# World Trade Union Conference

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{{Short description|1945 gathering of trade unions}}

The '''World Trade Union Conference''' was a conference that was held between 6–17 February 1945. The conference was participated by countries from all around the world, at the [County Hall](/source/County_Hall%2C_London), [London](/source/London).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=University |first=London Metropolitan |title=The Worker's War: Home Front Recalled |url=http://www.unionhistory.info/workerswar/display.php?irn=3000095&QueryPage=/workerswar/imagesdocs.php |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=www.unionhistory.info |language=en}}</ref> Regarded as a significant moment within the international labour movement, it was the first time that workers from around the world came together to influence international politics.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Adi |first1=Hakim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7mfAAAAMAAJ |title=The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress Revisited |last2=Sherwood |first2=Marika |date=1995 |publisher=New Beacon Books |isbn=978-1-873201-12-1 |language=en}}</ref>{{Dubious span|text=|date=September 2023}}

Both [Clement Attlee](/source/Clement_Attlee) and [King George VI](/source/George_VI) spoke to the audience at the conference.<ref name=":0" /> 204 representatives from 63 Unions around the world attended the conference including those from the [Soviet Union](/source/Soviet_Union), in an attempt to have representation within the [United Nations](/source/United_Nations) and its [Security Council](/source/United_Nations_Security_Council).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Albert Gates: The World Trade Union Conference (May 1945) |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/glotzer/1945/05/wtuc.htm |access-date=2023-06-02 |website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> The conference, which was organised in the vein of the [anti-fascist](/source/Anti-fascism) movement, being much inspired by both union and state notions of a new world order and influenced by the interests of the allied nations.<ref name=":0" /> Anti-war, post war reconstruction post-war and Trade Union were on the conference agenda.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |date=1945 |title=Labor Organizations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41817831 |journal=Monthly Labor Review |volume=60 |issue=5 |pages=1030–1034 |jstor=41817831 |issn=0098-1818}}</ref>

The conference resulted in the Declarations of the World Trade Union Conference, which were published in San Francisco by the Trade Union Council in 1945<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tombs |first=Isabelle |date=April 1998 |title=The British TUC between Germany and Russia: From the Outbreak of War to the World Trade Union Conference of February 1945 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/026569149802800203 |journal=European History Quarterly |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=219–243 |doi=10.1177/026569149802800203 |issn=0265-6914|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and inspired the Fifth [Pan-African Congress](/source/Pan-African_Congress) to be held later that same year in [Manchester](/source/Manchester).<ref name=":1" />

One of the purposes of the conference was to create a draft constitution for the [World Federation of Trade Unions](/source/World_Federation_of_Trade_Unions), which was established at the first World [Trades Union Congress](/source/Trades_Union_Congress), which was convened in [Paris](/source/Paris) in October 1945.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=WFTU » History |url=https://www.wftucentral.org/history/ |access-date=2023-06-03 |language=en-US}}</ref>

== Attendees ==
The committee consisted of 45 voting members and one non-voting member while many other notable figures participated. <ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2007-02-21 |title=Wayback Machine |url=http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/countries/panafrican/padmore1945.pdf |access-date=2023-06-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221225051/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/countries/panafrican/padmore1945.pdf |archive-date=2007-02-21 }}</ref><ref name=":3" />

=== Asia ===
* China: Chu Hsueh Fan
* India: [Shripad Amrit Dange](/source/Shripad_Amrit_Dange), [R.A. Khedgikar](/source/R.A._Khedgikar), S.K. Pramanik, [S. C. C. Anthony Pillai](/source/S._C._C._Anthony_Pillai)
* Palestine: John Asfour, [Bulus Farah](/source/Bulus_Farah), A Rabinovitz

=== Africa ===

* Nigeria: T.A. Bankole
* The Gambia: [I.M. Garba-Jahumpa](/source/I.M._Garba-Jahumpa)<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Gambian trade union official Ibrahima Momodou Garba-Jahumpa ,... |url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/gambian-trade-union-official-ibrahima-momodou-garba-jahumpa-news-photo/1438606362 |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Getty Images |language=en-gb}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
* Ghana: [J.S. Annan](/source/J.S._Annan)
* Sierra Leone: [I. T. A. Wallace-Johnson](/source/I._T._A._Wallace-Johnson)<ref name=":1" />
* South Africa: F.R. Swan

=== Europe ===
* Belgium: Jean Brodier,<ref>{{Cite web |title=French Trade Unionist J Brodier at the World Trade Union Conference... |url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/french-trade-unionist-j-brodier-at-the-world-trade-union-news-photo/3401363 |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Getty Images |language=en-gb}}</ref> [Joseph Bondas](/source/%3Anl%3AJoseph_Bondas), [Walter Schevenels](/source/Walter_Schevenels)
* Bulgaria: T.L. Pranov
* Cyprus: [Andreas Ziartides](/source/Andreas_Ziartides)
* Czechoslovakia: Josef Kosina
* Finland: [Erkki Härmä](/source/Erkki_H%C3%A4rm%C3%A4)
* France: [Benoît Frachon](/source/Beno%C3%AEt_Frachon), [Albert Gazier](/source/Albert_Gazier), [Louis Saillant](/source/Louis_Saillant)
* Iceland: [Brynjólfur Bjarnason](/source/Brynj%C3%B3lfur_Bjarnason)
* Ireland: [Gilbert Lynch](/source/Gilbert_Lynch)
* Italy: Giovanni Canini
* Netherlands: C.J. Van Lienden<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EyMUAQAAMAAJ&dq=Trade+Unionist+C.J.+Van+Lienden&pg=RA1-PA9 |title=Netherlands News |date=1945 |publisher=Netherlands Information Bureau. |language=en}}</ref>
* New Zealand: [Alec Croskery](/source/Alec_Croskery)
* Norway: [Ingvald Haugen](/source/Ingvald_Haugen), [Konrad Nordahl](/source/Konrad_Nordahl)
* Soviet Union: [Vasili Kuznetsov](/source/Vasili_Kuznetsov_(politician)), E.I. Sidorenko, [Mikhail Tarasov](/source/Mikhail_Tarasov_(politician))
* Spain: Amaro del Rosal
* Sweden: [Gunnar Andersson](/source/Gunnar_Andersson_(trade_unionist))
* United Kingdom: [Walter Citrine](/source/Walter_Citrine%2C_1st_Baron_Citrine), [Ebby Edwards](/source/Ebby_Edwards), [Lincoln Evans](/source/Lincoln_Evans), [George Isaacs](/source/George_Isaacs),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Members of the committee of the World Trade Union Conference during a... |url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/members-of-the-committee-of-the-world-trade-union-news-photo/3400995 |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Getty Images |language=en-gb}}</ref> [Herbert Morrison](/source/Herbert_Morrison)<ref name=":2" />
* Yugoslavia: [Đuro Salaj](/source/%C4%90uro_Salaj)

=== North America ===
* Canada: [Pat Sullivan](/source/Pat_Sullivan_(trade_unionist)), James Ewart McGuire
* Cuba: Angel Cofiño
* Jamaica: Ken Hill, [Una Marson](/source/Una_Marson)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jamaican People's National Party politician and trade union leader,... |url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/jamaican-peoples-national-party-politician-and-trade-union-news-photo/1434772407 |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Getty Images |language=en-gb}}</ref>
* United States: [Sidney Hillman](/source/Sidney_Hillman), [Philip Murray](/source/Philip_Murray), [Reid Robinson](/source/Reid_Robinson), [R. J. Thomas](/source/R._J._Thomas)

=== Oceania ===

* Australia: [Ernie Thornton](/source/Ernie_Thornton)

=== South America ===
* Columbia: Bernardo Medina
* Uruguay: Luis Gonzalez
Unknown: B. Goodwin, B. Locker,<ref>{{Cite web |title=B Locker of Histradut, the General Federation of Jewish Labour, at... |url=https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/locker-of-histradut-the-general-federation-of-jewish-labour-news-photo/3401364 |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=Getty Images |language=en-gb}}</ref> [Jacobus Oldenbroek](/source/Jacobus_Oldenbroek) and [Vicente Lombardo Toledano](/source/Vicente_Lombardo_Toledano)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Germans in Argentina » 16 Feb 1945 » The Spectator Archive |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/16th-february-1945/2/germans-in-argentina |access-date=2023-06-03 |website=The Spectator Archive}}</ref>

== External links ==

* https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/TOF/WF/1

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

Category:1945 conferences
Category:World Federation of Trade Unions

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [World Trade Union Conference](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Union_Conference) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Union_Conference?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.