IFTU Archives

Period  1919-1953
Total size   2 m.
Raadpleging Not restricted
Repository  Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis

Geschiedenis

The International Secretariat of the National Trade Union Federations, precursor of the IFTU, was founded in Copenhagen in 1901; Berlin became its seat, with Carl Legien as its first secretary; after the disruption by the First World War reestablished as IFTU in Amsterdam in 1919; split in 1921, when communist and radical unions joined with those of the USSR to form the Red International of Labour Unions (PROFINTERN) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL) did not renew its affiliation; the IFTU became a mainly European body with social democratic orientation, influential at the League of Nations' International Labour Organisation (ILO) and closely cooperating with the autonomous International Trade Secretariats (ITS); its secretariat was in Amsterdam 1919-1930, in Berlin 1931-1933, in Paris 1933-1940 and in London 1940-1945; engaged in the struggle against fascism from 1924 until 1939; aided refugees during the Second World War and was involved in underground resistance; dissolved in 1945 to be replaced by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU).

Inhoud

Documents collected by Annie Adama van Scheltema for the period 1919-1939 and obtained from Walter Schevenels, secretary-general of the IFTU 1930-1945 and in charge of its liquidation 1945-1953. Documents relating to congresses 1919-1939: agenda, minutes, reports, lectures, resolutions and declarations; records of the General Council 1929-1937, 1945: agenda, minutes, reports, notes and circulars; of the Executive Committee 1941-1945: reports; of the secretariat 1940-1945, 1950: general correspondence, correspondence with affiliated and nonaffiliated organizations, with the International Trade Secretariats (ITS), trade unions and other organizations in various countries and circulars; documents on conferences and congresses organized by the IFTU: Peace Congress 1922, IFTU/ITS Conferences 1927-1939, Working Women Conferences 1920-1936, Economic Conferences 1933-1938, the USSR IFTU Conference (held in 1937) 1936-1939, the Emergency International Trade Union Council 1943-1945, the World Trade Union Conference 1943-1945 and other congresses and conferences: agenda, correspondence, circulars, reports, lectures, proposals etc.; files on educational work 1922-1935, 1942-1945; on aid to refugees 1940-1945, 1950; on propaganda and publicity 1940-1945 and on the liquidation of the IFTU 1945-1953.