Eighty years ago today, trade unions from around the world met for the World Labor Conference in London. While German V-2 rockets fell around them, delegates from 35 countries discussed the role of labor in winning World War II, destroying fascism, and ensuring a peaceful and prosperous world for working people in the aftermath of the war.
The conference was initiated by U.S., British and Soviet unions — the labor movements of the “Big Three” Allies fighting Nazi Germany — but also included representatives from Nazi-occupied European nations, Latin America, and countries such as India and Nigeria which were still under British colonial rule. The UE NEWS reported that, throughout the conference, “strong appeals against race discrimination and [for] freedom for all peoples” were made by delegates from not only the developing world, but the U.S. as well.
UE General President Albert Fitzgerald attended as part of a delegation from the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), with which UE was affiliated at that time. While in London, he met with several UE members who were serving in the armed forces and showed “intense interest” in the proceedings of the conference, taking “precious furlough time” to observe its proceedings. C.S. Jackson, the president of UE District 5 in Canada, also attended on behalf of the Canadian Congress of Labour.
Fitzgerald called the conference “a great education in a hurry,” and said that, “Even if a U.S. unionist didn’t realize the necessity for a world trade union organization before arriving here, he would soon see it for this is the very focus of workers who desire fraternity, amity, unity and permanent peace throughout the world.”
UE NEWS reports on the conference noted the great sacrifices made by British and Soviet workers during the war, and the suffering of working people under fascist occupation. Among the unions attending was the French CGT, whose general secretary Louis Saillant also served as the president of the National Resistance Council in that country. Although France would not be fully liberated for another several months, the CGT had grown to 4 million members since the Allied landing in Normandy in June 1944.
According to the UE NEWS, the 12-day meeting ended “on a high note of unity and enthusiasm,” with delegates unanimously committed “to work together for the creation of a powerful democratic world trade union federation at the earlier practicable date,” a proposal set before the delegates by Sidney Hillman, the first vice president of the CIO. This proposal would lead to the foundation of the World Federation of Trade Unions later that year.
Following the conference, CIO leaders including Fitzgerald gave a report to a rally in Madison Square Garden in New York City, where 18,000 union members gave “a dramatic tribute of appreciation” for the international solidarity initiative.
Notably absent from the gathering, however, was the American Federation of Labor (AFL). The AFL preferred to stick with the dying and discredited International Federation of Trade Unions, which excluded unions from the Soviet Union and independent unions in colonized nations. Although Hillman expressed optimism to the press that they would come around, it was not to be. As historian Jeff Schuhrke documents in his 2024 book Blue Collar Empire, red-baiters in the AFL were able to take advantage of Cold War hysteria to undermine the WFTU, convincing the CIO to pull out within a couple of years to form the rival “International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.”
The WFTU was tragically split, diminishing the ability of unions to deal effectively with the multinational corporations that arose in the latter half of the twentieth century. The “free trade union” initiatives of the AFL-CIO frequently sought to undermine militant unions elsewhere in the world, often in cooperation with the U.S. government and even U.S. corporations.
In contrast, for eight decades UE has continued to practice international solidarity based on the principles of worker unity and mutual respect. That kind of international solidarity — the kind embraced by unions representing millions of workers at the World Labor Conference 80 years ago — is more important than ever.