggression has taken the form of an avalanche. The opponents of the working class internationally have all the means to distort the historical truth. To present historical events from their own point of view and in their own interests. They use the media to exploit their technology, their institutions and their universities. With thousands of publications, with books, with paid scientists and by any means necessary to disappoint the working class and spread fatalism and defeatism.
All of us militants of the working class oriented trade union movement have an even more powerful weapon today.
The book ”Critical Notes on the History of the World Trade-Union Movement, Issues of Tactics and Strategy’’ is worth studying and I suggest that the book presentation sessions be organized in every city and in as many as possible locations in the countries across the continents region. It should be translated into every language and taught in trade union schools and trade union seminars. To support the workers’ struggles and the need to strengthen the militant trade unions.
It is a book – weapon in the service of class trade unions in all countries. A book that no trade unionist should be left without.
Swadesh DevRoye
Deputy General Secretary of the WFTU
Head of International Relations CITU INDIA
New Delhi
January 2025.