MIA > Archive > Harry Pollitt
From International Press Correspondence, Vol. 2 No. 62, 28 July 1922, pp. 469–470.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Marxists’ Internet Archive.
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The comrades of the Red International of Labor Unions are watching with interest the situation in France. In particular are we interested in the splendid support that is now being given to the R.I.L.U. by the French Unions. It is quite the fashion For the labor leaders in England to frighten the masses by pointing out how the R.I.L.U. has split the labor movement in France, and large sections of the masses believe this through their lack of knowledge of the international situation.
We know that if is the reactionaries who have been the splitters and who by this policy of expulsion have condemned themselves in the eyes of the intelligent working class. In England the R.I.L.U. is not yet strong enough to merit this attention by the labor leaders, but there is every indication that the time is not far distant when we too will be placed in a similar position to the comrades in France.
Already at the Labor Party Conference at Edinburgh, in June, the Executive succeeded in getting the conference to pass a resolution that will prevent any Communist from representing either his trade union or his local Labor Party at future conferences. This is of the greatest significance because it is the beginning of an exclusion policy that will extend to the Trade Union Congress, for those who dominate the Labor Party Executive Committee also dominate the General Trade Union Council which is the Executive of the Trade Union Congress.
It may interest our French comrades who are opposed to the R.I.L.U. because of its connection with the Communist International, to know that in England there exist the closest possible relations between the Labor Party and the General Council of Trade Unions. So close is this relationship, that a joint Executive Council from the two bodies has been formed in order that the labor leaders may get a stronger control over the movement. This makes our work exceptionally difficult and certainly proves that in order to break down this reactionary stronghold, we of the R.I.L.U., must work in conjunction with the Communist Party, whilst retaining the fullest autonomy over our own work.
This has been done, and our experience has been of the greatest benefit to both sections of the revolutionary movement. This is especially seen in the mining and engineering industries, where after a long agitation we succeeded in getting the miners to discuss the question of affiliation to the Red International of Labor Unions at their annual-conference at Blackpool. The engineers too, have formulated a similar resolution for the conference which is to take place in August. Although we know that there is strong opposition to such affiliation and that on this occasion we may be defeated, nevertheless, in reality it will be Amsterdam that is defeated, because the question of affiliation to the R.I.L.U. will become a burning issue when the delegates report back to their branches, as it will open up wide discussion on the respective merits of the two Internationals, we have nothing to fear from such discussions. Already the miners General Secretary, Frank Hodges, by the very nature of his extravagant charges, is causing hundreds of miners to begin to enquire what this Moscow Internation stands for.
The miners themselves are meeting in conference this week, when the Federation will have to report that out of the 13 districts which make up the Federation, 12 of them are working under the worst starvation conditions known. Indeed, their own Secretary Mr. Hodges, has described these 12 districts as being the “Famine Area of England”. This speaks volumes for the brilliant leadership of this apostle of the Second International and the Amsterdam International.
Although the miners will meet under such appalling conditions, their Executive Board has no practical program to place before the conference. The supporters of the R.I.L.U. will make every effort to hammer out such a program, and in our press and in our speeches for weeks past, we have been calling attention to the grave problems that confront the miners and the way out of them The attacks upon the English trade unions continue, and nowhere can we record any united effort to stop this retreat. The metal workers have scarcely got back to work after their last defeat, when they were confronted with the demand for another huge reduction in their wages. The Railwaymen are very apprehensive as to the future, for a big attack is being prepared against them, and here Mr. J.H. Thomas will be called upon to prove his leadership in a totally different situation than has confronted the Railwaymen before.
The effect of this continuous capitalist offensive is to make the workers realize as never before that the old forms of craft and sectional trade unions are useless in such a crisis as this, and before such powerful organizations as the capitalists possess.
Last updated on 5 May 2020