HB 6475 A25A3 UC-NRLF B 3 lib 20b 3 0) 3, x fc7 m a 00 3cs* VS> !» ^0 U1 ^ \J w >~ The Red Labor International Published by THE VOICE of LABOR November, 1921 TTuko-w^: Workers of the World Unite ! Resolutions and Decisions OF THE First International Congress of Revolu- tionary Trade and Industrial Unions The American Labor Union Educational Society. 483 im •+(■■1) (o' CONTENTS Introduction by International Secretary 3 1. Manifesto issued to Workers of the World 11 2. Resolution on the report of the Provisional Council of the R. L. U. 1 16 3. Resolution on the Relationship between the R. L. U. I. and the C. 1 17 4. Resolution on Italian question 19 5. Resolution on Tactics 21 ^ 6. Resolution on Workers' Control 44 7. Resolution on Shop Committees 52 6. Resolution on Organization ... 55 v ' 9. Constitution of R. L. U. I 72 10. Resolution on Women's Question 80 11. Resolution on Unemployment . 81 12. Resolution on Victims of the War 85 13. Resolution on the Labor Movement in the Near and Far Eastern Countries and the Colonies.. 86 14. Appeal against White Terror 87 15. Manifesto to the Workers of the United King- dom 92 / 16. Appeal to Spanish Proletariat 94 17. Greetings to Russian people 96 Introduction. The resolutions we now submit to the attention of the reader are the results of the fortnight's labors of the first International Congress of Revolutionary Labor Unions. Only eleven months ago the Provisional Coun- cil of Labor Unions was estab.ished which aimed to oppose the ideas of a revolutionary dass struggle and social revolution to the conception of the class collabora- tion. These eleven months were a period of a gathering of forces and decentralized agitation. During that period considerable minorities were forming and shaping themselves in all countries which declared themselves resolutely and sharply against the policy of the old trade unions. The revolutionary labor union movement was a very variegated one ; there was no unity of program ; no unity of tactics. There was a great variety of ten- dencies, ideas, disunited in their understanding of the paths leading to social revolution and of the problems before the working class of the present epoch, the only connecting link between them being the common hatred for the exploiters. This natural variety of forms created by the pecularities of the labor movement in each country at a period when the movement begins to define and oppose itself to the old trade union move- ment, was of course unavoidable. But this variety which is undoubtedly preventing unity of action had to be out- lived. One general and obligatory line of action had therefore to be defined and worked out. The first Inter- national Congress of the Revolutionary Labor Unions has fully acquitted itself of the task of gathering the revolutionary disintegrated forces, of adopting one com- mon line of action and of creating a solid foundation for a rapid organization of the revolutionary classes. Perusing attentively the minutes and resolutions of the first congress, we see how the col ] ective thought of the revolutionary unions* has molded itse^ after long and heated debates, after struggle and mutual concessions. The resolutions found below are the crystalized expe- rience of the labor movement of all countries. The bal- ance sheet of a whole epoch in the trade union move- m£5J^01 ment had been summed up at the congress, the pre-war and post-war pages of history turned over and concrete revolutionary inferences from the positive and negative experience of the working class were drawn by the congress. We regard the resolutions on the relations between the Communist International and the Red International of Labor Unions as indicating, undoubtedly, the entire direction of the International Labor Union movement. The congress could not and did not silently pass this question. Before the first congress of the Revolutionary Labor Unions the Communist movement and the Communist International were a revolu tionary fact. Despite the "independent" frame of mind of many of the delegates, whatever their prejudices against politics, political parties, facts are stubborn things and the congress had to say: "Will the revolutionary unions go hand in hand with the Com- munist International or with some other force in their struggle against capitalism ?" The congress had to decide as to whether there existed some other revolutionary class force which is following the same path as the Red International of Labor Unions? And here the resolution adopted while declaring for the inde- pendent organization of the Red International of Labor ^Unions, emphasizes the absolute necessity for unity of action and close co-operation for the struggle. The congress logically bases this view on the concentration of the forces of the bourgeoisie, pointing to the fact that the bourgeoisie had long since succeeded in unifying and rallying its political and economic organizations for joint struggle. The demands of the struggle, the crea- tion of a united front for the revolutionary onslaught compels not only the majority of the congress, but the revolutionary syndicalist minority, which defends feverishly the independence of the trade union move- ment, to recognize the absolute necessity for establish- ing closest possible connections with the III Communist International as the vanguard of the world labor move- ment on the basis of mutual representation on both executive organs of joint sessions, etc.; to recognize that the connections must bear an organized and busi- ness character and find expression in joint preparatory work for and in most complete co-operation in revolu- tionary activities on a national and international scale ; to recognize the extreme desirability for each country to establish practical connections between the Red labor unions and the Communist party so as to carry out the instructions of both Internationals. The decision on the relations with the III Com- munist International predetermined all further de- cisions of the congress and the discussions which sprang later only completed the already developed and ex- pressed views of the basic questions. The question of relations between the Communist International and the International of Labor Unions solves only one part of the problem of co-ordination of action; of close co-operation, etc.; there is still to be decided and defined precisely the special tasks before the revolutionary labor movement of the world. The aim is to overthrow capitalism and to establish the dic- tatorship of the pro^tariat. The majority agreed on this point; nine-tenths of the syndicalists, taught by the experience of war and revolution, declared them- selves for the dictatorship of the proletariat, under- standing it, true enough, in their own syndicalist way. Great differences arose when the congress had to define the concrete problems of the struggle in each individual country and the slogans upon which the attention of the working masses had to be concentrated. Here first of all we had to determine the very methods of struggle. The debates became quite heated on the question whether we must strive to destroy the old unions or to conquer them. Those who stood for the principle of splitting them were a mere handful at the congress. For them the old reformist unions were the center of vices, where the revolutionary saints have no place, and therefore they thought it necessary to put the smashi?ig of such unions as the basis of revolution- ary tactics. On this question the congress took a definite stand both in the resolution on tactics and in the reso- lution on tho question of organization. "Not smashing, but conqueiing the unions," this is what the first con- gress said, and this was said almost unanimously with the exception of a few confusionists who try to clothe their pessimism and lack of force in theoretical garb. In a special paragraph called "the methods of struggle," the congress draws the attention to the ne- }/ cessity for elastic tactics in the struggle, both defensive and offensive. "There are no absolutely infallible methods of struggle," says the congress, "everything changes in accordance with time, place and circumstances. The partisans of the Red Labor Union International must be not only model revolutionists, but also models of sus- tained power and attitude as well as of levelheaded- ness. The whole secret of success lies in the systematic, well-planned and energetic preparation of every action, of every movement of masses. Rapidity and implaca- bility of action should combine with a thoughtful and detailed study of conditions, as well as of the extent of organization of the hostile forces. In the class struggle, as well as at the battle front, it is necessary to be able not only to attack, but also to retreat in or- derly and compact formation. Both in defensive and offensive action we should always keep in view one thing: to have with us the sympathy of the large pro- letarian masses and to carefully consider the entire social-political situation in which the struggle is going on." This relativity of methods and means of struggle is emphasized in another part of the theses on tactics, where it is said that we should not think that offensive action is the best means of battle under all circum- stances and conditions. Our tactics should be flexible and should take into account all the difficulties. Special attention was given at the congress to the question about the Italian Confederation of Labor. The resolution adopted after a thorough discussion of this question, clearly and strongly worded, declares against the double-fronted position occupied by the Italian Con- federation. There are unions and whole national trade union federations which cannot at all understand that the Amsterdam International and the Red Interna- tional do not represent and express the aspirations of the same identical class, that the Amsterdam Interna- tional, in spite of the fact that it is headed by working men, is essentially an anti-labor and anti-proletarian or- ganization, and that our problem under these condi- tions is not to reconcile what is irreconcilable and wor- ship both God and the devil, but to take a definite stand and say with whom the given trade union center is marching, with the Red International or with the Yel- low one. It is just this failure to understand the differ- ence between the two internationals, the great gulf sep- arating them, which is peculiar to the leaders of the Italian Confederation of Labor. The congress, there- fore, having discussed in detail the statement made by the official representatives of the confederation, adopted a special resolution in which the congress laid particular stress on its own basic stand and the way it under- stands the problems of the revolutionary movement. This resolution is not aimed against the Italian unions, the congress perfectly understood that the Italian pro- letariat and its unions, though technically not with us, are essentially with the Red Labor Union International. This fact was emphasized in the resolution, by means of which the congress expressed its confidence that the Italian proletariat will very soon take its place of honor among the revolutionary unions of all countries. The congress paid special attention to the working out of a program of action which fully coincides with the one adopted by the Third Congress of the Commun- ist International. This practical platform should be- come the guide for militant action of each union. This program of action embodies the cumulative experience of the labor movement for the last few decades, in which account is taken of all that the war and the revo- lution have brought us. Only that union will be a real organic part of the Red Labor Union International which will carry out this program of action, not in words but in deeds. This program starts from the fun- damental premise that it is necessary to carry on a direct, straight revolutionary mass war against capital- ism, and the entire program is built upon this basis. All questions touched upon in this program, all slogans formulated by it, all this can be carried out or realized only when we have mass revolutionary action and a direct onslaught against the bourgeoisie. The basic idea permeating the entire program is just this direct revolutionary action of the masses. This program should not only be read but studied and carried out ; it should serve as a means for militant training and organization of the masses. The logical conclusion to be drawn from the resolution on tactics is embodied in the resolutions and theses on the question of organization, together with the consti- tution, which, in its organization formulas, embodies the basic line traced by the congress. The question of organization, especially at the Constituent Congress, is utterly complex, as we are confronted with a tremend- ous variety of labor movements; moreover, not only whole organizations, but even parts of organizations were represented at this congress. This circumstance made it difficult to solve the question of organization and to work out a uniform plan. Nevertheless the con- gress traced a clear line of organization ; made sugges- tions on the basic questions of constructive organiza- tion work; brought to the foreground the slogan of organizing unions by industries and creating shop com- mittees as a basis for industrial unions ; put the ques- tion of conquering the old unions on a practical basis ; gave a number of concrete directions for each country in the field of organization work ; declared itself against organizing nationalist unions ; gave the slogan for con- solidating expelled unions; defined its stand on the question of female labor and the work among the youth; worked out the conditions of admission to the Red International, and finally worked out a detailed con- stitution, on the basis of which the present Red Union International is built. Besides these fundamental questions the congress paid great attention to te^ problem of workers* control. Workers^control, at a given stage of develop- ment of the social struggle, is a thoroughly practical slogan for workers of all countries. In this respect a great deal of experience has been accumulated of late. It is of course very evident, that Russia in this respect has the greatest experience and it is not surprising that the Russian experience, practically tried in some coun- tries, was made the basis of the resolution on the ques- tion. The congress did not satisfy itself with merely putting the question to the front, but gave a concrete form to it, drew the workers' attention as to how work- ers' control has to be shaped, the methods of approach- ing it, and gave a practical program of action in this matter. We can consider the resolution on this subject exhaustive. All the other resolutions, accepted by the congress, for instance, of victims of the war, unemploy- ment, woman in industry and labor unions, etc. — all express the same thought; the task of revo- lutionary trade unions is to organize the masses politi- cally and upon the ground of daily struggle for an offen- sive against capitalism. This aim was in the minds of 8 the congress all through its labors. The congress has discussed it from all sides, beginning with the reso- lution on the report of the International Council of Labor Unions and ending with the appeals, issued by the congress to the International proletariat in general and to that of a number of countries in particular. The resolution referring to the labor movement in the far and near eastern countries and the colonies is worth mentioning. We must bear in mind that within recent years the labor movement in these countries has made great progress and that simultaneously a general deep fermentation is going on in colonies exploited by Euro- pean capitalism. The movement there has a double character ; a national revolutionary one, quite often act- ing under the slogan of race hatred, and a proletarian one, against foreign and domestic exploiters. The con- gress pointed out, as it was correctly stated by the rep- resentative from Java, the necessity of transforming race hatred and of raising the consciousness of the ex- ploited masses to the level of revolutionary class struggle and of the social revolution. By carefully reading all resolutions and studying them the rank and file member of a labor union as well as the leader of labor organizations will find an answer to all questions that agitate him at the present time. The congress has fixed its line of action. It brought out the concrete watchwords, forms of organization, has united all the varieties of the revolutionary wing of the labor movement, including those who have always been a stumbling block in the process of organization. The fact that after the disintegration of international or- ganizations, after the greatest collapse in history of the old labor unions, after all the demoralization caused in the ranks of the workers by the policy of co-operation of classes, that after all this it was possible to gather the representatives of 17,000,000 of workers, to unite them in common understanding of the problems, to form them into militant columns for war against capi- talism — this fact has greatest significance. The con- gress has built a solid, unshakeable foundation of real international labor union organization. Against the international of conciliation is put up the international of struggle, against the international of inaction — the 9 international of revolutionary attack, against the yellow Amsterdam International — the Red International. The Red International is finally organized and now the questions raised by the constituent congress of revolutionary labor unions will be discussed in all coun- tries. The congress did not hide anything. It did not follow the example of the Amsterdam International and did not attempt to cover up any disagreements. It held that for the struggle it is necessary first of all to have clearness and then unity and thorough organization. The participants in the congress have made mutually all possible concessions. But these concessions were made after long and passionate discussions and explana- tion by each, of his particular viewpoint, and finally all came together upon the common platform ; social revo- lution, dictatorship of the proletariat and the closest organic co-operation with the Communist International. It is difficult to estimate at present the full signi- ficance of this first congress. The fruits of its labor and the effect of the adopted resolutions will begin to mani- fest themselves in a few months. But even now one can say that great historical work was accomplished in Mos- cow. The scattered revolutionary labor unions have come together. They have definitely established their world center, have worked out methods and means of, struggle and now, with tenfold increased energy, will get down to work. This is the great universal his- torical significance of the First International Congress of Revolutionary Labor Unions and of the decisions adopted by it. A. Losovsky. Moscow, July 20, 1921. 16 I. Manifesto of the Congress to the Workers of the World The criminal war started by the capitalist government of Europe and America which had shaken the founda- tions of the old world has come to an end. The mons- trous aftermath of the horrible crime committed against humanity is revealed in a.l its amplitude. True, ten millions murdered are buried ; their corpses do not disturb the peace of those who condemned them to death. But there are yet eleven millions of wounded and crippled, on the bodies of which the capitalists have acknowledged, by the machine guns, bayonets and bul- lets, their unprecedented crime. The blockade is over. With the signing of the so- called "Peace of Versailles," the dissipation, on the battlefields, of the people's wealth created with the sweat and blood of the proletariat, appears to have also ended. But who can count how many more years of suffering, degradation, starvation and destitution will be the price the toiling masses of all countries will have to pay for the destroyed wealth, estimated at many bil- lions. The war is over, but in all countries there is still a greater number of soldiers under arms than before the war, the expenses on armaments in all the impoverished countries are also greater than before the war. Human- ity came out of the war not only diminished by ten millions of people, but also greatly impoverished and ruined. And in addition to this, after a short and specu- lative revival of trade and industry, the world is passing through a most terrible, and unheard of industrial crisis ; the price of the imperialist war. Not only did the war break down the productive forces of world capitalism but tore to pieces the economic ties thanks to which the equilibrium between the capitalist sections of national economy existed before the war. The capitalists of industrial countries headed by America are unable to sell their products owing to the absence of markets. Impoverished countries cannot buy them, the workers have not the means to buy the necessary products. 11 The result is 'the extraordinary wave of unem- ployment in every country and a horrible waste of pro- ductive forces. Ten millions of able bodied workingmen are thrown out on the streets in all countries of the world; the machines are at a standstill and deterior- ating, billions worth of goods rot in the storehouses or are deliberately destroyed by the capitalists, in order not to sell them cheaper to the consumers ; millions of men and women are thrown into the clutches of hunger and suffering. And at the same time capital is making a ferocious attack against those of the workers whom it graciously permits to stay in its factories. In all coun- tries wages are cut down, conditions of labor are ren- dered worse and the squeezing of sweat and blood out of the workers has reached a climax. Sustained by the power of the capitalist government, army, police, hired press, courts, religious hirelings and its lackeys of the yellow Amsterdam International, the capitalists feel sure of their domination. What is to be done ? Brothers and comrades of the workingclass, you who follow the Amsterdam Federation of Unions, and the old union . leaders ! The constituent congress of Red Labor Unions appeals to you, in the name of many mil- lions of organized revolutionary workers of all coun- tries, with whom are working in the same shops, and with whom you will be together — we are quite sure — in the final struggle; the Congress appeals to you to ask yourselves this questions. To answer it look around, without trusting to words but only to deeds and facts, and see what your leaders of the Amsterdam Inter- national have done and what they are still doing. When the world war started they, together with the leaders of the Second International, called upon you to go obediently into the barracks and on the battlefields. During the war they appealed to you for civil peace, to refrain from strikes, to supernatural sacrifices in the name of the war. Louder even than the capitalists themselves and the corrupted press, did they yell about the recompense that is awaiting you after the war. Is this your recompense, when the capitalists pay all their pledges by cutting prices, terrible lockouts, by closing up factories, unemployment, violence of police, and organization of bands of sluggers and scabs ? Only the vanquished have to pay. And who then is van- 12 vuished, defeated, fooled, subdued — if not the working class ? What are the Amsterdam leaders doing? These alleged defenders of the working class? Do they de- mand, together with the working class, that the cap- italists shall pay up? No. These people don't intend to speak on this question; by instructions from capital they repeat to the workers one and the same thing; work with all your might to rebuild the ruins of the war. But if the fakers keep quiet, it means the fooled must speak. Let them express their will, let the indignant cry of the proletariat call out one single watchword, down with the yellow Amsterdam In- ternational! Down with the domination of the bour- geoisie ! Capital is attacking, keeping in reserve a huge army of unemployed. Step by step it takes away all the conquests of the past period. By a stubborn struggle must the proletariat resist every inch of its position. What are the merits of the Amsterdam International in this economic struggle of the working class ? Did it successfully lead you in your struggle? That is the question to which every organized worker, even if he is educated to an understanding of the cause of social- ism and the revolution, must receive a clear and con- cise reply in the name of his immediate needs. Up to now the Amsterdam International either surrendered the working class to capital without fighting or by its cowardly tactics assured one defeat after another. The history of the last heroic strike of the English miners clearly illustrates how the trade union leaders betrayed the working masses when repell- ing the attacks of capitalism. Instead of moving to the support of the attacked miners new forces of the or- ganized proletariat and by a solid united front crush the enemy, these leaders refrained from the struggle and at the decisive moment kept back the proletarian reserves, thus giving the capitalists a chance to destroy the working class bit by bit. Up till now, as long as the majority of the organized workers in the trade unions were led by Gompers, Jou- haux and Henderson, it could not be otherwise. We are engaged in an epoch of merciless and terrible class struggle. And those of the leaders, who are afraid of strikes, who are scared of their developments, who want 13 to spare capital, who are afraid for the fate of capitalist industry more than the capitalists themselves — these leaders who dare not and don't want to lead the working class to victory, will inevitably betray the working class. All your savings gathered by long years of privation will be wasted in unsucessful strikes, because of the treacherous tactics of the yellow leaders. These leaders are only able to do the things they did during the period of peaceful development of capitalism, i. e., to sell the labor power on behalf of their unions. At a period when the working class was in need of fighting leaders these labor traders have always sold the work- ers for the price offered by the Morgans, Stinnes and Ureusot. All the leaders of the Amsterdam Interna- tional who are putting obstacles in the way of the pro- letariat striving by a united front to defend its right against the attempt of the exploiters, are nothing else but an international organization of scabs. Every day the number of cases increase when isolated groups of workers, unwilling to wait until they will be betrayed, chaotically go in for strikes and revolutionary struggle. Subject to their faithful class instincts they break the discipline imposed upon them by the traitors, break the discipline of capital and keep up the sacred right of every proletarian unwilling to surrender to the enemy without struggle. But to get rid of the yellow treacherous leaders who seh the cause of the working class, the International Congress of Red Trade Unions cails upon all the workers still attached to Amsterdam to drive away whenever and wherever they can the bureaucrats and traitors standing at the head of the f yellow unions and join in an organized manner the In- ternational of the revolutionary unions. Two-fifths of the organized workers of the world have already joined the Red International of Labor Unions. The time has come when the international army of labor must unite under the red banner of the proletarian revolution. In the ferocious struggle between labor and capital raging all over the world, the bourgeoise is acting in a more organized, more conscious, and more decisive man- ner than the proletariat. And nowhere did the skill and superiority of the bourgeoisie reveal itself so ob- viously than in the possibility of keeping in bond and subjection the many millions of workers with the hands of the working class itself, by the help of those of its 14 readers who like knaves stab the proletariat in the back and don't let them throw off their shoulders the capital- ist superstructure. If the capitalist order still exists, if the capitalist class is still able, at the most critical moment, when the war ended and demobilization began, to keep in power and still defeat the working class in skirmish fighting, this is due to the heroes of Amsterdam and the second international. But everything has an end. The workers throughout the world are becoming more con- vinced that capitalism is not all powerful, that the power of capital is solely due to their own weakness, their disorganization in the struggle, and their endur- ance. A new epoch of glorious struggles has begun, when the proletariat becomes worthy of better leaders than the scabs of Amsterdam. The new leaders will know how to defend the proletarian trenches and will take the offensive. The Red International of Revolu- tionary Labor Unions will very soon have the over- whelming majority of the working class all over the world and then the proletariat of all countries will pre- sent the capitalist class its bill and demand full and im- mediate payment. Workers all the world over ! The First International Congress of Revolutionary Labor Unions gathered on that bit of the globe which was wrenched by the Rus- sian proletariat from the hands of capital, in the name of the millions of crippled and murdered in the criminal war, in the name of the sufferings of the working class gone through under the dictatorship of capital, in the name of the victims of the bourgeoisie terror, in the name of your defeats suffered under the leadership of the yellow traitors, in the name of the future victories under the revolutionary banner of the Red Labor Union International and lastly in the name of the Rus- sian working class steadfastly keeping up all alone, for the fourth year, the Red flag over the land of the Soviets and waiting for helo from its comrades beyond the frontiers — we are calling upon you to join our ranks, we call you to the last and decisive battle. Workers of the world, unite! Long live the Proletarian Revolution ! Long live the Dictatorship of the Proletariat ! Long live the International Soviet Republic! Long live Communism ! 15 II. Resolution Upon the report of Com. Rosmer on the activitiy of the Provisional Council of Red Trade and Industrial Unions for the past year. Upon hearing the report of the International Council of Labor Unions presented by Com. Rosmer, the first International Congress of Labor Unions recognizes that: 1. The creation of the International Council of Revo- lutionary class conscious labor unions answers to the immediate needs of the revolutionary working masses in their struggle against capitalism. 2. That from its inception the International Council pursued a right policy in regard to the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, bringing forth against it the proletar- ian dictatorship ; 3. That the International Council has thus correctly estimated the role of the Amsterdam International Fed- eration, connected with the labor bureau of the League of Nations, carrying on a determined and merciless fight against it ; 4. That during the eleven months of its existence, the International Council has, under most difficult condi- tions, made a fair effort of propaganda to bring into life its fundamental aims; 5. That the affiliation to the International Council of millions of workers in forty-two different countries bears evidence of the great attractive power of the council and of its watchwords and proves most vividly the importance of the task it has performed. Taking the above into consideration, the congress re- solves : 1. To approve the report as presented by Com. Ros- mer as well as the line of action pursued by the Inter- national Council against the harmful and dangerous cry, opposed to the*interests of the revolutionary work- ing class movement, viz.: that of destroying the old, mass trade unions. 16 III. Resolution on the Question of Relations Between the Red Labor Union International and the Communist International (On the report of Comrades Rosmer and Tom Mann.) Whereas, The struggle between labor and capital in all capitalist countries has assumed, as a result of the world war and crisis, an exceptionally acute, implacable and decisive character. Whereas, In the process of its every-day struggle the laboring masses realize ever more clearly the necessity of eliminating the bourgeoisie from administration of industry and consequently from political power. Whereas, The above result can be obtained solely by establishing of the dictatorship of the proletariat and a comunist system, Whereas in the struggle to preserve the bourgeois dictatorship, all the capitalist ruling classes have al- ready succeeded in consolidating and concentrating to a high degree their national and international organiza- tions, political as well as economic in a solid front of all the bourgeois forces, both defensive and offensive, against the onrush of the proletariat, Whereas, The logic of the modern class struggle de- mands the greater consolidation of the proletarian forces and the revolutionary struggle and consequently means that there must be the closest contact and or- ganic connection between the different forms of the revolutionary labor movement and primarily between the Third Communist International and the Red Labor Union International it is also desirable that every effort should be made, in the national field, towards the es- tablishment of similar relations between the Communist parties and the Red International of Labor Unions ; Therefore the congress resolves : 1. To take all steps uniting together in the most energetic manner all the labor unions in one united fighting organization with one direct International cen- ter — the Red International of Labor Unions. 2. To establish the closest possible contact with the Third Communist International as the vanguard of the 17 revolutionary labor movement in all the parts of the world on the basis of joint representation at both execu- tive committees, joint conferences, etc. 3. That the above connection should have an organic and business character and be expressed in the joint preparation of pre-revolutionary action on a national and international scale. 4. That it is imperative for every country to strive towards uniting the revolutionary labor union organiza- tions and the establishment of the closest contact be- tween the Red labor unions and the Communist parties for the carrying out of the decisions of both congresses. 18 IV. Resolution on the Italian Question. Having heard the explanation of the representatives of the Italian Confederation of Labor, Bianchi and Azzi- mondi, and after discussion of same, the First Interna- tional Congress of Revolutionary Labor Unions de- clares : 1. The Italian Confederation of Labor which signed the agreement with the All-Russian Council of Trade Unions and other organizations for the formation of the Red International, has done absolutely nothing during the eleven months for the consolidation of the created organization. Instead of attempting to strengthen the newly created international organization of revolutionary unions opposed to the yellow Amsterdam International, the General Confederation of Labor of Italy participated in the Amsterdam International, maintaining its con- nection with the leaders of the said organization. The Italian Confederation of Labor even went so far as to attend the London congress of the Amsterdam Interna- tional with a decisive vote and did not cast its vote against the resolution carried against the Red Interna- tional of Labor Unions. 2. Instead of weakening its ties with the Amsterdam International the General Confederation of Labor of Italy, on the contrary, made them stronger by applying in April to the Amsterdam International for help in its struggle with the Fascisti. 3. The congress of the General Confederation of Labor at Livorno decided "to take part without reser- vation in the creation of the Red International in ac- cordance with the decisions which will be taken at the congress of trade unions in Moscow." In spite of such a decision the Italian Confederation of Labor sends its delegates only for the purpose of information. Thus the confederation deems it possible to take part in the congress of the Amsterdam International with a decis- ive vote and sends to the congress of the organization which the Livorno convention decided to join without 19 reservations, delegates for purposes of information only. 4. At the last moment, in order to delay the con- gress, the General Confederation of Labor attempted to postpone it by proposing to transfer it to Reval or Stockholm under the pretext that greater convenience in the verification of credentials of the arriving dele- gates would be available there. 5. Stating all the above facts, the First International Congress of Revolutionary Labor Unions considers: that the Italian proletariat is not to blame for such a detrimental duplicity, harmful to the proletariat itself and to the interests of the world-wide revolution ; that the entire responsibility for this seesaw policy lies with the leading elements of the General Confederation of Labor who endeavor to keep the Italian proletariat aloof from the revolutionary unions of all countries. Such a situation, when the general trade union cen- tral organization of the country does lip-service to the Red Labor Union International but de facto belongs to the Amsterdam International, can no longer be toler- ated. The first congress of the Revolutionary Labor Unions, therefore, requests the revolutionary prole- tariat of Italy, all local unions, labor exchanges and na- tional federations to state their position on the question as to what organization the revolutionary unions of Italy will join — the International of revolutionary struggle or the International standing for class co- operation. Will they go hand in hand with those who stand for the social revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat, or with the bourgeoise — with the Red International of Labor Unions or with the Amsterdam International. This congress feels quite sure that the revolutionary proletariat of Italy will very soon make their choice and, even before the next International congress, the Italian General Confederation of Labor will take its place which the Italian proletariat fully deserves among the revo- lutionary unions. 20 RESOLUTION ON THE QUESTION OF TACTICS (Upon report of Comrade Losovsky.) 1. The General Situation of the Struggle 1. The problems and tactics of the trade unions are determined by the conditions and intensity of the class struggle on an international and national scale. As a starting point we must take the irrefutable fact, that modern society has entered upon a stage of decompo- sition and of breaking up of the old capitalistic relations and bonds and, faces ultimate collapse. The symptoms of this decay are revealed by the enormously grown na- tional indebtedness; temporary prosperity in some branches of industry rapidly followed by a sharp indus- trial crisis; by the wars still being fought, on many fronts by the economic instability in many of the oldest capitalistic countries of Europe ; by the atrocious indus- trial crisis raging throughout the world; by the enor- mous growth of unemployment; by slackening of agri- culture; by the mountains of goods piled up in some countries while at the same time there is a total lack of commodities in others ; by the inevitability of new wars for the extraction of conditions of labor, and finally by the absolute impossibility of re-establishing economic stability and political and social equilibrium by the nor- mal methods of capitalistic exploitation. 2. On the background of ths growing economic crisis and the unparalleled devastations caused by the long years of war, the social struggle grows sharper in all countries, acquiring a severity never yet seen. Strikes of unusual size are breaking out in one country after another, the proletariat attempts by means of them to maintain its position against the assault of capital. But the proletariat is conducting its struggle in scat- tered, isolated groups thus condemning its best or- ganized ranks to a total defeat and destruction. 3. The struggle of the working class and its organi- zation is complicated by the fact that the bourgeoise has availed itself in full of the lessons of the war and the revolution — and is strenuously creating and strengthening its organization for the material destruc- 21 tion of the revolutionary movement. There is not a single bourgeois country which besides the usual, nor- mal organizations for repression (such as the army, police, department of justice, etc.) has not created new organizations, voluntary bodies of representatives of the ruling classes for the armed suppression and pre- vention of the uprising of the rebellious workers. 4. In this struggle against the increasing dissatis- faction among the masses, the bourgeoise presents a united front, throwing into this fight the whole of its economic organizations. It realizes perfectly that only the highest degree of unity and concentration of forces, centralized organization, and the normal and material support of its state machinery and the creation of spe- cial militant organizations can save it from defeat or at least put off the approaching social revolution. The bourgeoise never separates politics from economics. 5. The problems of the unions in the period of peace- ful organic development of capitalist society consisted in raising through mass organizations the standard of living among the workers, in improving the conditions of labor, and, relying upon the gains already obtained, in gradually moving forward towards the realization of socialist society. The reformist unions consider a slow and gradual transition from capitalism to socialism pos- sible by means of the transformation of the bourgeois democracy into a socialist democracy. The revolution- ary unions old that without the overthrow of capital- ism by force the working class cannot abolish the sys- tem of wage slavery. 6. The revolutionary unions always aimed at the consolidation, the disciplining and training of the mass as their basic tasks. This problem is especially impor- tant in the present period of disintegration of capitalist society. The labor union is the school and the workshop of communism. Its problem is to prepare the workers for the overthrow of the capitalist system. The main question consists in how and on which basis of the everyday struggle this preparation and consoli- dation of the masses will take place. The problems must be put before the working class and how to or- ganize its everyday struggle and link it up with the general problems of the working class bringing it up to the ultimate grapple with its class enemy. The con- 22 ditions of this struggle have become considerably com- plicated at the present time. The interrelations of its many elements are entirely different than they were before the war or during the war. Threfore the task of the unions is different and the methods and means of struggle must also be differ- ent. 2. The Labor Unions Before the War 7. During the latter half of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of* the twentieth century there were three main groups of labor union movements: Anglo-Saxon ( trade unionism ) ; German-Austrian (social democratic reformism) ; French-Spanish* (revo- lutionary syndicalism). These three groups in the in- ternational labor movement differed from one another in method as well as in character. They presented three different ideologies and programs of action. 8. The basic feature of Anglo-Saxon trade unionism was the narrow craftism and political neutrality with regard to socialist parties, concentrating its entire at- tention upon the immediate concrete problems of the day; trade unionism accepted the social struggle only from the narrow point of view of craft unionism, and from this angle they aproached the solution of all the economic and social problems. The trade union move- ment included chiefly the aristocracy of the working class. The very philosophy of trade unionism is the philosophy of labor aristrocracy. Capital and labor were considered by the theoretical and practical exponents of trade unionism not as two deadly class enemies but as two factors of mutually supplementing each other. They contended that the development of society entirely depends upon the har- mony between capital and labor and the just distribu- tion among them of the social and public wealth. 9. The German-Austrian trade union movement which appeared later than the Anorlo-Saxon type, hav- ing formed under different circumstances, had from the start been invested with socialist ideas. The social democrats of Germany and Austria stood at the very cradle of the trade union movement, thus transmitting to it the social democratic spirit. But the social demo- cratic program and tactics in regard to the trade union movement have assumed a character of reformist 23 socialism. The trade unions of Germany were the cradle of reformism, the very substance of which may be reduced to the following : they advocate gradual and peaceful development through democracy to socialism ; they obscure working class interests; they fear revo- lution and white terror hoping at the same time that the development of democratic forms would automati- cally bring about socialism without any revolutions or social conflicts. With reference to the purely trade union field their intentions are to keep them out of the political and revolutionary struggle; they advocate neutrality towards revolutionary socialism and are closely bound with reformist socialism. Apart from that, they extremely overestimate the benefit of collec- tive bargaining and the system of conciliation boards. In this manner they expect to establish such social rela- tions, under which the workers would enjoy in the poli- tical and economic domains equal rights with the capi- talists, while the system of exploitation is maintained. 10. Revolutionary syndicalism which developed as a reaction against the opportunism of the French Socialist party had as its basis a certain number of revolution- ary points. It advanced the idea of direct action, im- mediate struggle of the masses, advocated the general strike, and forcible overthrow of capitalism ; conducted anti-militarist agitation and propaganda and created the anti-government theory. It also created a theory according to which the trade unions are the only organi- zations which will bring about the revolution and will themselves build up the socialist society. The theoreticians of revolutionary syndicalism pre- tended that it is the synthesis of Proudhonism and Marxism. 11. Revolutionary syndicalism has brought to light a number of ideas — and this has been its merit — which placed it high above all the other forms of the labor union movement and brought it into close contact with revolutionary pressure of the masses upon capital and revolutionary pressure of the masses upon caapital and state, abolition of capitalism, propaganda of the social revolution — all this must be placed to the credit of the revolutionary syndicalists and gives the positive side of revolutionary syndicalism. On the other hand we find in syndicalism the principle of independence and neu- trality towards all political parties, including the poll- 24 tical party of the proletariat, the negation even of pro- letarian state, the overestimation of the general strike and a wrong attitude towards the palliative demands of the workers. Economics and politics are two different things for the revolutionary syndicalists, although it is quite clear that "politics is nothing but concentrated economics. " These latter ideas, in spite of their seem- ing revolutionary character, are as a matter of fact, being made use of by the bourgeoise, although the latter has never made any difference, in its own fighting, be- tween politics and economics. 12. The labor union movement grew up and took shape chiefly during the period of peaceful, organic de- velopment of capitalist society and it therefore pos- sessed the features, which permitted the bourgeoise to utilize it, especially during the war, for the benefit of its class interests. These peculiar features — the narrow craft unionism, the exclusiveness of the trade unions, the fight of some unions against women's labor, deep devotion to the Fatherland and national industry, etc. — found their maximum expression during the war, when class inter- ests clashed with national interests. 3. The Labor Unions During the War 13. The world war resulting from the antagonism of national zest of capitalists, demonstrated to the full ex- tent the influence of the bourgeoise upon the working c^ass and its organizations. The trade unions in most of the largest countries of Europe, immediately on the declaration of war ceased to exist as militant class or- ganizations and turned at once into military imperial- ists organizations, whose task consisted only in assist- ing the government and bourgeoise, to smash its com- petitors for the world market by joint efforts and at any cost. The old alignments of the trade union movement have disappeared. The leaders of labor unions of every coun- try, with very few exceptions, despite the fact that they were fighting on the opposite sides of the firing line, have found a common language with their own bour- geoise; the interests of the national bourgeoise tri- umphed over the class interests. 14. The period of the world war was a period of moral decay of the labor unions in all capitalist coun- 25 tries. The overwhelming majority of the leaders of the trade union movement were the agents of the govern- ment. They take upon themselves the function of smother- ing all attempts of revolutionary protest ; they repeat- edly sanction measures which render the conditions of labor worse, to please the capitalists, the leaders have many times sanctioned the imprisonment of the work- ers in the factories; they permitted the privileges gained by years of struggle to be annulled. In short they executed submissively all the commands of the ruling classes. 15. The opposition to war and the movements of masses that grew out of it were nipped in the bud pri- marily by the very leaders of the old trade union move- ment. The fear of revolution which for many years had kept back the ruling classes from war and military ad- ventures had disappeared, for not only the bourgeoise, but the workers, organized in trade unions, were against the revolution. This conversion of the leaders of the trade union movement into watch dogs of capi- talism is the greatest moral victory of the ruling class and at the same time the greatest defeat of the work- ing class during the world war. 16. The nationalist activities of the trade union lead- ers caused deep dissensions in the masses. Instead of the gospel of class struggle and class solidarity, the only appeal of the leaders, to the working class, which was heard for years was that of urging the workers to strain all their forces against their national foe, the ap- peal for the defense of fatherland, for their sacred unity of the classes. This treacherous work carried on with the support of the bourgeois press and the financial aid of the government was the principal reason of the prolongation of the war and of the innumerable human sacrifices, which the working class was compelled to make as a result of the international slaughter. The war was the manifestation of the unparalleled bankruptcy of all the three forms of the labor union movement. The leaders of the trade unions of England and America, of Germany and Austria, and the revo- 26 lutionary syndicalists of France rallied on the platform of the betrayal of the interests of the working class. 5. The Labor Unions After the War 17. The postwar policy of the labor union leaders in various countries had the same basic features as their policy in time of war. It consisted in the prolongation . of the "sacred unity" of classes concluded during the war, in tending to subject the interests of the working masses to the interests of the re-establishment of the capitalist economic order. 18. In France this policy assumed a most disgusting character because its advocates are the revolutionary syndicalists of yesterday, anti-statists and anti-militar- ists. The leaders of the General Confederation of Labor are strenuous'y striving for the honor of sitting in the committees which are preparing the Versailles Peace Treaty. They take the initiative of making the Ger- man workers pay to France indemnities for the losses inflicted by the war, of breaking up the revolutionary strike movement. Side by side with the government and the bourgeoise they are fighting against even the idea of social revolution. They proclaim the principle of the reconstruction of capitalism upon the basis of collaboration of all the vital forces "of present day society," the workers, the bosses and the government representatives. This policy inside the country leads the bourgeoisie to greater arroorance, corrupts the pro- letarian consciousness, and leads to the disappointment of the masses in revolutionary slogans and appeals. The more the General Confederation of Labor is subjected and dependent on the bourgeoise, the more it cries about "independence" and "automony" of the labor union movement, with regards to communism, refer- ring to the "Charte d'Amiens." 19. On the basis of this unheard of treachery and shameless betrayal of the elementary revolutionary and class principles, a strong movement has grown up in France which expressed itself in the organization of the central committee of revolutionary syndicates. The revolutionary opposition has already consoli- dated about half of the members of the General Con- 27 federation of Labor but in spite of its numerical growth it is weak because of insufficient internal unity. The entire opposition is united in its struggle against both obvious and secret treachery of the interests of the working class. But while the opposition is conduct- ing this struggle and is even gaining victory, owing to its single front, still it has not yet made quite clear the concrete problems, the program and its militant slogans. The opposition consisting of anarchists, revo- lutionary syndicalists and communists, proclaims the slogan: "Back to the Amiens Charter/' This slogan is already therefore insufficient, as the majority of the General Confederation of Labor is also referring to the Amiens Charter. 20. The Amiens Charter, which was the result of the workers' protest against the opportunism of the social- ist parties, cannot be considered as a basis of activities not only because it was written fifteen years ago, before the war and the revolution, but chiefly because it did not even at that period answer all the questions that stood before the working class. The world war, the disintegration of capitalism, the revolution, all taken together, absolutely dictate to the minority of the General Confederation of Labor of France, not to stay within the frame of the antiquated Amiens Charter, but to draft a new charter in accord- ance with the new circumstances. 21. The leaders of the German labor unions have played after the war essentially the part of saviors of the German bourgeoise and the German military clique. The revolution of 1918 has so much scared the Ger- man bourgeoise that it turned to the trade union move- ment for protection against the transformation of the bourgeois revolution into a social revolution. The leaders of the labor unions have concluded an agreement with the German bourgeoise for creation of labor conciliation boards composed of equal numbers of workers and employers, on which the entire post-war activities of the German trade union movement are based. The principle applied to discussion of social re- forms was the basis of the agreement. The result of this class co-operation philosophy was the economic and political domination of the bourgeoise. Breaking down revolutionary movement of the masses by the 28 active aid of the labor unions was the consequence of this agreement. The leaders of the German labor unions forgetting the working class interests, have taken up the work of restoration of capitalism, and have even not stopped supporting the bloody reprisals against the working class. 22. This counter-revolutionary part played by the trade union bureaucracy which, thanks to the misery caused by the war, became the leader of many millions of working people, had caused big protests among the workers. This protest inside the labor union movement has found its expression in the formation of opposition nuclei of Communist groups within the unions which, spreading like network all over Germany, have assumed the character of a mass movement. The hopeless view on trade unions found its expres- sion in the slogan "smash the trade unions," which is contrary to the working class interests of the social revolution. Besides the opposition in the old trade unions, there are a few groups outside of them (Free Labor Union of Gelsenkirchen, General Labor Union, Syndicalist Union). Each of these bodies is working its own way, without conducting any co-ordinated struggle against the capitalists and their supporters from the ranks of trade unions. To these groups have been added the expelled unions, since the trade union bureaucracy, being terrified by the growth of the opposition within the old labor union movement and of the Communist nuclei have started to expel from the centralized union branches, districts and locals in a body as well as separate individuals. 23. The trade unions of England immediately after the war, began to carry on a stubborn struggle to im- prove the conditions of labor and retain the position they conquered. The great strikes of the coal miners and other trades show the strength and obstinacy of the English prole- tariat in the struggle. The period after the war has shown to what extent certain leaders in the labor move- ment in England are connected with the bourgeoise. Each clash, each great conflict, has met with resist- 29 ance first of all inside the organization itself, as well as in other labor unions. These pecularities of the English labor union move- ment accompanied by unquestionable growth of revo- lutionary, though vaguely understood, ideas are very characteristic. The English labor movement in com- parison to the pre-war period has undoubtedly made a great step forward. 24. During the war the Shop Stewards* and Work- ers' Committees sprang up which became comparatively very effective during the years 1917 and 1918, after that time they lost their former influence, though the recognition of the necessity of a revolutionary struggle and revolutionary ideas generally have grown to a considerable degree among the masses of England. The weakness of the opposition elements of England is due to the fact that they did not co-ordinate their work among the masses. The unity of all these revolutionary elements could be accomplished by the widening and deepening of the activity of the shop stewards and workers' committees. The problem under such conditions is not to take individual prominent members from the mass of work- ers, from the unions in order to create certain extra — union organizations, but to see to it that most con- scious, revolutionary active elements should work or- ganically in the very thick of the working class ; in the factories and shops, in the lowest nuclei of the unions, striving to secure responsible, leading positions in the labor union movement from top to bottom. Only such a method — systematic, unremitting and steady work — can bring real and permanent results in a country with as gigantic a labor movement, saturated with old traditions and conservatism, as the English labor union movement is. 25. In America, as in no other country, the labor unions and their leading elements play the part of direct agents of capital. For Gompers and his clique, who are at the head of the American Federation of Labor, even the Amsterdam International is considered too revolutionary and they find it impossible to par- ticipate in it on account of its "excessive revolution- ism/' The A. F. of L. puts all its hopes in the righteous- 30 ness of the bourgeoisie and refuses to listen to the feasi- bility of a revolutionary struggle for a new order. This is the most typical, classical example of merg- ing of the leaders of the labor movement with the bour- geoise and the American millionaires is the main rea- son why these Gompersites talk so much and so loud about autonomy and independence in the labor union movement. The A. F. of L. serves as a most reliable tool in the hands of the bourgeoisie for suppressing the revolu- tionary movement. But it, too, is drawn into the strug- gle, for the bourgeoise is not satisfied with its devotion — the capitalists want to extract from the A. F. of L. greater benefits than they have done so far. And if the A. F. of L. does not yet enter the struggle itself, then separate detachments of it, local organiza- tions, are getting more and more into conflicts with capital and machinery of the state. If not in point of organization then in point of ideas they are more and more receding from the basic principles upon which the A. F. of L. rests. 26. The Industrial Workers of the World, an inde- pendent organization in America, is too weak to take the place of the old labor unions. The I. W. W. have a purely anarchistic prejudice against politics and poli- tical action, being divided into supporters and oppon- ents of such a cardinal question as proletarian dictator- ship. Besides these two organizations there are inde- pendent unions, only formally independent of the A. F. of L. ; many of them are independent in their ideological turn of thoughts as well as in practice of their counter- revolutionary leaders. Therefore the question of creat- ing revolutionary cells and groups inside the American Federation of Labor and the independent unions is of vital importance. There is no other way by which one could gain the working mass in America, than to lead a systematic struggle within the unions. 27. In Italy the circumstances are very peculiar. A great majority of the Italian proletariat accepts the revolutionary struggle and the dictatorship of the pro- letariat. The leaders of the general Confederation of Labor have no faith in revolutionary methods and are nearer in their theory and practice to opportunism than to revolutionary socialism. Alongside with the Gen- eral Confederation of Labor exists the Syndicalist 31 Union — and independent unions which, contrary to those of America, are saturated with a deep revolu- tionary, communist spirit. They practically accept the program of the Third International and the Interna- tional of Revolutionary Trade and Industrial Unions. 28. In the rest of the European countries and in America the labor movement has moved swiftly for- ward. Inside of many old unions, in many countries, there have been formed important opposition minori- ties (Czecho-S^ovakia, Poland, etc.), in other coun. tries (Bulgaria, Jugoslavia, Norway, etc.), the major- ity is in favor of the social revolution and of the dic- tatorship of the proletariat. This peculiar state of the labor movement in all countries shows the deep sig- nificance of the change the working masses have un- dergone. The lessons of the war and the Russian revolution were not lost for the large masses. The revolutionizing of the unions is a result of the objec- tive development of events. The aim of the leaders of the Red Labor Unions is to facilitate the process of crystalization of this consciousness and the organiza- tion of this growng elemental revolutionary movement for a decisive battle against the bourgeoise for the workers' dictatorship. 5. Neutrality, Independence and Socialism 29. Socialism has ceased to be merely a matter of theoretical discussion ; it is a practical question of the day. Therefore each labor organization must take a definite stand on the subject. The failure to answer the imperative class requirements makes the labor or- ganization a passive onlooker in the present class strug- gle, in other words such an attitude indirectly assists the enemy. Each union must decide which way to turn — to opportunism or to the revolutionary socialism, that is communism. Herein lies the fault of neutrality and "independence." 30. The aims of the revolutionary unions are the destruction of capitalism and the establisment of a socialist order. The proletarian revolutionary party, the Communist party, is aiming toward the same goal. Because the aim and the basic methods of struggle are the same, the political and economic organization of the proletariat cannot exist side by side without crossing one another in the struggle. Their daily strug- 32 gle is interwoven. No single campaign can be carried through with any degree of success, without mutual aid and ever-increasing contact. Isolated action is foredoomed to failure and defeat. 31. The revolutionary trade unions, therefore, were always opposed to that idea of neutrality and the in- dependence of the trade unions from the revolutionary party of the proletariat. They knew that such ideas were only a cloak for the scheme hatched by bourgeois reformers who devided the economic struggle of the proletariat from the political struggle with the object of weakening and corrupting the working masses. Poli- tical neutrality and independence of trade unions from revolutionary socialism always has been, and still is, the motto brought forward by the most backward sec- tions of the labor movement of all countries. During the last few years, the closer were the ties binding the trade union leaders of all countries to the League of Nations, and the more these leaders are being controlled by the bourgeoise of their respective countries, the louder and stauncher has become their championsip of the idea of independence of the trade union from the Communist International. This idea must, therefore, be decidely and totally rejected. 32. The task of the trade unions is to fight the neutralists' views and mentality which bring decay and corruption into the labor ranks and organizations. Any trade union drops its neutrality and independence to the extent, it participates in the social struggle and fight against capitalism and capitalist domination. The present situation imperatively dictates that the revolutionary unions and the communist party should act together in fighting for the social revolution and for the distatorship of the proletariat. But such con- certed action is the best practical refutation of the thoroughly worn out and purely theoretical view upon neutrality and independence — a doctrine that has never been carried out in actual practice. 33. Under present conditions, every economic strug- gle inevitably takes political significance. The struggle itself under such conditions, whatever the numerical strength of the workers involved in a given country may be, can be really revolutionary and be carried out with the greatest benefit for the working class as a whole, only when the revolutionary trade 33 unions wili march shoulder to shoulder in the closest co-operation and unity with the communist party of the given country. The theory and practice of splitting the struggle of the working class into two independent halves is utterly detrimental, especially at the present moment. Every mass action requires the utmost concentration of forces, which is possible only when the entire revo- lutionary energies of the working class are strained to the utmost, i. e., when all its revolutionary and com- munist elements are brought into play. Independent revolutionary action by the communist party and the revolutionary red unions is foredoomed to failure and ruin. That is why unity of action, organic connection of Communist Parties and trade unions, is a necessary requisite for the successful struggle against Capitalism. VI- The Amsterdam International 34. The anti-class war policy of the trade-unions of the belligerent countries caused the break-down of all the international connections that had existed prior to the war, such as the International Secretariat headed by Legien, as well as all the independent international federations (of textile workers, metai workers, etc.). They broke up — according to their respective locations — into pro-Ally and pro-German units. 35. The general misery bred by the war, stronger class antagonism, insecurity, uncertainty about! to- morrow, growing unemployment, and utter disappoint- ment with the results of the war, acted as a great impelling force in driving the masses into the trade- unions. The war brought to the surface the lowest strata of workers, aroused them, made them distrust their own individual efforts, and forced the most back- ward worker to do some hard thinking on the causes and the consequences of the disaster which all mankind is now living through. The feeling of international solidarity, so long repressed during the war, awoke with new force in the working masses that had been torn up by the war into national units ; this new feeling called for the rebuilding of the international connec- tions, the necessity for which is instinctively felt even by the most backward sections of the working class. 36. Hence the efforts of the bankrupt leaders of the 34 trade-unions in taking the initiative in rebuilding the International and getting at the helm of the movement. Having attempted to create a trade-union International of the Entente type (Leeds, 1916), the leaders of the Entente unions began, immediately after the war, to "restore" the international connections by taking part in some of the labor commissions organized for the purpose of working out supplementary articles to the Versailles Treaty. In this way they have sealed, on an international scale, the treacherous work which they had carried on within their respective bourgeois countries. 37. The victory of "democracy" in the international slaughter was signalized by creating the Labor Bureau as a part of the League of Nations, which represents te highest revelation of the idea of peaceful develop- ment and class collaboration. This Bureau, made up of six labor leaders, six employers, and six representa- tives of bourgeois governments has for its object not only to study the struggle, but also to steer this strug- gle along the channels of peaceful development and amicable solution of the conflicts between Labor and Capital. 38. In Berne (February, 1919), and in Amsterdam (July, 1919) the trade-union International was formally restored. This International is the continuation of the nationalistic policy on an International scale. The new International began its work by declaring itself in favor of the International Labor Bureau and tightly connected its leaders with the world imperialism. Its program is peaceful development, co-operation of classes, gradual growing into socialism, and the deadly fear and hatred of the revolutionary movement of the masses. 39. Such international treason of those who for many years have been selling the workers of their countries, wholesale and retail, was quite natural and logical, but this was in full contradiction with the fundamental interests of the homeless proletariat. We see that simultaneously with the creation of this inter- national bulwark of the bourgeoisie a movement of protest again the line of war imperialism is growing in all directions and in all countries. This protest, rendered more acute by the growing socialist struggle, had not at first its own international central organiza- 35 tion. Such a center was created at the initiative of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions in July, 1920, represented by the International Trade Union Council. The birth of this center for revolutionary trade unionism is the starting point for an implacable war within the bounds of the trade union movement of the world carried under the slogan: "Moscow or Amsterdam." Cleavage within the old organizations is proceeding at a rapid rate in proportion to the economic crisis growing more intense and the prospects for peaceful development growing more hopeless for the proletariat. 40. The very fact of the appearance of the Red Trade Union International gave a tremendous impetus to the ceaseless growth of the number of those who side with the Red International. This fact, and the