Sy
ee

a

N the late Arthur
Deakin, at that time
nt of the WFTU, walked
ut of the Executive Bureau
Meeting in January; 1949, he
told a press conference:

: aye shall set up a new or-
‘Banization independent of gov-
_&thments, political parties and
ideologies.”

Leaving aside whether it is
Possible to imagine a_ trade
_WMion international which had
No theoretical basis and wheth-
er Arthur Deakin himself be-
lieved this would be possible,
the fact is that, today, some
leven years after the founda-
as of the ICFTU, there are
‘€w who would be _ hardy
€nough to maintain that it is
‘dependent of government
‘Control or interference.

m The main question at issue
eeveen the top U.S. and Brit-
: ee trade union leaderships at
SS ICFTU Foundation Con-

Fence, a question fought out
ioe acrimony in committees
th in plenary sessions, was

€ attitude to be adopted to-
Wards the colonial trade union
Movements.

Every trick of demagogy
yes used by the U.S. delega-
10n to incite the colonial dele-
Sates against the TUC and to
Pesent the American trade
ae movement, and_ the
ie as being anti-imperial-
Bectted and lengthy discus-
a ns took place lasting several
“ays before the American dele-
ie succeeded in ensuring
as ee the headquarters of the
Put wv. international would not
= in London. When asked by
Seanad what was the U.S.
D section to London, Mr. David
Sb of the AFL showed
ates ear grasp of the main prob-
ie Be when he replied: “Too
3 Se the Colonial Office’. In
es the “serious and effective
a : union work” was to be

Minated by Anglo-American
8ntagonisms.

§ e
INCE then, the struggle be-
Ss tween these two dominant
ae within the ICFTU, each
Ky grnitted to defending its
to nh” imperialism, has grown
ae Such proportions that it is
; ie the determining factor in
. activities of the ICFTU and
‘5 beginning to threaten its
; Ty existence.
mare specifically, since Af-
a te become the centre of
x . ial revolt and liberation,
ner cees openly revolves
Aes that continent and the
Dla apts of the AFL-CIO to
y its part in helping U.S.
S Perialism to take over the
, ene British positions.
a March of 1957 Richard.
dent 7 at that time vice-presi-
Pep » toured Africa. Part of his
ae to President Eisenhower

It is vitally important that
he government follow
a trade union develop-
‘ang ha the continent of Africa
3 4 at our diplomatic and
aa ular representatives should
ae to know on intimate
in, the trade union leaders
: fe countries.”
: Biren in August, 1958, a
. u.for African Affairs was

up as i
Bis. - a section of the U.S.

S

Hea

_What-is pehind all these ac-

/ING IMPERIALISM THROUGH THE UNIONS ~

he AFL-C

e

This article by T. F. Me
Whinnie, English editor of the
World Federation of Trade
Unions Monthly Review, de-
scribes the role played by top
leaders ‘of the I.C.F.T.U. We
publish it in this Labor Day
edition of the PT because we
believe B.C. trade unionists
should be aware of the facts
contained in this slightly
abridged article.

tivities was clearly put in July
1959 in an issue of Foreign Af-
fairs, a magazine subsidized by
the Rockefeller, Ford and Car-
négie Foundations.

There, a special article deal-
ing with labour's role in the
newly developing countries
had this to say: “The day has
long since gone when relations
with other countries can be ef-
fectively carried on solely in
the traditional diplomatic way.
The power in Africa and Asia
is often not in the hands of
government officials, but rath-
er in the hands of relatively
obscure native leaders who

scene as leaders of workers or-
ganizations.” , ;

It is here that the U.S. union
leaders come into the picture.

Back in 1951 Business Week
(July 21), one of the glossy U:S.
magazines designed to tell the
-American big business ‘man in
the simplest terms what is go-
ing on in fields outside, his ex-
perience, reported: ‘

“Phe cold war has made the
work of the big United. States
unions virtually a State De-
partment enterprise. In actual
fact ... they can be much more
effective than any official gov-
ernment agency in an area that
really counts, the foreign
unions. Beer

And it is important to under-
stand that when the ‘AFL-CIO
leaders clash openly. with those
of the TUC on how the Solidar-
ity Fund should be spent, who
should contr
general secretary of the ICFTU
shall be asked to resign, and
whether the structure shall -be
changed; this has nothing to do
with working class action or
solidarity, but it has every-
thing to do with whether U.S:
or British_ imperialism~ ‘shall
use the ICFTU to further. its
own ends. ;

e@
RESENT indications are
that the A.F-L. - G10.
has now acnieved a dominant

4 . 1 e. A io “pe
Good Neighbor
ir 5 e

Policy —
LAS VEGAS, Nevada =
Plans for a 5,000-man
to repulse an’ es
jjion ~ Southern
whom officials
plunder Nevada in the event
of a nuclear wart were unveil-

ed recently.

Brig. Gen. J. T. Roberts
(USA ret.) advised Las Vegas
residents._to build shelters cand
had this word about the neigh-
por problem: “The head of the
family must be prepared to
repel invaders (with a shotgun)
even those who come from
across the street.” ae

Californians

first appear on the national)

ol it, whether, the |

| danger from E
‘sialism and this thé AFL-CIO

jlitia:
timated mil-

think might:

position within the LC.F.T.U.-

ognized by the T.U.C. leader-
‘ship. At a special Executive
Board meeting of the I.C.F.-

the second week of March this

eral Secretary of the T.U.C, an-
nounced that his organisation

funds for the new £3,500,000
Solidarity Fund whose new
Chairman is George Meany.
On -the other hand, the
AF.L.-C.1.0., despite the fact
that.it is running a monthly
deficit of $100,000 and has lost
between 1,000,000 and 1.500,-
000 members over the past five
years, has taken the decision
to impose a special levy on its
membership with the aim “of
raising $3,250,000 for the L.C.-
F.T.U. Solidarity. Fund “sub-
ject to completion OL ane. re-
organization problem. {of the
LC.F.T.U.) started last year.”
In addition, several hundred
thousand dollars have been ear-
marked for independent activi-
ties “among the newly emerg-
ing trade union movements in
‘the new nations of Africa.”
This is the action of an or-
ganization which is fairly con-
fident it has gained control of
TOE: “solidarity” expendi-
ture and can ensure that the
money. will, generally speak-

U.S. ends..

- But if George Meany and
his associates believe that the
‘African trade union movement
can be persuaded of the benefi-
cent nature of U.S. imperialism
by an expenditure of three or
four million dollars (or ten
times that sum) their divorce-
ment from the present trend of
events in that continent is more
complete than even their past
policies would indicate.

movements. are’ quite clear
-where the danger comes from.
At the Third All-African Peo-

from March 23 to 31, one of

‘delegates (as at.the previous
two conferences) was the. dan-
ger of “néo-colonialism” taking

and military domination was
thrown. over. :

‘The people of Kenya, Ni-
geria,- Nyasaland, the Rho-
désias and the Congo have not
suffered and bled only to as-
stime a new colonial yoke,
jowever well disguised. The
‘organizations of the African
people are fully alive to the
‘American impe-

‘top Jeadership will learn in the
‘days to come. .

Ironically énough, it is be-
|\cause the working class move-
ments of the imperialist coun-
4#ies, particularly since the end
of the war, have come to un-
‘derstand their common interest
“with the national Tiberation
gnovements in the colonial and
former colonial territories that
men like George Meany have
been able to distort that under-
standing for the use of their
imperialist masters. Vast sums
of money could never have
peen raised in, Britain and the
USA. for the ICFTU Solidar-
ity Fund if the belief in @ ¢om-
mon interest betwéen the
workers in the imperialist
countries and the colonies did
not exist.

- ‘This*now seems to be rec-]

T.U., held in Brussels during |

year, George Woodcock, Gen- :

would not participate in raising |.

people are marching ahead.

These three young Africans look hopefully toward a better
future. Despite the efforts of imperialist powers to check
their struggle for independence and freedom, the African

ing, be well- used to further)

The African — trade. union |

ple’s Conference, held in Cairo }

the main preoccupations of the |!

‘command as direct political |

by his pyjamas swore
should suffer wrong

(his holy negligee)

f

on radio. and TV,
“The bread line days.

a promissory note.

bequeathed the Bank

the bread line length
And if we vote him

“There'll be no bread

by your Royal Saint,

THE BALLAD OF
PROMISING JOHN

By WILSON MacDONALD
(Apologies to Lord Macaulay)

John “Promise Deefandumber,”

that our Canadian Workingmen

no more;

py his night-shirt he swore it

and sent his Tory henchmen forth
east and west and south and north
to praise what John did say.

e F
es
et

East and west and south and north

the Tory gang rode fast;

they promised this, they promised that
in every town they passed..

‘Arid Johnny Deefandumber cried

will be no more

if you will vote for me.”

Old Johnny. Deefandumber
so learned this gag by rote
that every word he spoke was like

And, then, like fools, both you and I,
put Deefandumber in;

and now his promissory notes,

like duds, come pouring in.

Then J ohnny Deefandumber
(or did I “Coyne” the word?)

of Canada

his duds to be interred. .
Yet promising’s a habit still
for Johnny to defend: ‘
“Just re-elect me and you'll see
the bread-line days will end.”

But now each time old “Promise John”
begins this gag to spout
the folk like you and me, behold

ening out.
in again,

it’s truth, as John has said:

line in the land”

for there will be no bread.

O, Johnny Deefandumber!

forget the day you swore

by your night-shirt, the workingmen
would suffer wrong no more.

And even if you swear again

John A.,

a promissory note, old Deef,
won’t buy our vote today.

“In the central prison of Spain
located,.in,Burgos, 466 prison-
ers with: terms totalling 11,-
000 years have languished for
years. — + £3? A x

The campaign for amnesty
proceeds despite Franco’s po-

lice terror.

September 1, 1961—PA

CIFIC TRIBUNE—Page

é

Demand amnesty for Spain prisoners
~During a single night in
March 60,000 leaflets were dis-
tributed in. Madrid. The same
number was distributed in a
few days in Barcelona.

In Asturias 25,000 names
were gathered to’a petition for
amnesty in a few days.

a